Raised bed gardening is all the rage now for many reasons. Growing herbs, vegetables, or flowers sometimes requires using a raised planting bed because your soil will not cooperate – like mine, which is clay :/.
Raised bed gardening is a form of gardening where the soil is enclosed in contained units or beds raised at least six inches above the ground. But the perfect height or ideal height for many home gardeners and new gardeners is tall beds at waist height.
These garden boxes may be made from different materials such as timber, cedar wood, metal, concrete blocks, cinder blocks, railroad ties, or polyethylene materials.
Plants are usually spaced much closer than conventional row gardening. This kind of spacing creates a microclimate that acts as a weed barrier by suppressing weed growth and conserving moisture.
Pros of Raised Garden Beds
Better Soil For Your Different Plants
If you live in an area that has a less than ideal garden soil quality and structure, pH, or composition, then a raised garden bed is your best friend. You can control the soil profile of your garden to suit the kind of crops you want to grow.
Simply purchase the best and highest quality bed soil you can find to give all your plants, especially your favorite plants, the best chance of survival.
Less Damage From Tunneling Animals
Your plant roots will have a better chance of growing strong and deep since growing food crops in planter boxes limits the chances of burrowing critters damaging your healthy roots.
While you can’t entirely protect your plants from invasive creatures and bugs, growing them in raised garden beds and a raised bed vegetable garden gives them a better chance of surviving.
Water Control
Growing edible plants in raised beds prevents the likelihood of floods from heavy rains damaging your crops. They provide great soil drainage, which prevents water logging plants.
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You Can Keep A Garden And Planting Area Even In Small Spaces
If you like the idea of maintaining a flower, veggie, or herb garden, but you don’t have a yard or have limited space, don’t fret because raised garden beds let you do this without taking up much garden space.
What’s more, raised beds look more organized so your large or small garden will be pleasing to look at.
It’s Great For People Who Have Difficulty With Mobility
The truth is maintaining a flatbed garden or ground beds entails a lot of yard work. From weeding to shoveling to pushing carts of soil, it’s definitely a task that’s better suited for people with more physical capacity.
With raised small or large garden beds, you don’t have to bend so far over just to pull out weeds or expend so much energy tilling soil.
Cons of Raised Garden Beds
Continuous Drainage Can Take Nutrients Away From The Soil
While raised bed garden has good drainage capacity, it can also mean that minerals may travel out from the bed or beautiful planter with the water.
This means you’ll need to replenish soil amendments regularly to ensure that your soil conditions are rich and healthy.
Constant Maintenance
You will need to add good compost new native soil and water your crops more with raised garden beds.
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Need To Replace Materials Over Time
Regardless of the material you use for your raised garden beds, you will have to replace them at some point in the future.
Although you can likely find pros and cons for anything – I would say that the raised beds win in this comparison. For me especially, as my soil is clay which makes it almost impossible to grow anything throughout the growing season.
Which do you prefer? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.
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