SolveYourProblem Article Series: Organic Gardening
Organic Gardening Tips & Advice

Raised Bed Organic Gardening
     

For many owners of a small organic garden, raised bed gardening is the way to go.

There are two main reasons that people choose raised bed gardens. First, if you have a small city backyard, raising the beds allows you to create a wonderful green effect closer to eye level that can be very attractive esthetically. Sometimes you can also create a roof garden this way - but do not build more beds than the roof will support!

Second, for older or disabled people who want to continue to garden without ever having to bend, this type of garden is perfect. Even in a wheelchair you can enjoy gardening outside with a well designed raised garden.

There is an additional advantage in raising up your organic garden. This is that it is easier for you to do the weeding and much of the pest control that is necessary when you do not use chemical herbicides and pesticides. For a small organic garden, height is a great advantage.

You can of course choose the height to suit your preference and comfort, but always be sure not to make the beds too wide. Unless they are only a little raised from the ground you will probably not be able to walk on them easily so you need to be able to reach the middle comfortably for weeding, planting and picking flowers and vegetables. If you will be sitting while you garden, either in a wheelchair or on a chair beside the flowerbeds, you will not be able to reach so far as someone who is standing.

If you are not wheelchair-bound, you could design your garden so that you can sit on the edge of the beds while you work. This requires strong walls, perhaps brick rather than wood. Brick beds are more expensive to set up and you probably would need some help from a professional unless you or someone in the family is able to lay bricks well. But the effect is longer lasting and for many people, more esthetically pleasing.

For an organic gardener brick has an extra advantage over wood: it does not need chemical preservatives that will seep into your soil. The treatment of wood that is used in fencing, furniture, sheds and other garden materials is something that many people do not think about when planning their gardens, but it is important if you want your garden to be truly free of chemical pollutants. Additionally, you are likely to have very little trouble with slugs in a brick-built garden. While they are happy to climb up wooden walls, they are not so comfortable on brick!

Be sure to leave a path that is wide enough for a wheelbarrow, at least between the major beds. If you don't want to be constantly bending, then being able to throw weeds etc into a barrow is a big advantage. You will also want to think about how you are going to get the soil into the beds when they are first built. This will be much easier if you can use a wheelbarrow.

If you have soil in your garden you can use this to fill your beds but you can take the opportunity to improve on your local soil by mixing in sand (if your soil is very clay), compost and mulch. For the top layer you could buy packaged topsoil that is suited to the types of plants that you want to grow.

Alternatively, you could create no dig garden beds. These are built up with alternating layers of newspaper, hay/straw, and potting mix or soil. This could help prevent your organic garden raised bed system becoming waterlogged in winter or rainy seasons.

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