Raised Bed Gardening

By John Hall for Blue Mountain Town & Country Gazette

Raised bed gardening is terrific. The main advantage is that you don’t have to get all the way down on the ground to plant or harvest. The raised bed can be built with stone or brick walls or just wooden boards to raise the plants a couple of feet above ground level. Another option is to raise the planting area even higher in a raised gardening box, which can lift the garden to any height you

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You can also easily create your garden – especially on a smaller scale – in pots or other movable containers that aren’t too large or heavy. An advantage of this setup is that it lets you “chase the sunlight” by moving the pots to different locations during the day if that’s what you need to do based on how the sun falls on your garden area.

The Perfect Soil

Generally in a container or any raised bed that is not built right on the ground, you can either have a nice, loose general purpose soil designed for vegetables that lets your plant roots grow freely, or, if you will be raising one specific type of plant – especially in a single container – you can find or create a soil mix designed to be exactly what that type of plant will do best in. You can easily find plant and soil information online.

If you have never done this before, a little online research is a great place to start. Along the way, note that you can purchase some soil mixtures that are designed to release nutrients over an extended time period. In addition to online research, any nursery or garden center should be able to give you good advice around the characteristics and benefits of different soil types.

What to Grow

For the kind of gardening being talked about here, which is primarily seasonal – spring through fall – veggies, herbs, and pollinator-friendly plants, including flowering plants, are ideal.

Raised Gardening Boxes

Standing, raised-bed garden boxes are a practical solution for anyone who doesn’t really want to get down in the dirt, or can’t due to aching knees