Southwest Florida Gardening

Why build a raised bed garden? There are a number of reasons:

• They are attractive
• They are easier on your back (once you’ve built them)
• They grow more plants in less space
• They save on resources like water and fertilizer
• They let you grow a garden on otherwise poor soil

We’ve already talked about some of these points. Let’s look at the resources issue today.

Traditionally, you plow the garden in early spring, get it into workable condition, and then broadcast fertilizer, lime or whatever other soil improvements you deem necessary. Then you mark off your rows with proper spacing between them so you’re able to get your cultivating tools up and down the rows to control the weeds.

With a raised bed garden, you usually don’t have to do much more than rake the soil to break up any crust that may have formed on the surface. Then you add your compost or other fertilizer and soil amendments, but only to the raised bed. You aren’t wasting it on the paths between the beds. That’s a savings right there.

The paths between the raised beds are just that: paths. They don’t need cultivating or hoeing. You just run the lawn mower over them if they are grass covered paths, or if you are a bit fancier and put down a hard surface like brick or pavers, you don’t have to do anything at all.

I like to water my raised bed garden with a drip system. You can get starter kits at Home Depot or other big box stores that include a pressure reducer and enough tubing to get you started. Then you attach it to a garden hose and you’re good to go. The entire garden can be watered at once and since it’s a drip system, there is no run-off or excess evaporation. The water is put right where it’s needed, close to the roots of the plants.

It doesn’t matter if your soil is poor, rocky, sandy, or whatever. You made the perfect soil and used that to fill the raised bed garden, thus creating a pocket of perfection, just for your garden. And because you only use it to fill the raised bed framework, you save money.

No more spring plowing, no more fertilizing the paths so the weeds can flourish, no more hoeing or cultivating to control the weeds.

A properly planted raised bed garden is pretty much weed-free because the plants themselves keep the soil shaded and weeds, just like any other plants, need sunlight to sprout and grow.