Raised Bed Gardens – Advantages of Raised Bed Gardening

Raised bed gardening is popular in many parts of the country. Let’s take a look at the advantages of gardening in raised beds.

Appearance: Gardens can at times take on an ungainly look. With their clearly defined beds and pathways, your garden can take on a much more manicured and tidy look. There’s a reason there are raised beds at so many botanical gardens.

Weed control: In areas like the south, where there are very aggressive turf grasses like St. Augustine and Bermuda grass, it can be extremely difficult to eliminate those weeds since they will simply grow back into the garden. With raised beds you can create a much more effective barrier to creeping weeds, or invasive tree roots ast well.

Ease of irrigation: With a defined space like a raised garden bed, you can install a sprinkler or other type of irrigation system that is targeted to a controlled area, both making it that much more effective, and limiting the water waste from irrigating a large area of unproductive paths and dead space. Conversely, if your garden is in a low area with poor drainage, raising the garden bed can help drowning your garden in prolonged wet periods. You can also shape the slope of the garden to help retain moisture on sloped areas.

Ease of access: For gardeners with back problems or limited mobility, a raised garden may be the only viable way to put in a garden that can be accessed

Soil:Of course, you can fill the bed with your own mix of soil, so if the soil in your area is not that good for gardening, with a raised bed you can basically start from scratch and create the soil environment that best suits the plants you would like to grow.

Growing Season The soil temperature will climb more quickly in the spring, so in a raised bed you will get an earlier start on the growing season.

There are a few disadvantages to raised bed gardens:

If you want to use a full size tiller to work your garden, getting it in and out of the beds can be a problem. The actual access can be managed with a ramp or similar feature, but the other concern is actually handling the tiller in the confined space of the bed.

Maintenance of the bed walls: The bed walls can be made of several types of materials. This is a critical choice, as you don’t want to be plagued by maintenance problems in future years. Cinder blocks can be quite durable, and even cedar can be a good choice. If you choose to build your own you may find it much easier to keep the corners intact by using raised bed corner brackets instead of just nailing the pieces together.