Raised Beds
“Raised Beds”
Raised beds do have many advantages. In heavy clay, just raising the soil helps to improve drainage. The raised bed is also convenient and can be attractive: they are also a solution to several other problems that may arise.
No soil compaction because raised beds prevent you walking on the growing surface. Easy access – walk around the beds on paths. Access to crops from both sides of the beds. Deep beds for those crops that require the extra depth.
A raised bed may be ready to plant into several weeks before the normal garden plot, especially during a cool, wet spring. Raised beds will allow excess moisture to drain away and therefore over-watering is less of a problem. They are often the answer for disabled gardeners for they are more convenient, making kneeling or bending too far unnecessary.
Raising a bed can even be a temporary situation, that way it is possible to change the configuration from year to year, and a good method especially when growing vegetables. There are so many materials suitable for retaining wall of raised beds. You can use landscape timbers, or railway sleepers for a more rustic look, bricks, stone or you might want to use interlocking concrete blocks.
Start your raised bed by digging the first (original) layer of soil then add a layer of well manured soil, and work that in thoroughly through the original layer of soil to root depth.
It’s important that the organic matter is worked all the way through the soil, or you could have a problem with a perched water table. Simply tossing on a layer of organic matter can actually result in problems: layers of wet and dry areas with different porosity prevent water from penetrating the soil uniformly.