Raised Gardening ? What Are the Advantages?
December 15, 2010 Categories: Vegetable Garden
There has been a considerable increase in the number of people turning to their own gardens to grow their own vegetables to save money and to take healthier food. Organic gardening is enjoying a level of popularity like never before and raised gardening seems to be the favourite choice. A swift stroll around a few of the gardens in your neighborhood will reveal small board or stone sided rectangles in peoples’ backyards housing mini vegetable gardens.
First let us look at what a raised bed is. It is a small patch of land that is fenced in by either wood, stone, cinderblock or brick. In this article we cover some of the main aspects of raised bed gardening to help you make the transition from in-ground to raised bed gardening in a smooth way. The beds are built atop the native soil and might or might not incorporate the soil. The raised bed gardens can be built with a variety of materials. Alternatively you can simply pile up the soil and ingredients to several inches in height and go ahead and plant anything from herbs to vegetables.
Raised gardening is not a new concept and has been in use for centuries to grow cash crops. There are advantages to be had in using this method to grow a healthy garden, though it might be a bit more costly than just digging up the existing soil and planting your vegetables. The raised beds are uniformly spaced out and the gardener can tend them from both sides quite comfortably.
When planning a raised garden you have to think about the cost of rot resistant, untreated wood, if wood is your choice of surround frame for the garden. Line the bottom with a hardware artifact or chicken wire to prevent the voles and moles from getting into the garden. If you think you don’t have any in your garden, guess again! Look into the watering system you have, if your garden is going to be massive enough to warrant more than a hose and spray nozzle you will need to have the connect ordered on. You will purchase the ideal calibre soil and compost so bourgeois that in as well.
Some of the advantages of having a raised bed garden are:
You have the opportunity to grow your vegetables in the highest calibre soil and compost available. Raised beds help you build up a rich and fertile base for your plants and you can make the adjustments with compost and fertilizer very easily.
Soil drainage is far superior in raised beds than in-ground gardens and you will not have to stand in puddle water in your garden. Make sure to line the bottom with sand and rocks to assist good drainage.
Weeds and slugs will mostly stay out of your raised garden; it is not so simple for the weeds to get into a raised bed garden. If you leave enough room between the rows you can even use your mower to keep things tidy.
A well ordered out garden means less maintenance time and no need to bend over for ages tending the beds.
Raised Gardening ? What Are the Advantages?
Want to know more about raised beds gardening ? Visit my website www.gardensetup.com for more information about organic gardening.
Article from articlesbase.com
Good article ! raised beds for veg are solving many problems.
We get great yeild from our ‘enviro raised beds at any-shape’
we have it in the front garden as there we have sun, but as they have a different shape we get lots of comments how tidy the garden looks.
1 circle shape and 2 curvy ones.
Your article is very informative although, there are several key points I would like to add.
1. Instead of using a water hose with a nozzel, your plants and vegetables will do much better with a drip watering system. With water sprayed over the plants, it tends to induce fungus growth on the underside of the leaves since they remain wet for a longer period of time with minimal light. The drip system waters the root system only.
2. It would be beneficial to put a layer of cardboard on the bottom of the raised bed prior to filling with your soil mixture. This promotes vericulture…worms love cardboard and this is a great way to lure them to your garden. Worm castings are probably the purest form of organic fertilizer.
3, When finding a suitable location for your raised bed, do not disturb the existing soil under the raised bed. If it’s a grassy area, leave it. The grass will decompose and turn into compost. Turning the existing soil will bring up the dormant seeds and you may have a mixture of your plantings and weeds.