The Advantages of Raised Beds?

Could someone explain the advantages of growing a vegetable garden in a raised bed as opposed to ground level? Im new to all of this and at the moment am growing what I think is referred to as a 'Potager garden'.

Believe it or not, plant roots need oxygen to survive. Plants which are exposed to standing water for several hours can wither and/or experience root rot.

Many of us on the Gulf Coast have heavy clay "gumbo" soils which drain extremely poorly. Even if you dig down and add really good soil, you are just creating a "bowl" effect, with an area of good soil surrounded by thick, gummy clay.

We tend to have monsoon type pounding drenching rainstorms we get for days on end, so the possibility of plant roots being left in standing water for hours is a reality. I know when it rains here, water tends to pool in low spots and take hours to drain.

Further, most vegetables benefit from deep, loose, loamy soil with good drainage.

So for all those reasons, and the neatness of "boxed" raised beds, and ease of having established walkways between beds, I choose to use raised beds with pressure-treated lumber sides.

Pressure-treated lumber doesn't use arsenic/arsenide anymore btw.

This message was edited Apr 16, 2009 12:39 PM

Thanks so much for the response. Now I understand why some poeple use the raised beds.

well, I live here on the Southern Atlantic coast (sandy soil) so drainage is definitely not a problem. can rain all day here and collect water in low spots in the yard, but an hour later, that 'puddle' will be gone. So maybe I'm ok without a raised bed this year?

Also, if you have bad knees or a bad back, you don't have to bend down as far to harvest. :)

For me, I have to put wire around everything to prevent gophers from demolishing even established plants. Building a box and tacking mesh on the bottom is easier that digging down 12-18'' to lay wire.

Raised beds also help us northern growers plant earlier in the spring, and later in the fall, since they tend to be slightly warmer. Somehow I don't think that's an issue in zone 9a.

LOL.. nope, definitely not an issue here in 9a...LOL... I like to tell everyone that Florida has 4 seasons: almost Summer, Summer, Not Summer but Hot and February... lol

LOL - sounds a lot like Phoenix!! Except here we refer to the seasons as hot and not quite so hot. Kelly

yeah, probably so, only Pheonix is minus the extreme humidity. Oh how I envy you.

In Texas we have warm, hot, still hot, and freezing.

In NJ we have below freezing, summer heat, torrential rain, and bone dry and windy, and that's just in the last 4 days.

cue_chik - I think you'd forget about that envy if you visited on one of our 110+ degree days - lol.

lol, well, maybe, but Im still thinking 110 in DRY weather might be slightly better than 102 with 80% humidity. LOL, either way, its just hot.

Its also easier to adjust or condition your soil in a raised bed and weed control is much easier.