You want to start a garden, but you’re not sure if you’re up for renting a tiller or digging up your yard. You’ve maybe heard about gardening in raised beds as an alternative to traditional gardening, but you aren’t sure which is better. When putting in a garden, there are many aspects to consider. 

Our first few years of gardening were done in a traditional garden, in the ground.  We rented a tiller and dealt with trying to grow things in our heavy clay soil. But then we learned about Square Foot Gardening and raised garden beds, and it completely changed the way we garden. 

What is raised bed gardening?

Where traditional gardening, or flat-earth gardening, involves planting directly into the ground, raised bed gardening is basically gardening in a box. You have an enclosed space, which can be made out of just about anything, including but not limited to wood, concrete blocks, pavers, or even just a mound of dirt, in which you add soil and compost. The raised beds are typically no wider than four feet (this is because you want to make sure that you can reach into the middle without stepping into the bed) but can be any length. We have beds that are four feet long and beds that are thirty feet long! 

Benefits of Raised Bed Gardening

No tilling/No Soil Compaction

I don’t know about you, but tilling isn’t something I enjoy doing. The thought of buying an expensive piece of equipment that would be used once or twice a year, or renting one, doesn’t really appeal to me. And then you have to wait for the right conditions before you can till—meaning not too wet. And it always seems to be too wet in the spring. 

And I hate turning the dirt by hand even less—although it is a good workout!

With the raised bed garden, no tilling is needed. Because the soil is never walked on, it doesn’t get compacted down, and therefore doesn’t need to be tilled. This will save you time and money every spring.

Fewer weeds

If you hate weeding, raise your hand. I don’t know if you know this, but when you turn soil—like when you till—you bring many weed seeds to the surface and make it easier for them to germinate. With the raised beds, you should not be turning the soil much, so the weed seeds stay put.

Smaller area to maintain

You will already have fewer weeds because you are not turning the soil, but is it also a smaller area to maintain. This means fewer weeds as well. Your walkways will be mulched, or you’ll be able to weed-eat/mow them. And as your plants grow, because they are closer together, they shade weeds out.

Better soil for growing

I don’t know about you, but my native soil isn’t great for growing my garden plants. Sure, some do okay, but more don’t. We have heavy clay soil. Maybe you have sandy soil. Or maybe your soil is loam—neither clay or sand. In our raised garden beds, the soil mixture we create has more nutrients, good drainage, and keeps to soil most. 

Easier to garden in a smaller space

While we may have more land than others to garden on—we are currently on two-thirds of an acre—the great thing about raised beds is that as long as you have a little room, you can garden. Whether you have a postage stamp or hundreds of acres, you can have raised beds.

Extended growing season = More produce

Raised garden beds can extend your growing season. Because they are above the ground and the sides are enclosed, the soil warms up sooner in the spring and stays warmer in the fall. This enables you to both start gardening a little earlier and continue gardening a little later than your neighbors gardening in the flat earth. Naturally, this allows you to grow more produce.  

Things to Keep in Mind

While gardening in raised beds is great and I’ll never go back to traditional gardening, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Build the bed

With traditional gardening, you could dig a hole and start gardening. When gardening in a raised bed, you first need a raised bed. These can be built as easily as taking some wood and screwing or nailing it together or be much more elaborate. Thankfully, there are also kits you can buy that make it really easy to get started.

Beds may break down over time

Depending on what you build your bed out of, they may break down over time. We originally started with untreated pine boards. They were great for a first bed but broke down after a few years and we had to rebuild.

Buy soil components

Since you won’t be using your native soil (or at least, not all of it), you’ll have to buy something to put into your raised garden bed. While you could just use topsoil, we’ve found the best mix to be a mixture of compost, peat moss, and perlite. There are also premixed bags of soil you can buy just for raised beds. Check at your nearest garden center or home improvement store.

So, are you ready to start your raised bed garden? 

Comment below if you have any questions about starting a raised garden bed—I’m happy to answer any questions.