11 Benefits of Raised Bed Gardening

11 Benefits of Raised Beds

1. Complete control over your soil 

When you use raised beds, you are starting from a clean slate. There is no need to fight through clay to add amendments or try to add some humus to your sandy soil, instead you get to use the best and richest soil right from the start. You can fill your beds with well balanced, pH neutral, fertilized soil and have the perfect growing conditions day one.

2. Easy access to your plants

If you are like me and your back has given up on you then a raised bed is a life saver. After my first pregnancy I knew I couldn't keep up with the inground gardening anymore I needed to be kinder to my body, so I made some raised beds. The raised beds we make here at Edible Gardens Inc. are unbreakable and have a beautiful top trim that is wide enough for you to rest your hinny on! This is my favorite feature of the raised bed when it comes to maintaining your garden, I go out sit on the trim and tend to my beautiful veggie plants with minimal bending over!

3. Reduces the likelihood of pests

Out of reach: out of mind, if your bunnies, moles, and chipmunks have to climb to get to the food they aren't going to put in the work. They will most likely find an easier target. This year I had a beautiful strawberry harvest and thanks to the raised beds and my full canopy of leaves the berries were all mine not a single critter or bird got any. That being said, deer can still come in to munch but a deer fence is much easier to install and maintain than a critter cage. 

4. Weeds?? What's that?? Not in my raised beds

That beautiful rich soil you put in your beds an also be sanitized, that means no weed seeds or runners. Weeds will also have a very hard time coming up from below if they have to go through a foot of soil. This means the only weeds your fighting are ones from seeds that blow into your bed and those are just seedlings that have weak and shallow root systems. If you stay on top of them, you never end up with any established weeds in your garden. Villains like crabgrass are a thing of the past.

5. A center piece for your yard

A raised bed garden in well-made containers like the cedar ones we hand build, or in metal, or another durable material can be a beautify focal point and conversational piece. Have friends over to a cookout in your backyard and while your roasting zucchini fresh from your garden you can sit on your raised beds and talk about the adorable new buds on your tomato trellis. It can also be a personal experience; in the morning I love to go out back and sit in my garden watching the sunrise and breathing in the garden air. I swear it smells different. If you want a garden AND a manicured landscape a raised bed garden is both.

6. Clear distinction between your garden and your landscape

Maintaining a vegetable garden can be intimidating, it can feel overgrown, and the boarders can become unclear if you have inground beds. With raised beds there is a clear difference. You never have to worry about weeding and accidently pulling up a bleeding heart because you thought it was a weed in your vegetable garden or treading on a young pepper plant because you were trying to get to your zinnias. Everything is clearly separate. In fact, you never have to walk in your garden at all you can walk on your paths and never trample a plant again. With a clear space dedicated to your garden you can think of it like another room in your home, the garden room, and when you enter the garden room you can also enter the garden mindset and be more efficient with your time.

7. No tilling needed which is better for the soil

In a raised bed you don't have to till the soil a little cultivating in the first 4 inches or so is all that's needed. This is because there are no established weeds like we talked about in reason 4. Not having to till allows your soil to create natural structure deep in the bed and create a healthy micro-ecosystem with beneficial micro-organisms that enrich the soil.

8. Better drainage

That natural structure as well as the well-balanced soil means better drainage that allows the water to be evenly distributed with in the bed and then drain out so no water sits around. Siting water encourages more pests and disease so we never want sitting water in the garden. 

9. Less disease because of clean soil and isolated plants

Your wonderful soil, the natural structure, good drainage, and the separation from other plants in your yard all leads to one thing: healthier disease free plants. The plants in your raised beds may still have some pests and disease but they are both less likely, and easier to manage when it happens because it is controlled. A cabbage looper in one bed can’t spread easily to another bed so you can contain it and terminate it! If you are on our email list, you know what I’m talking about I have a personal vendetta against cabbage loopers. 

10. Raised beds are only as permanent as you want them to be. 

Raised beds once placed, especially our custom beds which can weigh about 700 pounds, are not going anywhere, unless you want them too. Raised beds can be moved by removing the soil, then pick them up, and put them where you want them. If you are worried for example that the home you are in is not your forever home, so you don't want to commit to a garden, raised beds are still an option. Our beds will last a lifetime and if you do move, or if you just want to move your garden to a new spot in your yard you can pick them up and move them without worrying about them falling apart. When you get to the new location you prep the spot you want like then put them down fill them with new dirt and your back in the gardening business. 

11. You can have a longer growing season!

Once again, this ties back to your premium soil. Your well-balanced nutrient rich soil that has been able to form a natural structure because it hasn't been tilled will heat up quicker than the ground. The soils’ ability to absorb and retain heat means you can start your growing season earlier and your plants will last longer. It is also easy to add some hoops and covers to your raised bed to protect the foliage from a frost. 

If you want to join in on raised bed gardening click the link to schedule a call and we can talk about how raised beds can work for you! https://linktr.ee/Marlenawolf