Bedtime In The Garden

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The old-fashioned garden uses raised beds to transition up to a higher area in the landscape.

Flowers, vegetables and woody plants thrive in well-designed raised beds. You can use raised beds where the soil is poor or you can set them up on impervious surfaces such as decks, patios, driveways or parking lots. Raised beds can be used to define outdoor living spaces or provide screening for privacy, and the higher the level the greater the impact on the landscape. A herb garden in a raised bed brings its wonderful fragrances closer to your nose.

After the initial work of constructing the sides, you’ll have better control of the soil mixture, good drainage, fewer problems with in-the-ground critters, and maybe fewer weeds. Raised-bed systems reduce the area to care for, and because of the height they’re easier to tend. One reason plants do so well in a raised-bed system is that they tend to grow better in loose, uncompacted soil – you don’t walk in a raised bed!

Read the entire article in the April 2008 issue

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