Raised garden beds or garden boxes, are popular and productive gardening methods. Here the gardeners can easily produce vegetables, flowers and other plants in lowest amount of land saving labor, money and time.
Benefits of Raised Garden Beds:
The raised garden bed is higher than the surrounding ground and is built in a geometric way so there is extra pathway without hampering the plants. The bed protects the plants from pathway weeds and other pests like slugs and snails. It also protects the garden soil from washed away in rain water. Weeds are easy to pull up as the soil is loose. Even the gardeners need not remove weeds when the crops grow close together as weeds cannot compete with the crops.
Raised garden beds also save time; labor and money as you need dig, fertilize, and water only the beds, not the entire ground. Gardeners who cannot move freely find raised beds the perfect solution as they can care for the plants sitting on a wheelchair or on the strong frame of the beds.
Raised garden beds are bottomless and open to the ground that allow the plant roots farther into the ground to collect available nutrients in the ground. Here crops grow better as the soil in the beds is deep, loose, and fertile.
How to Build Raised Garden Beds:
Raised garden beds are higher than the ground level and consist of fertile soil surrounded by a frame to keep it in place. The frame is generally made of wood, rock, or concrete blocks. Among them wood is better and Eco-friendly. Choosing the most sustainable wood makes the bed last longer, even ten years without repair.
The beds are separated by paths from where the gardeners take care of the plants. Before setting up the bed the gardeners have to lose the soil with fork and dig the soil about 6 to 12 inches deep. It is better to mix the soil of top and down layers together for better rooting. The selection of a sunny place is the best location for gardening.
The raised garden bed can be of any length or shape according to the location. Normally beds are of 28 to 30 inches high, 4 feet wide by 8 feet long or 4 feet wide by 12 feet long so that you can easily reach the center of the bed without stepping into it. The depth of the bed for rooting of the plants is better up to 6-12 inches.