Gardening with Raised Beds

[missmanors]

As I get older, it's getting a little harder on my knees to kneel in the garden and plant, or weed it. I've been thinking of using some raised beds to make this task easier.

Raised bed gardens are much easier to maintain, and after the initial building, would be much easier on my joints, as I could build a kind of seat around the bed's edge to use as a seat. This would allow me to garden in comfort again.

Raised beds (figure A) look good, solve soil problems, help control pests, improve yield, and conserve water. "I've always found that the soil in a raised bed isn't nearly as compacted as it is in a more conventional garden," says master gardener Paul James. "So it's easy to just pluck the weeds right out."
Raised beds aren't just for summer vegetable gardens. Any plant that loves a well-drained soil will love a raised bed. "Most raised beds are created to raise the soil line, creating a bed that eliminates foot traffic," says "Farmer Fred" Hoffman, a radio show host in Herald, California. And raised beds can be made from a variety of materials such as fence-post caps (figure B), the remnants of a concrete driveway (figure C), or from the most commonly used material, wood.

When I found this wooden plan for a raised bed, it looks like something that would definitely benefit me, and pretty much just what I've been looking for. I probably won't go with the drip watering system used, but otherwise it seems perfect for me.

Gardening with Raised Beds

[flippinout]

Raised beds could be just the thing I also need. As I am getting older, it is getting harder to bend down to take care of my flower gardens, so I think I will also try these.

Plus, the raised beds give a totally different look to the area and could be worked in to give the area a lot more eye appeal.