The Pros of Starting a Raised Bed Garden
A raised bed is a mound of prepared soil 6 to 8 inches high. It can be made permanent by edging with wood, stones, logs or bricks. The soil in a raised bed is more porous because no one ever steps into the bed to pack it down. This allows good drainage so that air, water, and fertilizer will penetrate to the roots more easily.
You’ll find that your raised bed is more attractive and easier to maintain than conventional row gardens. Cultivating is easy since you’ll be able to reach into every corner of your bed and pull young weeds as they appear, and succession planting will eliminate bare spots. When deciding what to plant in your beds, consider companion planting. Companion vegetables and herbs will help control insects and improve the overall health of your garden.
There are some other benefits to creating a raised bed garden. Perhaps the most important advantage is greatly reduced soil compaction. Plant roots need air. In an ordinary garden, you can’t avoid stepping in the garden bed occasionally when doing your everyday gardening. A properly designed raised bed garden allows you to do all your gardening from the garden path. Plants can be spaced a little closer together in a raised bed because you don’t need places to step. This increases productivity per square foot of bed and reduces weeding when the plants begin to mature. Avoid the temptation to crowd your plants. You will still want to use generous plant spacing because your plants will grow much larger in raised beds. Raised beds tend to drain away excess moisture better than ordinary garden beds. This is another advantage that helps the plant roots to breath.
In areas that have saturated soil like Florida and many areas of the South, raised beds may be the only way you can grow many types of plants. Soil conditions and types can be controlled more efficiently in a raised bed and they can be varied easily from bed to bed. Raised beds are the answer when topsoil is thin. Water, fertilizer, compost, mulch, etc. can be applied more carefully because they only need to be applied to the garden beds. Various studies have shown that raised garden beds produce 1.4 to 2 times as much vegetables and flowers per square foot as ordinary beds, due mainly to the above advantages. You can have a smaller and more manageable garden that produces more goodies for your table.
There are also some advantages for the grower. Raised garden beds bring your garden closer to you. Raised beds are after all, raised! Raised beds tend to bring more order and pleasing geometry to your garden, especially when forms or edging are used to define them. Raised beds can extend your gardening season. They tend to warm up a little sooner in the spring and remain productive later in the fall. Do your gardening from the comfort of the garden path. No more bending over to pull weeds or trim plants. Sit on a stool or put a seat board on your garden wagon!
Be sure to rotate the varieties of vegetables you plant in each bed each year. This rotational planting prevents a particular family of vegetables from consuming the same nutrients from the soil year after year and discourages insect pests and pathogens associated with certain vegetables from remaining in the soil over winter and infecting next year’s crops.
The best time to begin building a raised bed is in the fall, or even winter if the ground in your area doesn’t freeze. When spring arrives you’ll be ready for planting.
To create a raised bed, you should start by working organic material into your soil. Compost, manure, leaf mold, or other organic material helps provide the soil with essential nutrients and improves drainage. Once you have thoroughly worked your soil, follow these simple steps to create a wide row: Mark the bed with stakes and string. The ideal width is around three feet, and the length should be 25 feet or less. If you need more space, create more beds. Use a rake to pull soil from the walkway to the top of the bed. Six inches of height will greatly improve drainage. A height of 18-24 inches will be easier for older gardeners and those with bad backs to work. Flatten the top with the back of a rake. It’s a good idea to slope the sides slightly to prevent erosion. Dig a trench down each side of the row with a hoe. This keeps the walkway from becoming a stream during rainy weather. If you want to make your bed permanent, edge with wood, logs, bricks, rocks, or anything else that will keep your soil in place.
There are many pros of starting a raised bed garden.