Advantages of Raised Garden Beds
Raised Garden Beds - Make Work Less Back-Breaking
By their very nature, raised garden beds help make working in the garden easier by reducing the distance you must lean over. Raised garden beds can be worked on from a comfortable position on a stool or rolling garden cart. This is especially useful for older gardeners who have trouble getting up and down from the ground.
The amount of work needed to maintain raised garden beds is less than that for traditional gardens. The garden is automatically edged when you create the raised bed. This reduces weeding and edging chores so you have more time to enjoy your garden.
Raised Garden Beds - Special Mix Soil
Flat gardens must make do with the existing soil, often augmented with fertilizers, compost, or sand. Raised garden beds allow you to create your own special soil mix specifically designed for the types of plants that will grow in the bed. This is especially useful in vegetable gardens. Each section of the raised bed garden can use a different type of soil, thus increasing produce yield by keeping plants happy and healthy.
Besides tailoring the type of garden soil to the particular variety of plant, raised beds increase drainage and soil warmth. The growing season can be extended, thus providing more ripe vegetables or beautiful flowers for your pleasure.
Raised Garden Beds - Landscaping Style
The advantages of raised garden beds are not only practical, but aesthetic as well. Most garden beds sprawl outside their created borders, narrowing walking paths and creating a more casual silhouette. Wayward plants may even make the garden look sloppy. Raised garden beds negate all these problems, constraining the plants within their bounds and leaving plenty of room for attractive walkways.
Raised Garden Beds - Decorative Accents
Raised garden beds are usually ringed by stone, decorator edging, wooden posts or logs, or even retaining walls. These divisions can help prevent garden overflow and also help to stop encroaching weeds from taking over between the plants and vegetables. They can be made to match the trim of the house, thus creating a cohesive landscaping style.
Published by Melanie L. Marten
Melanie Marten is self-taught and self-employed. Besides freelance writing, she dabbles in website design and owns dozens of websites and blogs. Work is squeezed in between parenting two boys, homeschoolin... View profile
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13 Comments
Post a CommentMy neighbor has a raised garden but complains about having to water it more than a level one. It does look great though.
My neighbor has a raised garden but complains about having to water it more than a level one. It does look great though.
Great article. Did you also know that raised garden beds are really helpful for those with some disabilities? Certain disabilities can limit access to gardening, but raised beds allow for easier access, sort of like what you described with back injuries, making them the perfect accessible gardens. :-)
I love gardening and for me raised beds are the only way to go. It keeps everything neet and tidy while saving stress on your back and legs.
great info., I love my raised bed gardens!
Good piece. We mounded our tomato plants for the last two years and got excellent crops. It started when we Composted on the spot and had nowhere to put the new soil the following year
Glad I read this, excellent gardening piece.
My mom has always used raised garden beds, I have learned so much from her!!
Great Article!!
Ok, I printed this out - the woman has been wanting to do a raised garden forever now, and this information is perfect!! Thanks Melanie :).
That first consideration is so practical. Never occurred to me that people would raise a garden bed for that reason rather than for appearance sake but it makes good sense.