What is Raised Bed Gardening?

Good water drainage is a must for most plants and can be a royal pain, if the area you've decided to grow in has a poor drainage problem. Doing some prior investigation can save you some frustration before you buy your plants. There are some plants that actually love the soaking wet ground and will flourish. Others will just wilt and die. Just make sure you plant in the appropriate areas.

Before any planting is done you're going to have to find out what your saturation point is. No you don't have to hire anyone to do this. It's really pretty simple and can be done yourself. Dig a hole about 10 or 12 inches and fill it with water. Come back in 24 hours when all the water has drained. Fill it up again. If it's not gone in 10 hours then your soil has a low saturation point. There aren't many plants, if any, that can survive those conditions. So, what can you do to increase your soils drainage? It's not as difficult as it sounds.

The solution to poor drainage is called "raised bed gardening". Creating a raised bed is nothing more than putting up a border approximately 4 to 6 inches above the level of your lawn. Then you can add soil and compost to the top of your border. This will dramaticaly increase your soils ability to drain, making it perfect for your gardening needs. If you find the soils drainage is not enough simply raise the level of your border. All of this will depend on whether your surface is grass or dirt. In either case the construction will vary slightly.

Two by fours will work quite well if you plan to start your raised bed over a dirt surface. Simply determine how big you want it to be. Cut your 2X4's, nail them together on their edge, set your box where you want it, drive a couple wooden stakes on the inside on opposite sides, level up the box, nail through the stakes to hold it level, add your soil and compost and you've created a raised bed! If your adding manure to your mixture it's best you let it set for a day or two so the manure has time to decompose a bit and doesn't burn the roots on your fresh plantings.

Setting up a raised bed where you've got grass will require a little bit more work but the concept is primarily the same as setting one up where there is dirt. There are two fairly obvious differences. The first being, you'll probably want to use something a bit more decorative than 2X4's. The second being, you'll need to take out the grass beneath your raised bed. I've heard suggestions that you can cut the sod out and turn it over. This would be unwise. It wouldn't be long before the grass was growing in your raised bed. So to avoid any future headaches, take it out and leave it out. Replace it with a layer of dense mulch and then a layer of pea gravel. You can get both at your local garden center. Fill the rest with soil, compost and manure. As in the above description, let the bed sit for a couple days then plant away.

Your new raised beds are now ready for planting. They are no different than planting anywhere else. Plant and water as normal. The process above will encourage healthy roots and consequently, healthy plants. It also creates an ideal environment for almost any plant to grow in.

Article Source: http://publisherscloninghouse.com

*****************************

If the success or failure of your online business depends
precariously on the whims of the search engines
take a tip from Harvey's ebook The Ultimate SuperTip.

FORGET ABOUT THEM!

Focus instead on traffic generation strategies which will
NEVER let you down
his free ebook shows you exactly what these are.
lightninghotprofits.com/SuperTips.html

Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5  Not yet Rated

Click this Icon to Receive Landscaping Articles Via RSS!