Raised Bed Gardening

Raised Bed Gardening

High-yield container gardening can help reduce the use of chemical fertilizers/herbicides/pesticides for healthier and more naturally grown vegetables, herbs, and flowers. A raised bed can help extend the growing season, make outstanding starter beds for larger scale gardeners, and can also be used in greenhouses.

Why Raised Bed Gardening?

1. More production per square foot - The traditional home garden yields about .6 pounds per square foot of vegetables while research at Dawes Arboretum near Newark, OH found an average yield of 1.24 pounds of vegetables per square foot.

2. Improved soil conditions - Tractors, tillers, or human feet compress the soil and make it more difficult for water, air, and roots to move in a flat garden space.. In a raised bed. saturated soils get a dose of lime every spring via percolation. Acidity can be maintained in the 5.8 to 6.8 range that vegetables prefer because percolation is reduced by gravity in a raised bed..

3. Use less fertilizer - Fertilize the growing area and not garden paths.

4. Use less water - The gardener waters plants where water is needed avoiding waste on paths or to the side of the beds.

5. Pest control - The bottom of the bed can be lined with poultry wire or hardware cloth to stop burrowing rodents.

6. Less weeds - Lining the bottom of the bed with plastic, mulch or cloth stops the weeds. It is easy to remove weeds from the loose soil in a raised bed.

7. Extend the growing season - The soil warms faster and cools slower so beds can be planted earlier in the spring and will produce later in the fall.