Raised Beds

Gardening buffs will have heard of the term raised bed gardening. You may even have tried raised bed gardening in the past.

I must admit to being quite ignorant on the subject, but upon overhearing by accident one day, an argument by a young couple over whether they should go for a conventional garden, or whether they should try a raised bed garden, my lack of knowledge in the subject moved me to find out more about raised bed gardening and gardens.

At the time I was tempted to push my way through the queue of people in front of me and ask them exactly what raised bed gardens were but since that would have been rather rude, I instead decided to wait until I got home and I would do my own research.

After getting home with my new plants and putting them in the greenhouse I went into the house and clicked on the computer. After making a coffee I made my way to the most informative guide to gardening that I have. You’ll find you have it as well – the internet.

Typing “raised bed gardening” into my favourite search engine, which is MSN.co.uk by the way, I was invited to read a mass of articles on the subject I was interested in. Isn’t the internet a great place for quickly getting information on any type of gardening service or product imaginable?

I found that some of the articles weren’t written very well, so I decided to write this one to inform my readers more about raised bed gardens and what they are.

I initially thought that a raised bed garden was some kind of landscaping where you raised the whole garden higher than it naturally was, this isn’t the case though as you are actually raising smaller areas for planting.

A garden upon a ‘raised bed’. To create raised bed gardens people tend to use things like large containers, or pots. Troughs are also very popular as they provide an elongated bed in which to plant.

Small walled areas are very popular and I had seen these before. If you want to make your garden more unusual, they don’t need to be square or rectangle shaped. Different shapes produce varying results and can make very interesting features in a garden.

The main reasons why you would want to have a garden with a raised bed are purely for visual reasons. A raised bed garden makes for an interesting feature.

But second reason you would consider a raised bed garden is where the soil has poor drainage that can’t be overcomed easily.

The third is for ease of access. Raised bed gardens are great if you are arthritic or disabled, they allow you to continue gardening at a much preferred height.

Maybe not so important but in some gardens may be is the ability to protect your plants more easily from rabbits, moles or the worst of all disruptive influences – children’s feet!

No mud to contend with as well as an area that’s quick and easy to weed and control makes raised bed gardening an attractive proposition.