I am starting to get older and it's getting harder to lean over and pull weeds and take care of a garden.  My extra unbalanced weight keeps pulling me over!  My daughter-in-law has introduced me to raised bed gardening.  She had a good summer crop this year and it was amazing how the weeds were minimal and easy to pull.  She even had it sitting on her second floor balcony!  How convenient is that?  So now I'm thinking I might give it a try this year.

In doing research on it, I have found that some of the benefits of a raised bed is that the soil stays warmer, it's easy to reach and even people with disabilities that might require a wheelchair or otherwise forcing them to stay off their feet can build the bed to their level that they can work on as they sit in a chair or raise it if they can't bend over or bend low.  Drainage is good and there is no standing water.  You can also control what the soil content is.  Most people will bring in their own soil, compost and natural fertilizer into their beds but you can also use your own local soil.  There is better control over the soil should you be growing plants that need special soil to grow their best.  Raised beds can also be attractive.  Because of their ease of use, it seems that they may get more attention on a more regular basis.

You can purchase unassembled raised bed kits or you can make your own from two by tens, concrete blocks or even landscape timbers, it just needs to be extremely strong to hold in the soil.  Do not line the bottom of the frame with plastic as it will hold in the water that you want to drain out.  Also, make sure the width of the bed is no more than two arms lengths so that you can easily reach across.

You can use your own soil or purchase soil mixes.  It is easy to hand water, use sprinklers or even a drip hose and make sure that the bed gets watered evenly.  Plastic mulch is good for keeping the weeds out.  You can also add organic mulches if you like the way they look in the garden.

There are books out there that give you detailed instructions on raised bed gardening as well.  You can even check them out at your local library, that's what my daughter-in-law did and then eventually bought the book to keep on hand.  I'm hoping to try a raised garden this year and I will let you know the pros and cons.  If I don't get it done, I'll have my daughter-in-law keep us up to date!