Creating a food-producing vegetable garden can be, with a little planning, not only enjoyable but very rewarding.
Here are 7 advantages to creating raised beds for food production in your own backyard:
- They look better because the area is more orderly and defined
- Soil conditions and can be better controlled
- Water, fertilizer and compost can be more accurately applied
- They drain more efficiently
- You do not have to step in the garden thereby reducing soil compaction providing for healthier plants as their roots need loose soil and air to flourish
- Plants can be spaced a little closer together increasing productivity per square foot of garden area (some claim it doubles productivity)
- Raised beds are easier to weed and maintain – saving your back and your knees
Next I’ll share the considerations and reasons around the planning of our own garden.
I initially wanted to name this article ‘My Sustainable Garden’ but in doing my research I found that that term made things way too complicated. Yes, I wanted an are in our yard that could feed our family and I wanted it to be as organic as possible, but raising chickens and rabbits to use their poop as fertilizer was just a bit much for me. So I decided instead to call it what is it – A fun, food-producing garden.
One of my greatest joys in life is walking around the yard with a morning cup of coffee and watching the progress my tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers are making. Even more delightful is harvesting and feeding my family with the fruits of my labor!
Most of our backyard is a pool area that just came with the house. (I would have preferred garden space) However, there is a “not good for much of anything” area behind the garage that gets good sunlight that I really wanted to make useful. No need to waste space and time mowing and edging something that has no use, right? There is a large slab poured there that the former home owners’ son played basketball on. It would make an ideal area for patio furniture so I decided to create my space with lounging on the patio in mind. My goal was to dedicate the whole area to gardens and trees that produce fruits and vegetables. It is not a large area and I wanted to only harvest enough vegetables to eat a day at a time, so I decided making raised bed gardens was my best choice. There are many advantages to raised bed gardens.
In my next post I will share 7 advantages to creating raised-bed gardens.
