Why Raised Beds Gardens Are Better
1. Raised beds warm more quickly in the spring, allowing you to work your beds and plant earlier: With your planting soil in a raised bed, the actual volume to be warmed along with the warming effect of all four sides allows for earlier planting. Depending on your area, this can be 30-60 earlier.
2. Raised beds extend the growing season: In the fall, your raised bed can be easily converted to a mini greenhouse with a simple ‘hoop house kit’. With proper care, some areas can plant and grow through the winter months
3. Beds drain better: In raised bed gardening you dictate what soil you use allowing for a better drainage. No more clay or hard pan soil to deal with, just a pure organic growing environment with maximized water absorption while excess water easily drains away. This helps prevent one of the common mistakes for new gardeners, over watering.
4. Soil doesn’t get compacted from traffic: Since you never need to ‘enter’ your garden, your soil stays light and airy promoting better aeration of the soil stimulating strong root growth for healthier plants
5. Customize your soil to maximize growth potential: You can custom blend your soil based on your plant choice to optimize growing potential and overall production
6. Raised beds require less work to start and to maintain: In a tradition garden, you have to work your planting space and your walking ‘row’ space. This can be up to twice the needed space for your garden. I don’t know about you, but I want my work going to planting and production, not wasted space.
7. Raised beds produce higher crop yields: In a raised bed garden, all the space is used for planting unlike a tradition garden with rows and spaces in between. For raised bed gardens, you will use a simple system called ‘square foot gardening’ (see our Maximizing Your Space for more details)
8. Less water and fertilizer waste: In a traditional garden, a sprinkler will cover your plants along with your rows, resulting in at least 50% waste on unplanted soil. In a raised bed garden, all of your water is used for your plants within a confined space resulting in less need and reduced waste
9. Simplified weed and pest control: In a raised bed garden not only are weeds reduced by using ‘Square Foot Gardening’ planting, but identifying the weeds is much easier. You spend less time weeding and more time growing. In addition the vertical, rough cedar siding discourages slugs and other pests from entering your garden space. You can even set up a barrier around your raised bed garden while maintaining the organic integrity of your growing environment
10. Reduces space requirements for gardening: With a traditional garden, you need space for both rows and walking, with half being wasted as non-productive space. In a raised bed garden, all the space is used for growing. This reduces your foot print space by 50% or more. Our largest raised bed kit requires 32 total square feet. A traditional garden requires at a minimum 64 square feet of space for two eight foot rows for growing (each eight foot rows requiring two feet of space on each side for access).
2. Raised beds extend the growing season: In the fall, your raised bed can be easily converted to a mini greenhouse with a simple ‘hoop house kit’. With proper care, some areas can plant and grow through the winter months
3. Beds drain better: In raised bed gardening you dictate what soil you use allowing for a better drainage. No more clay or hard pan soil to deal with, just a pure organic growing environment with maximized water absorption while excess water easily drains away. This helps prevent one of the common mistakes for new gardeners, over watering.
4. Soil doesn’t get compacted from traffic: Since you never need to ‘enter’ your garden, your soil stays light and airy promoting better aeration of the soil stimulating strong root growth for healthier plants
5. Customize your soil to maximize growth potential: You can custom blend your soil based on your plant choice to optimize growing potential and overall production
6. Raised beds require less work to start and to maintain: In a tradition garden, you have to work your planting space and your walking ‘row’ space. This can be up to twice the needed space for your garden. I don’t know about you, but I want my work going to planting and production, not wasted space.
7. Raised beds produce higher crop yields: In a raised bed garden, all the space is used for planting unlike a tradition garden with rows and spaces in between. For raised bed gardens, you will use a simple system called ‘square foot gardening’ (see our Maximizing Your Space for more details)
8. Less water and fertilizer waste: In a traditional garden, a sprinkler will cover your plants along with your rows, resulting in at least 50% waste on unplanted soil. In a raised bed garden, all of your water is used for your plants within a confined space resulting in less need and reduced waste
9. Simplified weed and pest control: In a raised bed garden not only are weeds reduced by using ‘Square Foot Gardening’ planting, but identifying the weeds is much easier. You spend less time weeding and more time growing. In addition the vertical, rough cedar siding discourages slugs and other pests from entering your garden space. You can even set up a barrier around your raised bed garden while maintaining the organic integrity of your growing environment
10. Reduces space requirements for gardening: With a traditional garden, you need space for both rows and walking, with half being wasted as non-productive space. In a raised bed garden, all the space is used for growing. This reduces your foot print space by 50% or more. Our largest raised bed kit requires 32 total square feet. A traditional garden requires at a minimum 64 square feet of space for two eight foot rows for growing (each eight foot rows requiring two feet of space on each side for access).