378 King George Rd, R.R.#6
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May 2019

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Elevate Your Green Thumb
An Introduction to Raised-Bed Gardening

If you’re starting a new garden or looking to improve your garden, then you may want to consider raised-bed gardening. Raised beds offer many advantages over in-ground planting.

Starting a raised-bed garden can help you reap a healthier and more plentiful harvest, really letting you enjoy the fruits of your labour, so to speak. Though it requires a small monetary and time investment in the beginning, the benefits of raised-bed gardening can certainly outweigh the cost. Let’s take a look at why.

What is a Raised Garden Bed?

A raised garden bed is essentially just a bed of soil that has been raised above ground level, usually anywhere from six inches to waist-height. Raised beds are typically three to four feet wide and can vary in length. The sides are often enclosed in a frame that is most commonly made of wood but can be any material, including stone, metal, or brick. The bottom of a raised bed remains open to the ground.

What Are the Benefits of Raised-Bed Gardening?

The main benefit of raised bed gardening is that it usually produces a higher yield. This is due to a number of factors. One is that the plants in a raised bed can be planted closer together than in a typical in-bed garden. The goal is to have their leaves just touching each other when they are fully grown, which helps to suppress weed growth. Raised beds can handle this type of intensive planting because the soil is able to resist compaction and erosion. Looser soil, in turn, drains more efficiently and allows roots to grow deeper, making for healthier plant growth.

Another important benefit of raised beds is that they are usually easier to tend to. They don’t require as much bending, which helps to reduce strain on the back and the knees. You have the freedom to design your raised beds however you like for maximum accessibility and comfort. Additionally, raised beds usually allow you to start the growing season sooner in the spring. As the soil in a raised bed is above ground level, it thaws out faster than an in-ground garden.

Planning for a Raised-Bed Garden

The key to maximizing the benefits of raised beds is to do some careful planning before installing them. Make sure you will have enough space to walk all the way around each bed so that you can tend to every plant equally. It is likewise a good idea to build a frame that is thick enough to sit on, both for your own comfort and so that you are not sitting or walking on the soil in the bed.

While you’re still in the planning stages, you should also think about installing a drip irrigation system inside your raised beds. Raised beds tend to need frequent watering because of how well the soil drains, so a drip irrigation system can be a real time saver.

Raised-bed gardening is a great choice for everyone from novice green thumbs to experienced gardeners alike, so think about giving it a try this season. As long as you’ve got the space, just about any garden is a good location for one or more raised beds.

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