Raised beds offer a simple and effective way to create a healthy and productive garden by manipulating the growing environment for the better.
If you've never planted vegetables in raised beds before, I promise that once you do, you'll be spoiled for the rest of your gardening life. But that's a risk you might be willing to take. I grow things anywhere and everywhere I can and 9 times out of 10, my veggies do better in the raised beds. Although, there are a few places in my yard where I've been planting year after year and the soil has been so well amended that it might as well be a raised bed.
But if your natural soil hasn't reached that point yet, go for the raised beds. In a new bed I'll either build a compost sandwich in it or add a bunch of soil from my compost pile along with some purchased composted manure or garden soil. There's no need to build them to a specific depth. I've grown in all different sizes from 6" - 24" and they all work equally as well.
10 Benefits of Raised Garden Beds
1. It’s the perfect way for people with limited space to enjoy a garden. Some people even put them on their patios and this works out great for plants that don’t need much root depth, like lettuce, broccoli, celery, or onions.
2. Raised beds save time because the plants are more closely spaced which makes it more difficult for weeds to find space, resulting in less weeding time!
3. When you make raised beds you get more yield because you put loose and fertile soil in the raised bed.
4. If you have efficiently spaced rows, this enables you to have more room for all your plants. You get more yield in a smaller space!
5. It is easier to water and harvest raised beds. It is especially great for people who have trouble bending over.
6. The raised bed helps keep some animals out. Small animals like rabbits don’t usually want to leave the ground and climb up to the garden. Also, you can deter moles and burrowing animals out by lining the bed with hardware cloth or chicken wire.
7. A great advantage to raised beds is that the soil gets excellent drainage.
8. In the Spring, the soil in raised beds warms up earlier allowing more growing time because you can plant sooner. You can put your young plants in earlier and not worry so much about the fluctuating weather . This is one of my favorite benefits of raised garden beds because up here in the Northeast, we have to wait much longer to start planting.
9. Raised beds are narrow and because of this the gardener doesn’t have to walk on the beds. This is great because it prevents the soil from being compacted.
10. Lastly, raised beds save money because amendments to the soil are not wasted in areas that are walked on.