Building a Raised Bed Garden
Gardening in raised beds is a popular technique used to maximize land efficiency and add style to the home garden. A raised bed allows for improved soil conditions, easy garden tending, pest control, and water conversation. They are fairly inexpensive and quick to construct after a little planning.
After a location is selected with the desired sunlight conditions in mind, the foundation of the raised bed garden can begin. There are many different materials that will work to contain the bed of dirt: concrete, stone, wood, bales of hay, brick – to name just a few. Naturally, if you use any kind of treated material, be sure to use materials treated with chemicals safe to plants. It may be best to stick with natural untreated construction materials to ensure dirt quality.
Keep the size of your raised bed garden manageable. As one of the leading reasons to implement a raised garden, you want to be able to walk around the perimeter of the raised bed and easily reach any section of the garden. If you plan for a normal width of four feet in your raised bed project, that should allow for easy accessibility to the middle of the garden from both sides.
A raised bed allows for very efficient drainage, as long as your frame and bed are level. Make sure you don’t create a situation where all the water drains to one end of your garden and pools up underneath the raised bed.
The soil quality in a raised bed garden is often the highest possible. Containing your perfect mixture of topsoil, mulch, compost, and other fertilizer, a raised bed makes it easy to manage your garden’s growing conditions. Because no one will be walking across your soil, the dirt will remain loose and drain very well. Keep this in mind when planning your garden depth and plant selection – you want a raised bed that is raised enough for any plants you may have planned with deep roots.
Very little maintenance is required with raised bed gardening, yet another attractive quality. Topping the soil off with fresh compost or manure in the spring and fall is a good idea, followed by slight tilling of the first couple inches of topsoil. Other than that, most of your work will be in the kitchen cooking with your abundance of fresh vegetables.
