Never walking on garden beds is a golden rule every gardener should follow, and walking only on paths will help prevent soil compaction. Once established, gardeners need only dig in for normal tillage or weeding, which may also include harvesting any tuber crops. Many would agree that it is immoral to destroy what little life remains in the soil in order to grow plants. This only speaks to the awareness of soil ecology and the ignorance of maintaining soil life when growing crops. Weeds grow every time you dig, turn or loosen the soil because that's how you recover from damage. Perennial weeds can regrow due to regular tilling and digging of the soil. When the soil is left undisturbed or tilled, there is less need for soil remediation and fewer weeds.
One of the great advantages of building garden beds is that the soil warms up faster in the spring, allowing for quicker planting. However, it heats up throughout the season. This is where mulch can help your garden beds. An important role of mulch is to regulate soil temperature and retain moisture. These are key needs for your garden beds, especially in summer. It regulates temperature better than bare soil. Mulches are known to regulate humidity. During the rainy season, it absorbs excess rainwater like a spring. During dry periods, mulch helps retain moisture and prevent it from evaporating during the hot season. Eventually, you'll find that all of your covered garden beds are much healthier than they would be if you didn't add them.
Here are some innovative and inexpensive ways for beginners to create their own garden beds that you might want to consider too.
1. An affordable material that can be used for garden beds is untreated pine or any similar wood. Untreated pine can live for several seasons. If it rains a lot in your area, it can cause the wood to break down quickly. This makes untreated wood a good choice if you want to install a makeshift bed and don't want to spend a lot of money on materials.
2. The methods used to pressure treat wood are now safer than ever. Today, the main substance used for stress treatment is copper, which is a micronutrient required by plants. Therefore, there is little safety risk in using pressure-treated pine. If enough copper leaches into the soil, it could be a health hazard, and you'll see the effects on plants first. You will notice a difference in the health of the plants. If you're using wood that's been pressure treated with today's technology, the copper will probably only leach near the wood.
3. Another inexpensive option is to use reclaimed wood. Maybe the lumber you removed for the fence is piling up in your storage room. You can reuse them to make garden beds. However, if you know the wood has been pressure treated, you need to be careful to ensure that it is treated with current techniques and not pre-treated.
Also, pressure-treated wood is a controversial material for garden beds, and wood containing copper chromated arsenate should not be placed near your yard for safety reasons.
