Raised Bed Gardening - Vegetable Garden Tips for Beginners

Raised bed gardening is the practice of growing plants in a contained box elevated above ground. The benefits of raised bed gardening are that you can: 
1. Maximize Your Garden Harvest- Raised Bed Gardening is perfect for small spaces. You can maximize every square foot by planting in raised beds.
2. Organize Your Garden Plot - Not only can you grow more food per square foot, raised bed gardening is also aesthetically pleasing. You have clear boundaries on where you are growing plants and where there is a foot path. 
3. Improve Your Garden Soil - Raised bed gardening helps you improve you garden's soil quickly and it makes it easier to maintain. 

Raised Bed Gardening

4. Minimize Weeds in Your Garden - The boarder you create when building a raised bed acts as a barrier for weeds and grasses which keeps them from creeping into your garden. The soil is also so loose that if you do have weeds, they are easy to pull out and remove. 
5. Exclude Pests from Your Garden - Raised Beds can help exclude pests from accessing your garden from above and below. Burrowing pests like voles, gophers, and moles can be completely eliminated from accessing your garden if you line your raised bed with hardware cloth. Destructive animals like deer, birds, rabbits, and rodents that can access your garden from above can be deterred by adding a protect covering such as hoops, wire, or netting. 
WHAT DO YOU FILL A RAISED GARDEN BED WITH?
In order to get the best results, fill a raised garden bed with compost, composted animal manure, and wood chips! Raised beds can be built using permaculture methods which regenerate the soil and the environment. The Back to Eden Gardening method can be applied to raised garden beds! Cover your raised bed with wood chips which will act as a mulch that helps conserve moisture, suppress weeds, and build soil. Sign up for a free delivery of wood chips today!

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HOW DEEP SHOULD A RAISED BED GARDEN BE?
A raised bed garden should be at least 6 inches tall and can be as tall as you want it to be! The taller the raised bed the easier it is to access plants without needing to bend over to tend to them. Raised bed gardening is popular for anyone who has back pain, the elderly, and disabled people in a wheelchair find raised beds more accessible. However, the taller the bed, the deeper the compost needs to be which requires more input and work over time.  
HOW CLOSE DO I PLANT SEEDS IN A RAISED GARDEN BED?
Raised bed gardening is wonderful for growing vegetables and fruits. The goal is to plant your heirloom seeds close together so that when the vegetables are fully grown the leaves barely touch which creates a microclimate that suppresses weeds and conserves moisture. ​

Raised Bed Vegetable Garden