Raised garden beds are the perfect answer to any gardener’s quest for more control over their garden, for would-be gardeners stuck with poor soil conditions, and for those desiring easy accessibility to their garden.
Raised garden beds are full of options, from choosing the best place for a garden and designing it to reap the best sun of the day to developing the best soil conditions for any particular plant and adding flowers or vertical plants for a showy display. By building a raised garden bed, a gardener can control the garden soil, moisture drainage, soil amendments, and even eliminate the need for weeding. Raised Garden Beds Provide Control Over Garden Good soil is the key to successful gardening. A raised garden bed is built above ground and often with new soil selected by the gardener for optimum growing conditions for their vegetables and flowers. Sometimes, if the raised garden bed is built upon a layer of soil, the old layer of soil is incorporated into the new soil by digging it up and using a gardening hoe or fork to mix the two soils. But, often, new soil is just placed on top of the old soil, giving the gardener complete control over soil conditions. If the garden bed will be placed atop sod, the sod must either be removed or turned into compost before building the garden bed. Raised garden beds are typically several inches deep in conditioned soil and are contained by wood or stone frames, although some are more “free-form” in their construction. Wood frames are generally less expensive to make than are stone frames. Within the frame, gardeners can plant a myriad of vegetables, herbs, or flowers for which they’ve amended soil to match growing needs.Fruits, like raspberries, strawberries, grapes, and blueberries also grow well in a contained raised garden bed.
Raised Garden Beds Eliminates Poor Soil Conditions
What is soil, anyway? Soil is composed of inorganic particles, organic matter, water and air. Inorganic particles include: silt, sand, and clay. Organic matter includes manure, compost, leaves, and other additives. The quality of soil depends upon the proportion of each component as well as the activity of microorganisms, fungus, and earthworms. The single most important way to improve soil conditions is by adding 1 to 4 inches of organic matter to the garden, and turning it in deeply. Tilling the soil adds oxygen, which is needed by microorganisms to break down the organic matter and release its nutrients. To analyze the condition of soil is to analyze its acidity and alkalinity as well as its structure and texture. Acidity and alkalinity of soil is measured on the pH scale, which runs from 0, or pure acid, to 14, or pure alkaline. It can be tested by purchasing a litmus test kit that is sold at most drug stores. The kit should come with litmus paper and a color scale. It’s easy to use by mixing distilled water with the soil in a clean cup until a moist paste forms. To find the pH, insert the litmus paper into the mixture and then match the final color of the paper to the color scale. Amending pHresults depends upon the “texture” of soil. Texture refers to the amount of clay, sand, or loam in the soil, and it goes hand in hand with the term “structure”. Structure refers to how the soil feels when it’s clumped together between thumb and forefinger. Soil with too much silt will feel smooth and slick, a soil heavy with clay will feel sticky and ball up easily, and a soil that is too sandy will feel gritty. An ideal gardening soil, or loam, will feel like a spongy ball and should contain up to 50 percent sand, between 25 and 30 percent silt, and up to 25 percent clay. Raised Garden Beds Provide Accessibility Most home raised garden beds are typically no more than 6 feet across and are built with space to walk around the entire garden allowing gardening from its edges. This is a particularly desirable feature for the elderly or anyone who loves gardening but finds it difficult to transverse a larger garden space. Additionally, a newspaper layering method can be employed to eliminate the need for weeding – a chore that is hard on anyone. Advantages of Raised Garden Beds
Planning and Constructing Raised Garden Beds If you are gardener who also likes to build and construct things, there are several “plans” available for creating a raised bed garden. The raised garden beds plans could include such things as plant arrangement within the garden as well as the actual physical construction of the raised garden bed. In addition, there are numerous raised garden kits available. The kits vary, but they usually contain all the materials needed to construct a raised garden bed minus the soil. Materials would include a set of instructions as well as the wood and brackets to connect the frame. Whether you are interested in finding a raised garden bed plan, design, or kit, they can all be purchased at your local garden center or hardware store. The convenient way to shop is to purchase the items online and there are some good options available. Gardeners should be sure to find a seller that offers free shipping because the materials (the wood) can run up to 50 pounds or greater, adding high shipping charges to the cost of the raised garden kit if free shipping isn’t included. Another thing to look for in a kit is ease of putting the raised garden bed together. Some companies offer kits that can be assembled in a matter of minutes, with no hammering, drilling, or screwing necessary. If you aren’t handy with tools, this may be the way to go. Maintaining Moisture in a Raised Garden Bed Raised garden beds offer great water drainage due to a couple of factors. One is that a gardener of a raised garden bed can amend the soil so that it is in a good “loamy” condition. In this condition, the soil will not have the moisture trappings of too much soggy clay. Another factor is that the gardenwill not be compacted by foot prints as a gardener can pick vegetables, fruits and/or flowers from the edges of the garden. So water will easily drain from the raised garden bed soil. Gardeners should balance the good drainage by adding a layer of mulch (compost and/or manure) to the garden bed each year. If the garden only grows seasonally or for a few months of a year as in colder climates, it’s a great idea to fold that mulch into the top layer of soil.Mulching the topsoil helps to retain the raised garden bed moisture and will also help to keep weeds away.
For more information about raised gardening beds, check out the following articles:
I don’t know if they’d even heard of raised garden beds back then. In my grandmother’s garden, she grew strawberries right in amongst the vegetables. My mother had a vegetable garden and a separate contained (although not raised) garden for raspberries. Oh how I dreaded being asked to do weed or pick the berries – especially the raspberries that grew fast and thick. But I knew that if I wanted to eat strawberry or raspberry shortcake with ice cream, I knew I better do what I was told and weed and pick in the gardens. In more recent years, my mother has a raised garden bed, and it’s fun to see how much she enjoys it. At 85, my mother can still manage this type of garden (and I don’t have to weed it) and she loves to make salsa from all of her fresh vegetables and herbs. A garden builds lasting memories of good, fresh food and learning experiences. Whether you are a beginning gardener, an old hand, or somewhere in between, I recommend planting raised garden beds for the ideal gardening experience.
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