Raised beds make gardening easier in many ways. They help you solve difficult issues with your soil, they aid in controlling pests, they improve the amount of produce you can harvest in an area, they’re great at reducing weeds, and they help conserve water. You can install a raised bed garden along fences, in the back or front yards, or in some cities, even on boulevards between your property line and the sidewalk.
Any plants that love well-drained soil can benefit from being grown in raised beds. You don’t have to stick to just vegetables. You can also easily grow herbs, fruits, and flowers in raised beds and make your job easier.
In raised bed gardening, the soil is usually put into frames that are about three or four feet wide and any length. The soil is generally enriched with compost and is added to a frame made of wood or other material.
Get more production in your garden in a small space
The plants in raised bed gardening are planted much closer together than the plants in a traditional row garden. This allows the plants to conserve moisture and also helps block the sun from allowing weeds to germinate and grow.
Although some people plant their raised beds using a square foot gardening method, a method that I prefer in order to get the maximum yield from my garden is an intensive planting method. Intensive planting basically involves ignoring all the rules around spacing plants and planting much closer together. The reason for doing this is to get continued access to plants to use in the kitchen and removed the need to wait until the end of the harvest to pick everything at once.
Raised beds can be used to extend the growing season, making it easier to start seeds outdoors earlier, and grow later in the season. This is a great way to get even more production out of the area in a season.
Have ideal soil conditions for the plants you’re growing
If you have soil problems in your garden, you can use raised beds and just bypass your own soil completely. If you start with completely fresh soil, it doesn’t matter what type of soil you had in your garden, to begin with.
Another great benefit of raised bed gardening is the fact that the gardener doesn’t walk on the soil in which the plants are growing. This helps prevent the soil from being packed down, so the roots can grow through the soil more readily.
Spend less time watering your raised bed garden
You don’t need to till the soil under a raised bed if you don’t want to. This is very beneficial for people who can’t afford a tiller, or who aren’t physically capable of handling a piece of machinery like this.
You won’t have to water raised beds as often as you would a traditional garden. The soil in raised beds is designed specifically to hold on to water, so you can water less often and in smaller quantities. This is great for conserving water and saving money.
Raised garden beds allow easier access to plants for tending and harvesting
Frames can be built on top of plywood bases, and then raised to any height. This allows handicapped and elderly people to easily reach their plants to tend to them. For people in wheelchairs, this could be one of the only ways they can garden well.
5. Diseases and pests are easier to control in raised beds
Since you’re starting with fresh soil, it’s less likely to be contaminated with diseases that could infect your plants. If your plants do become infected, you can simply dispose of the soil in that bed and start again from scratch.
And pests are easier to control because plants are in a more confined area. This makes it much easier to spot potential problems, and it also makes it easier to get rid of potential problems before they take over your entire garden.
Summary
Raised bed gardening is the future of sustainable, organic gardening.
Raised bed gardening is a great way to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers without using pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers. It can be done in a small space and its benefits are many!
I can help you install your raised bed garden with my consultation service. Book your consultation today to get started.