Some Advantages of Raised Bed Gardening

As we get older, we start to develop different physical complaints.  Now some of these can affect our lives if we let them.  For instance, both my wife and my father still like to garden, but both have problems tending plants at ground level.  My wife has some arthritis and my father who is almost 93 has bad knees.  But with a little bit of planning we have made it possible for both to continue to garden by using raised bed gardening.

Now this is the third year we have used raised bed gardening and I have written previous posts on them.  Now admittedly because of cost you probably can’t do large tracts of vegetables.  But by using square foot gardening techniques it is surprising how much food you can produce in a small area.

We have used two different ways of making them.  At my house, we used a number of Rubbermaid horse troughs that we got a good buy on.  These have worked out well and because of the dark color seem to start producing earlier than plants in the ground.  I think that this is due to warm temperature caused by the dark colors..

At my father’s house, we built raised planters out of redwood.  The planters are about 4 feet by 8 feet and about 3 1/3 feet high.  These have worked well for him and he is able to still raise a small garden.

While for many of the younger people this may not seem like a big deal, but it lets him feel like he is still contributing and the extra food is great.  Another good reason for raised bed gardens is that is a lot easier to control the weeds.  They are easier to pull and we don’t seem to get anywhere near as many.

So if you want to try raised bed gardening and the price of redwood is stopping you, think outside the box.  There are many things you may be able to utilize.  One of my sons is growing some plants in a galvanized tube he found for little or nothing.  Check your local garage sales and Craigslist for ideas.  If you have a good idea write me, so we can share it with others.

Howard

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