These days, more and more families are starting a raised vegetable garden in their backyards. As Reuters noted in a 2008 article, health and economic factors are the main forces driving the popularity of home gardening.
With a bit of research and some physical labor, It’s easy to grow healthy foods that taste better and cost less than many of the varieties available in supermarkets. Starting your own raised vegetable garden is an excellent way to keep your family healthy. Many pricey health products such as pharmacy creams lose half their antioxidants after just 6 months. A raised vegetable garden with a diverse array of plants can ensure that your family gets all the vitamins, antioxidants, and other nutrients they need to stay healthy.
In the U.S., farmland accounts for 80% of all farming assets. Yet productive land is not an asset that must be reserved just for farmers — virtually anyone with a little outdoor space can start to grow their own food. For those of you who have been thinking about making your own raised vegetable garden, now is the perfect time to start. Here are some tips to keep in mind when putting the raised beds together.
Line the Bottom With Cardboard
Lining the bottom of your raised bed with cardboard before you add the soil is essential for preventing weeds from infiltrating your bed from the ground. This is a strategy that anyone can employ, unless, as owner of The Rusted Garden Gary Pilarchik points out in a video, you have poorly-draining soil in your yard. If your underlying soil does not absorb water well, cardboard may exacerbate the problem and lead to a waterlogged bed.
Don’t Overfill Your Bed
When our raised bed is built and ready to be filled with soil, it’s easy to end up adding too much in our excitement. However, you want to make sure to leave at least two inches of space from the top of the walls of the bed when you add your soil. Otherwise, you can end up with water spilling out when it rains or when you’re using your backyard hose. This spillage can take some soil with it, something we all want to avoid.
Add a Clear Coat to Painted Wood
A painted raised bed can be a visually stunning feature on your property. The pop of color will help draw the eye to all of the lovely vegetables you’re growing. However, paint can have volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are released over time, as well as other chemicals that can leach into the soil.
The key to keeping your raised vegetable garden clean and safe is to coat the painted wood with a non-toxic sealer, ideally one that is water-based. The reason some well-lined water storage tanks can last as long as a century is that the lining protects the walls of the container while keeping the water safe to drink. Adding a clear coat to the painted wood of your raised bed has the same effect, greatly increasing the bed’s longevity.
Keep these three tips in mind as you continue your raised bed research. With summer in full swing, now is the perfect time to start the raised vegetable garden you’ve always wanted.
Image credit: Markus Spiske via Adobe Spark
