Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening
Published by Cicely Cruickshank on 2010-07-22 21:38:52
Raised bed vegetable gardening is a popular style of garden to have. Read on to find out the benefits of having a raised garden.
Benefits of raised bed gardening:
- Improved drainage – good drainage is essential for a good vegetable garden. Vegetables grow much better when they don’t have wet feet. Make sure the height of your retaining wall for the garden is at least 30cm or 1 foot to allow the deeper rooting vegetables enough depth to put their roots down.
- Rich growing medium – when you are filling the raised bed this is a good opportunity to fill it with good quality soil, compost, rotted animal manure or rotted straw whatever you choose. Adding seaweed at this time is also beneficial to boost the minerals that will be available to your vegetables. Whatever you choose to put in your raised bed avoid adding any weed seeds as they will grow!
- No digging – as the soil etc is already loose there is no need to dig. If you have chosen to make you beds wide enough so that you can reach the middle from both sides there will be no need for you to walk on the garden and compact the soil.
- Few weeds – By putting a weed barrier down before you fill the bed very few weeds will grow so next to no weeding.
- Very little bending required – This is important for the older gardener who may not be so agile. Make the height of your raised bed high enough so you can sit on the edge and tend your garden.
- Plant earlier – In a raised bed the soil tends to warm up earlier than in a conventional garden so you will be able to get your spring vegetables planted sooner.
Having a raised garden is well worth the initial effort of constructing it. Just think of the fresh nutritious vegetables you will be able to harvest from your raised bed vegetable garden.
