Considerations for Raised Garden Beds

Using raised garden beds to plant flowers and vegetables presents certain considerations that are different from other gardening methods such as ground-level planting or container planting.  For some gardeners, the advantages presented by raised garden beds make it efficient and useful, while still others feel that it can be too much work.  In this post, we discuss some of the things you need to consider for gardens.

Raised Garden Beds Tips

1.    Garden beds can make it easier to work on your plants, especially if you are disabled or would rather not spend too much time bent over.  Proper gardening requires hours of labor weeding, mulching, aerating, and amending.  With a raised garden bed, you don’t have to bend down so far to perform all these tasks.  In fact, some of the higher raised garden beds would even allow a wheelchair-bound person to work quite comfortably.  Make sure that your raised garden bed is not more than 4 feet across, so that you can easily reach every plant without having to stretch too far.

2.    Raised garden beds increases the soil temperature, since the sides of the garden bed is exposed to sunlight.  In some areas with short growing periods, raised garden beds can allow you to start planting sooner that you might otherwise be able to.  It is also the perfect method for growing plants that love the heat, such as green peppers and spinach.

3.    Garden beds also make it more economical to amend the soil.  Since you only need to apply compost and fertilizer to the raised garden beds, you don’t have to use as much as you would if you had to amend an entire ground level garden.

4.    Raised garden beds improve soil drainage, thus preventing roots from getting fungi or being rotted.  On the other hand, you may need to water your plants more frequently.

5.    Garden beds may require more preparation to start, when compared to container panting or ground level planting.  While a prepared garden bed should be usable for several seasons, some gardeners find that having to dig and create frames is too much hard work.
There is no hard and fast rule that dictates which type of gardening method is superior.  It largely depends on what works for you personally.  If you do decide to use raised garden beds, just make sure that you avoid using treated lumber or aromatic woods for the bed frames if you are going to be planting produce.  Chemicals from treated lumber can easily leech into the fruits and vegetables, causing them to be contaminated.  For flowers and other ornamentals, however, they should serve just fine.