by Jennifer Poindexter
Did you know there are many gardening methods? Gone are the days where you had to grow everything in the ground. Now, you can grow in containers, raised beds, in vertical gardens, and more!
However, with each gardening method, comes obstacles you must overcome. Raised bed gardening has become one of the more popular gardening methods in recent years. There are common mistakes gardeners make when using this method. I’m going to share those mistakes with you and also fill you in on how you can avoid them.
Here are the common mistakes made when gardening in raised beds.
1. Built in the Wrong Location
Sometimes people get caught up in what things look like and forget about their need for functionality. Garden beds fall into this category from time-to-time.
Though there might be a place in your yard where your garden would look best, it may not be the area where your garden would do the best.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
When planning where your raised beds should go, you must consider the needs of most plants. As a general rule, most plants prefer full sun.
Therefore, you should place your raised beds in an area that receives ample sunlight. A level place, in your yard, is also helpful.
2. Beds are Too Close Together
In my earliest days of gardening, I was one who would build first and think later. This explains why my first greenhouse couldn’t even fit a wheelbarrow between the beds inside of it.
Don’t do this. Instead, take the time to plan out your raised bed garden and consider the placement of each bed.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
If your raised beds are too close together, you won’t have room to maneuver. You need to be able to comfortably work in one bed without being cramped up against another.
You should also be able to fit a wheelbarrow comfortably between all the beds. Consider what you do in a garden, while mapping your raised beds, and ensure you can perform each task comfortably.
3. Skipping the Mulch
Mulch is no fun. I’ll be the first to admit it. It’s expensive and heavy when trying to apply it. I understand that it feels like one more thing you must do when gardening.
However, refuse the urge to skip it. Mulch is important to your garden, and it does so much more than make it look good.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
When you’re gardening in raised beds, you have many benefits. You can control the soil content, and it also helps deter many threats to your garden.
However, you’re working with limited soil. Therefore, you need mulch to help the plants retain moisture. Otherwise, you’ll be forced to water more frequently than you might intend.
4. Beds are Too Large
When designing your raised beds, you must consider functionality over anything else. Therefore, avoid the urge to “go big” when building these beds.
This might sound counterintuitive because you want to fit more plants in your garden. However, you shouldn’t do anything at the expense of functionality.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
A general rule, when building raised beds, is you should be able to reach from one side of the bed to the other on either side.
If you must stand in the middle of the bed to care for plants, your raised bed doesn’t function properly.
5. Beds Aren’t Near a Water Source
I keep going back to aesthetics, but if you’re looking for the top reason people do things which don’t make the most sense, it’s usually because they’re considering what looks best around their property.
Therefore, skip where you think your beds will look best and begin looking at your water source because your beds will need water.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
In most cases, you won’t want to hand-water your garden. Therefore, you must consider where your water source is.
You should also consider the length of your water hose and what style of watering system you’ll use. All of this should play into where you decide to place your raised bed garden.
6. Threats are Ignored
One of the most common reasons any type of garden fails is because threats came to the area, and they went undetected.
The same can happen in a raised bed garden. Stay alert to these issues, or your efforts might be for nothing.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
When growing any type of plant, you must know what threats they face. This involves both pests and diseases.
It’s important to know what they look like and how to treat them if they’re spotted. By staying on top of problems in your garden, you give your plants a greater chance at thriving.
7. Being Unintentional About Materials
This mistake will vary by opinion. There are many ways to build raised beds. Which materials you choose will be based upon your feelings and budget.
However, it’s important to weigh your options and understand the pros and cons to each style of raised bed.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
If you use untreated wood, it’s more prone to rot. If you use treated lumber, some people worry about chemicals that can be absorbed into the ground and your soil.
There are certain types of untreated lumber, such as cedar, that seems to be rot-resistant and durable for raised beds. You can also construct raised beds from concrete blocks to avoid both rot and chemicals.
8. Not Using Quality Soil
Outside of aesthetics, one of the most common reasons gardeners choose this style of gardening is to have more control over the soil.
It’s easier to amend soil in smaller spaces. Raised bed gardens can also be filled with any type of dirt you’d like. This is an obvious pro to this gardening method.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
When gardening in raised beds, you have control of what type of soil you choose to grow your plants in. Be sure to use quality soil.
Your soil should be light, fluffy, and well-draining. These qualities will ensure your plants have room to expand their root systems and avoid them living in consistently soggy conditions.
9. Picking the Wrong Plants
The final mistake people make when gardening in raised beds is choosing the wrong plants. You must consider what you’re growing when choosing a gardening method.
Every plant won’t work for every style of gardening. Take all of this into consideration prior to exploring gardening in raised beds.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
There are patio varieties of many plants. These would make excellent choices when selecting what to grow in a raised bed.
However, you might want to avoid larger plants such as large pumpkin or watermelon varieties. It would be hard to trellis such a crop, and they would take up too much room in your beds. Smaller, compact plants are some of the best choices for this gardening method.
We have explored nine different mistakes gardeners commonly make when choosing to garden in raised beds.
Take note of each mistake,and their solutions, before choosing this style of gardening. Though raised bed gardening can require more of an investment, it’s still functional and looks great, too.
Learn More About Raised Bed Gardening
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/smallfarms/raised-beds-vegetable-production
Hi! I have raised garden beds on legs. Having followed instructions on how to use them even using very good potting mix I have had very little luck with anything I tried to grow in them. They had more than 6 hours of sunlight and were watered regularly…everyday. What have I done wrong? Please help if you can.