In your vegetable garden, raising the planting bed was not the first measure that people took, but as the planting deepened, everyone slowly transformed the garden into the form of planting beds, just like drip irrigation, you can use a planting bed would be accepted as planted deepening, so why not design an elevated planter in the first place?
01
Pros and Cons of Planting Beds
Why Build Raised Planting Beds?
what is the benefit?
What are the disadvantages of planting beds to consider?
Advantage
Easy gardening operation
plants grow in more
healthy soil
Medium Keep your garden clean and beautiful
stop weed invasion
deter pests
shortcoming
increase cost
Heats up faster and waters more often
1
Pros of Raised Vegetable Garden Beds
1. Easy gardening operation
Raised planting beds reduce the pressure on your lower back so you don't have to bend over to care for your plants. If the walls are slightly lower than your waist, you can even sit and operate on the edge to reap your bounty and better enjoy the planting process.
2. Plants grow better
The soil in raised planting beds usually begins to warm earlier in the spring than the surrounding soil. It also dries faster so you can plant cool-season crops sooner, extending the vegetable growing season and increasing your crop options, simply by using a raised garden.
3. Healthy soil
If the soil is sandy or clay and the process of improving the soil is slow, you can choose raised planting beds to create healthy soil more quickly, fill the beds with compost, other organic matter or good quality topsoil, and start gardening instead of Fight bad topsoil.
Raised beds also provide a healthier environment for beneficial microbes and earthworms, and since there's no back and forth to compact the soil, the nutrient-rich soil encourages vegetable growth.
4. Keep the garden clean and beautiful
Spread mulch between planting beds and your feet will stay clean no matter how wet the weather gets, and you won't have to worry about soil compaction. A series of neat or patterned small planting beds in which grown vegetables are stored in various forms for neat aesthetics and visual appeal.
5. Prevent weed invasion
Turfgrass has a spreading root system that often invades vegetable gardens as weeds. When you build raised vegetable beds, nearby sod will not spread over your vegetable crops, ensuring a healthy and happy raised vegetable garden.
Once the soil in your planted vegetable garden is bare, cover the surface with 3-5 cm of organic mulch. This reduces weeds and slows the evaporation of water from the soil.
6. Repel pests
Even with raised beds, small animals such as pets or mice can mess with your vegetables, and designing and building a raised vegetable garden at least 1 meter high is one way to prevent their invasion.
2
Cons of Raised Vegetable Beds
1. Increased cost
Planting directly on the ground, planting beds and fillings has costs compared to not moving anything, and the materials used are less durable and prone to damage requiring repair and restoration. replace. It is recommended to use low-cost and durable materials as much as possible, and to make a large amount of organic compost ahead of time, so that when the planting bed is actually filled, there is no need to buy additional soil.
2. Heat up quickly, water frequently
If your planting bed is taller, it will change temperature faster than the surrounding soil, and as summer heats up, water will evaporate faster and you will need to water more often and add organic mulch to retain moisture.
02
Planting bed materials and features
What materials should I use to build a raised vegetable garden bed?
Which materials are safe and which are not suitable?
It is recommended that you mainly refer to the following elements:
Local Sourcing and Sustainability
safe/unprocessed
Corrosion Resistant/Durable
Relatively economical and low cost
As with any building material, thorough research must be done on your own to ensure the choices you make are safe, environmentally friendly and sustainable, and suitable for your own circumstances.
The following will introduce the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of different materials from organic materials to inorganic materials, for your reference when choosing.
one,
Material properties and advantages and disadvantages
1. Wood
l planks or laths
It is the first choice for building planters because it is relatively inexpensive, readily available, and lasts for years. But care must be taken to ensure that the wood has not been chemically treated, such as preservatives, stains or paints, which could contaminate the soil.
Here are some popular wood species: cedar, yew, catalpa, chestnut, cypress, fir, pine, spruce, and more. Slow-growing tree wood is tougher and more resistant to decay.
As a precaution, some gardeners spread a protective layer of plastic over treated wood beds to create a barrier between the wood and the soil. Likewise, plastics need to be studied to ensure food safety, and the effects of condensation forming between plastics and wood need to be considered.
●Logs
Untreated and more ecological, but also more expensive and durable than wood.
2. Rattan
Weaving with branches is an environmentally friendly and economical way to do it, and it's also more aesthetically pleasing. The material is twigs or wicker trimmed in the garden. The disadvantage is low durability and time-consuming production.
3. Straw bag
Grass beds are cheap but not readily available in cities. The straw will slowly decompose during the planting process, providing nutrients for the crops, and at the bottom of the planting bed, providing plants with a strong water storage capacity. But it can't be used for a long time, and the aesthetics are average.
4. Concrete or brick
The overall heat preservation and moisturizing effect is reasonable, the durability is good, the material is easy to obtain, the construction is relatively easy, the volume is small, and it can be made into various shapes, so it is a very good material.
More decorative than wood, more expensive than wood, but very durable.
5. Pottery or tiles
Old shingles removed from the house are also an economical option. It needs to be inserted a certain depth into the soil, otherwise it may not be able to stabilize the soil when erected. Soil moisture also loses relatively quickly in tiled planting beds. But after a long time, the poor quality ones are easy to crack or break.
6. stone
Rocks of all shapes and sizes, such as blocks, slate, and granite, can be used to form planting beds. This kind of material has a moderate effect in heat preservation and water retention, but the disadvantage is that it is heavy and needs to be measured on the roof and other places. The load is not low, but the cost is not low, but it can be used for many years.
Granite slabs are an economical, convenient, and effective option. The main link is that the connection between the board and the board needs to be drilled in advance.
The above methods all require certain construction techniques and are time-consuming and labor-intensive, unless the materials are very common in the local area.
7. Metal
●Metal plating tank
Pros: Relatively light weight, easy to move and adjust, suitable for many styles; rusts over time. Metal temperatures can be too high in summer, causing leaf burn and soil overheating.
Rust steel plate (weathering steel) weathering steel
Add phosphorus, copper, chromium, nickel and other trace elements to form a protective film on the surface of steel to slow down the corrosion rate, but it will rust in the soil, and it is not sure whether it is safe for soil and food.
2
Materials to avoid
1. Old railway ties
In order to prolong the service life, the sleepers must undergo anti-corrosion treatment, which is generally composed of a mixed solution of coal tar and anthracene oil or sodium pentachlorophenate, and is not suitable for growing food.
2. Tires
There are many chemical substances, such as rubber, carbon black, petroleum additives, chemical mixtures, etc., which will decompose and volatilize into the soil and air.
3. Stained or painted wood
Most paints, no matter what they are, contain some harmful substances that you don't want to seep into the soil and food.
4. Old fashioned blocks/cinder blocks
Cinder blocks are made of cement and cinders, and it is difficult to ensure that all indicators meet the standards during the production process, so they can be used to grow flowers. Or make sure the material is poured with concrete.
