Raised garden beds offer several benefits: they save space in a small garden, provide shade for growing plants out of doors, and give you a chance to grow herbs, fruits, and vegetables that would otherwise be too tall or too long to reach when grown in the ground. Raised beds are perfect for container gardening because you can frequently move them to get new, different growing conditions. But even with container gardening, raised beds can be an asset. They have lots of advantages.
Raised-bed gardening is basically a form of organic gardening in which the bed soil is contained in three-to four-foot-deep containment layers, which can often be of stone, wood, or concrete and that can be of various shapes or length. The soil, however, is usually raised above the surrounding ground and can be fertilized with fertilizer. Fertilizers are crucial because without them the roots of the plants will not be able to penetrate and absorb the nutrients that the fertilizer has to offer. In addition, the roots will eventually exhaust the nutrients, resulting in the death of the plants.
As one might expect, one of the best features of Raised Garden Beds is that they make the gardening experience safer. This is because they can protect the gardener from both the sun’s damage and from the cold by providing shade over the top of the bed. The result is that the gardener can grow his or her vegetable and fruit trees and flowers without fear of frost and with only a thin layer of soil on the top. Raised bedding material also provides better drainage for water. And it is not surprising that raised garden beds are becoming quite popular among urban gardeners, as they make it easier to plant, protect, and look after one’s garden.
For anyone planning to start his or her own Raised Garden Bed, there are certain things that one should consider. First, one must determine what type of garden bedding would work best in his or her situation. There are basically two types of garden bedding, one that is made from solid material like gravel or peat moss and one that is made of a permeable material like perlite or sandy soil. Most modern raised garden beds are made from permeable materials so that the gardener does not have to carry all the bedding material around as it could easily wear out. But for those who wish to have a more natural looking raised garden bed, one may opt to use solid gravel or peat moss as the bedding material.
Other things that one may want to consider when making his or her own Raised Garden Bed include the kind of plants that he or she wants to grow. If the plants are going to be hardy, then one can simply dig a trench in the ground about three inches deep and place this in the center of the bedding. One can choose to plant cactuses, bulbs, evergreens, some herbs and ferns in this area as they tend to grow fast and make quick growing plants. If the plants are not too heavy to bear, then one may opt to place nettings or plastic over the top of the trenches.
But if you want to do gardening with an emphasis on herbs and ferns, then you need to know how much organic matter and soil matter is in your soil. Usually, gardeners will take a soil test which will tell them the moisture content of the soil. But the test results are only approximate since there are other factors that may affect the moisture content. Therefore, it is recommended that one takes a soil test which is based on therainwater level indicator. This way, you can make sure that the bedding material is not too heavy or too light.
For an easy raised bed option, one may also place grass in the bed. But for grasses, one should dig the bed at least six inches deep. But grasses tend to get so heavy that they can weigh the bed down. You can also plant vegetables in the bed such as beans, potatoes and tomatoes. For an easy option, you may use low-growing perennial grasses such as rye or clover. You may also plant vegetables such as carrots, radishes, turnips, and beets in the beds.
Another way of ensuring that your garden has adequate organic matter and moisture is to use grass clippings as mulch. You need to collect the grass clippings after each raking. However, you need to ensure that the grass clippings are dry and soft before using them as mulch. For this, you can use a blower to dry and soften the clippings. However, you may not be able to collect enough grass clippings for this purpose because it can take up to three days for grass clippings to completely dry.