diy diygardens

gardening activities for kids

Raised beds are very popular among home gardeners and I certainly like them a lot, but if you’re starting a new garden building several raised beds can be quite expensive. So today’s first money-saving tip for beginning gardeners is to weigh the pros and cons of raised beds before making the investment. To help you with your decision if raised beds are right for you let’s talk about some of their pros and cons.

Let’s start with the pros. First if your native soil is very poor you might want to consider raised beds. For example, if your soil is hard clay, very sandy, or full of rocks a raised bed filled with quality garden soil will get you growing right away. It may take a few years to improve the fertility of your native soil. My raised beds are quite shallow. Taller beds are more accessible to those with back problems or other physical challenges and if the edge of the bed is wide enough you can even sit on it for easier planting, weeding, and harvesting. Other pros include reduced soil compaction, erosion, and improve drainage. Also initially a weed-free area to plant in. Finally one of the reasons we built our raised beds is that our garden slopes away from the Sun. Which is a significant disadvantage in a garden that’s already quite shaded. So we built our raised beds to slope toward the Sun. Of course, the more your slope is away from the Sun the greater the advantage raised beds can provide.