5 Reasons To Consider Building A Raised Bed Garden
These days it’s pretty common look in someones garden and see a wooden frame built up with plants growing in it. This is what’s called a raised bed garden and these types of gardens have many benefits so you may want to consider building a raised bed garden this season. Here are 5 reasons you might opt for a raised garden instead of traditional garden:
1. Perfect Soil
A raised garden sits above your current soil level and you fill it up the soil that you want. Therefore, you can get the exact perfect soil that your plants need to grow and make sure it is perfectly amended so that your plants get the best chance for lush growth.
2. Better Drainage
Because the soil that you put in your raised bed will be looser and not compacted like the natural soil in your yard, a raised garden offers better drainage than most gardens. Drainage is critically important for growing plants successfully because most plants cannot grow in standing water.
3. Higher Yield
If you want to grow more plants in the same space, then building a raised bed garden is a great way to do that. You can plant the plants closer together in a raised garden because the beds are designed such that you won’t need to walk in between the plants for maintenance. Growing the plants closer together means more plants per square foot.
4. Easy Maintenance
Raised bed gardens are easier to maintain because you can reach every plant in the bed easily. The idea was to design your bed so that it is no more than 4 feet wide at any spot and then if you have more than one bed place them at least 2 feet away from each other. This way you can easily reach each plant from outside the bed and you have an aisle to walk in and don’t have to step on the bed to prune, harvest or otherwise care for your plants. It also makes it much easier to weed and put down mulch.
5. Less Soil Compaction
Because the raised bed is easier to maintain and doesn’t require you walking through the rows of plants for maintenance purposes there will be a lot less soil compaction which means your plants will have better opportunities for growth and less opportunity for broken branches.
Building raised a raised bed garden is actually not that difficult. All you really need is some sort of material to make the 4 sides and you can use boards or specially made beds that you can buy at the garden store. A raised garden can actually be any height but just make sure that yours is at least 6 inches off the ground.
Some people are now using very tall beds that are waist height which makes them extremely easy to grow plants and because you can do all your planting standing up, it is much easier on the knees. These raised gardens can be used for both vegetables and flowers and are a great way to add height and dimension to your landscape.
