Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening
What is raised bed vegetable gardening? Why would anyone use this type of method to garden anyway? If you have seen pictures of raised beds, they look as if they are very large planters that allow you to grow various plants off the ground. Most commonly, they are done man made. In fact, you can easily make your own with just some wood and careful planning. Raised bed vegetable gardening has many advantages, too.
What Are The Benefits
Raised bed vegetable gardening offers benefits to both you and to the plants that you grow there. For example, you will find that this method allows you to grow plants that are off the ground, which means you won’t have to bend over or crawl through the garden to do your weeding! Much easier on the knees, that’s for sure. This also helps to make gardening more accessible to elderly people that can no longer get down and crawl around.
Another benefit to raised bed vegetable gardening is that it allows for excellent drainage for your plants. The plants can easily grow into the sunlight. A common problem for many in standard vegetable gardening is that the ground will wash away with any rainfall taking with it the nutrients that are necessary for good growing. Another reason this is beneficial happens if the gardener places timbers around this dirt. Then, if the water can not easily drain away, it can pool, becoming unhealthy for the plants growing there. With raised bed vegetable gardening, this is not the case because the beds are raised enough off the ground to allow water to pass through it easily. It also retains water better in this manner as well.
How To Make One
If you would like to add in raised bed vegetable gardening to your home or gardening location, the process can be simple. Build a perimeter around the area in which you would like to place the garden. This is commonly done with wood but other materials can be used as you see fit. Then, place a layer of gravel at the bottom to help encourage water drainage. You can make the bed as tall or as short as you like, and same with the width and depth of it. Fill it in with clean dirt or top soil, with all the nutrients necessary for your growing and you are set to get started.
Raised bed vegetable gardening is the prime way to do your gardening. While it may take a few minutes to set up, once done, you’ll love how easy it is to maintain them.