The Lowdown on Raised Beds - Why You Should Use One This Year! — Rohrer Seeds Skip to content
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The Lowdown on Raised Beds - Why You Should Use One This Year!

The Lowdown on Raised Beds - Why You Should Use One This Year!

If you are looking for ways to improve your gardening experience this season then adding a raised bed to your property may be a great way to do that. Find out why below!

 

What is a raised bed?

Craftsbury Raised Beds

A raised bed is a container that is used to garden in. They can be used for vegetables, flowers or any other kind of plant.

Raised beds come in all different shapes, sizes and materials. Most commonly, raised beds are built from wood planks and are rectangular like the photo above. Other types of beds are made from metal and may be round. 

You will also have the choice of deciding if you want your raised bed to have a bottom or not. Bottomless beds will offer better drainage which is important for plant health, especially if you are doing vegetables. A bed with a bottom on it will be detatched from the ground but this is beneficial to protect the bed from animals.

What are the benefits of using a raised bed instead of normal ground?

Free Garden Salad photo and picture

Raised beds are definitely an investment of money and time to make sure they will be successful, so you may be asking yourself: "why would I bother?" And here's why you should:

Using a raised bed will give you more control over the growing conditions for your plants.

Raised beds offer better drainage which is important for the health of the plant. Poorly drained soils, which can be common in traditional gardening, can damage plant roots causing diminished yields or other issues. 

Tip: if you have an elevated raised bed, do NOT put it on your wood deck. The draining water will cause the wood to rot. 

Raised beds also allow you to fully replace the soil if needed for optimal soil conditions thus eliminating having to deal with things like soil ammendments and additives. A good soil mix like the Coast of Maine Castine Raised Bed Mix will be ready right from the bag. 

Another aspect is that if your raised bed is tall enough it will save your knees and back! Our older customers often tell us how nice it is to not need to bend over as much to do their gardening. 

What should you put in your raised bed?

The truth is you can plant anything you want in a raised bed garden, many people choose to do our zinnia mixes like the Cut and Come Again mix for lovely bouqets. Most gardeners choose to do vegetables, though, due to the high quality of their yields. 

Tomatoes - a great option for raised garden beds due to the nutrition content provided by container soil blends. We recommend doing a beefsteak tomato like the Mortgage Lifter variety and a cherry tomato such as the Supersweet 100's

Lettuce - adding leafy greens to your raised bed is a good choice because the possibilities are endless for what they can be used for. Our customers love the Buttercrunch bib lettuce, its superior taste and texture simply cannot be compared to any grocery store lettuce you've had before.

Carrots - easy to grow from seed, they are a naturally sweet vegetable that offer tons of nutrition. Carrots are a staple food that can be used in many different ways! The Rainbow Blend carrot mix is a customer favorite for its different colors and great taste. 

Beans - a great option for your raised beds due to the fact that many bush varieties now exist so that adding supports to help them grow is no longer necessary. The Jade bean variety is by far the most popular of our bush beans.

For soil we recommend using the Coast of Maine Castine Blend Raised Bed Mix which is available for purchase at our retail store.

 

Good luck with your spring garden this year, please feel free to send us your garden/lawn photos to our email or any social media!

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