It’s the great garden debate– raised beds versus in ground gardening! This video covers the pros & cons of each style of gardening, what I personally prefer and a raised bed garden mistake to avoid.
Penn State article on using treated lumber in the garden– https://extension.psu.edu/environmental-soil-issues-garden-use-of-treated-lumber
Some of the links included here are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. I will only recommend items I love and should you choose to make a purchase, it helps support the channel! Thank you! 💚
Hortisketch Garden Planner and Garden Manager (use my code JENNA5 for $5 off) – https://gardensavvy.com
My favorite, long-lasting seed starting trays: https://allaboutthegarden.com/?sca_ref=3177483.OMdSez9uOx
RX Soil Testing (use my code “growfully” for 10% off your order): https://rxsoil.com/nutrients?source=growfully
North Spore Premium Mushroom Starting Supplies (use my code GROWFULLY for 10% off):
https://northspore.sjv.io/Nke3Q2
HISEA Gardening Boots https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=2070082&u=3609025&m=122274&urllink=&afftrack=
Use discount code 𝐉𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚𝟏𝟓 for 15% off all HISEA products
Dripworks Irrigation: https://www.dripworks.com/?ref=Growfully
Omlet Chicken Coops and Supplies: https://www.omlet.us/shop/chicken_keeping/?aid=KTYTQCQR
A.M. Leonard Horticultural Tool & Supply: https://amleo.idevaffiliate.com/184.html
Growfully Amazon Storefront (products I use): https://www.amazon.com/shop/growfullywithjenna
00:00 Intro
00:23 Pros of Raised Beds
02:49 Cons of Raised Beds
06:27 A word on treated lumber in the garden
09:11 Pros of In-Ground Beds
13:07 Cons of In-Ground Beds
15:13 Which style do I prefer? And how do I utilize both types of beds?
15:55 A raised bed mistake
source
We love the tonka truck with the chickens lol raising that boy right!
Bought a hay field 2 years ago. A commercial soil test shows my 3 acres are slightly better than concrete for gardening. I built a 24" high, 4×12 raised bed using linseed oil treated wood and galvanized roofing. I filled the raised bed with a 50/50 mixture of soil left over from a neighbor's construction project and local garden compost. This was placed over tree trunks and branches I cut from a friend's yard after a strong storm. I planted this bed with asparagus crowns. Hopefully next year my wife can harvest the spring vegetable she loves. I have noticed it dries out faster than in ground beds.
Today I am going out and picking up a couple yards of pulverized topsoil, to amend a couple beds I put in 4 years ago. My mistake was in the raised bed mix I purchased, had zero dirt, all forest products and compost. I did build the beds over a hügelkultur pit, expected settling, but with no soil in the top foot of garden, my tomatoes and peppers would not take off until the roots reached the dirt down below.
If I had it to do over again, would skip the raised beds except for one like you have for carrots, perhaps for sweet potatoes too.
Good video topic, where was this 5 years ago, lol.
Stay Well!!!!
I did concrete block for my beds as my cheaper cedar bed kits didn't last beyond 5 years. I also have two metal beds which have lasted 7+ years so far with no rusting.
I just put in my first in ground bed. I have 4 raised beds, excited/nervous to see how it goes this season!
Just getting started this year. Planning on in ground with a 6 inch raise. In western Pennsylvania the weather is not helping at the moment 😅
I'm in East Tennessee and I'd say the same about watering in ground beds. I water my raised beds all the time in the heat of summer because they dry out faster, but my in ground portion of the garden only needs water a few times. I mulch a lot and we have summer storms. And yes, the wet spring can make it a bit swampy and hard to get garden chores done during the right time frame.
Year-round I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and zucchini in buckets and home-made earth boxes around my pool. I mix my own soil from Black Kow & various potting soil mixes. Earthworm castings is my latest amendment to my soil. The results are fantastic!
I did the square foot garden thing, but I didn't want to limit my plants and wanted to improve my soil in the end, so I used cardboard as my weed blocker, and then used a blend of peat moss (I've since switched out to coco coir), vermiculite, and compost. The plants have been all pretty happy with that, though my biggest issues have been watering (I've got a plan for that this year!), and summer heat (I invested in shade cloth last year). This will be my third year gardening, so hopefully my plans for watering and shade will help out this year!
I collected old privacy fencing that people around town were replacing with new. Built my raised beds with 3 layers of the old dog ear slats and lineds the sides with 4mil plastic.
They are holding up well.
Very informative! Thank you
Amazing content, science is so sexy, thank you👍
I cringe seeing people (like you) using a wheel barrel to bring in soil amendments. I have a riding mower and a cart in the back to haul stuff around – Plus a pick-up truck! Gardeners don’t leave enough room to get that in and out with raised beds. And you can’t use the chicken tractor with the frames of the raised beds. And you are only getting 7-8 years with wood frames, with wood getting expensive. It does looks beautiful and organized however! With all the recycled plastics and old tires I don’t know why they can’t just make something cheap that will last 20 years.
Then you have the 2 ½’ raised metal beds. You have to fill it. And then give life to the soil like worms, and also water it. Probably nicer for older people.
fellow Ohioan here. I used a mix of raised bed, hugelkultur, and in ground with mounded rows. Over the past few years I have figured out what grows best for me with the 3 different methods and I see a benefit to all of them. Yes there are cons to each, but I have found that once you learn what grows best with each method in your area the cons are very minimal. I love that I get different results for each type, and it allows me to grow more with less work and less intrusion on nature itself.
Wild!!! We have completely sandy soil here in southern Indiana and I could water every single day and not have an issue.
Hello there Jenna! Good to see you. I am about five minutes and wish to share something with you and anyone reading this.
I completed an extension program last year and the instructor has raised beds that have no constructed materials on the boarder. They are about knee high and in 4×20 rows. The paths are 3 feet wide and covered in straw. So basically the beds are raised between paths. He uses constant composting to keep them healthy. Sort of like hugukulture, but not. I guess it is a best of row gardening with raised bed gardening….and path control. 🙂
Per the wood, same thing with "cinder" blocks. Those are no longer made to my knowledge.
Jamie
So, on the the second part, also from the extension class, around "here" anywhere with a clay based soil, till and amend ONCE, then roll with it. You really only need nitrogen after that because the soil has the minerals. That amendment, if you are just guessing without a soil test, is lime. Most stuff east of MS that has not been gardened will be acidic.
Just add compost after there and you are good to go. No more tilling and light cultivating, and attending to wet spots like you mention.
I guess I am saying, yes, keep it simple. All these videos and what not. Till it, amend it, plant it, check sun, and then keep it moist. lol It's not that difficult really. 🙂
Be well and best this year!
I prefer raised beds in my much smaller garden. I'm getting older, and the ground is getting harder for me to reach. also I'm bad at stepping on ground level beds, and the raised beds help me to stay out of the beds and not compact the soil
Place looks great by the way, love that aerial view.
Raised beds are great for sloped terrain, like my back yard. I had in-ground beds the year before but one heavy rain and it all slid downhill! I opted for metal beds.
EDIT: I bought my soil from a company that had a soil test available on their website. This is a sign of a good company.
Debris will naturally blow off the beds and into the 'gutters' between them if you fill them flush to the brim. You can easily run a rake below the 'curb' of the bed and clear all the debris in one gesture without disturbing the plantings. If you leave a well, debris will stack deeply in the beds, forming a kind of stagnant zone around the base of your plants. I keep my beds mulched to the very brim with leaf mold and compost, topping up weekly or as needed. The squirrels do not cooperate with my meticulous manicuring, but I do it anyway.
Every time I listen to you on one of your videos I find myself smiling and thinking what a great job you always do. SOmewhere around 16 minutes in you hit on my favorite way to make beds, along with the same reasons. (no surprise) AND that is, mounding up my soil into beds and paths It gives most of the benefits of a constructed raised bed without the cost. PLUS I can plant on the slope where the bed goes down to the path.
Since you are not mechanized, a minimal hardscaped curb around your ground beds would save you some of the seasonal mound-forming. A single layer of freecycled brick or brick-sized rocks would suffice. Durable curbing is a great passive feature to introduce throughout the landscape and the garden. The slight 'raising' of row crops is less important than the quality-of-life benefits you get from a passive 'gravity barrier' around your beds.
I could only dream of knowing what you know.. But for me in south east Mo i do raised beds. Yes i use treated lumber, but i do line the inside of the bed with a heavy duty plastic to try, And i do mean Try to keep the soil from contacting the wood. Another point you brought up, Almost everyone has access to free mulch, either grass clippings, leaves, sticks ETC. And my town has it where you can get a pickup load for $10.00 That goes a long way. What i like is beds set up for individual things, Tomatoes cucumbers, Peppers, Okra, beans, Broccoli, Cauliflower, what ever. It just seams to be easier to manage. Yes cost a few mor bucks, but no need for a tiller and as you said it does help with keeping the Deer and rabbits out.
Thank you very much.
I like both styles of beds. I try to do more in ground beds with no till high compost methods. We also have clay (southern Maine) but I am now on year 4 of my in ground beds and they have really progressed in soil quality with thoughtful growing and adding lots of organic material. Only thing is with my in ground beds I struggle much more with weeds and grasses creeping in.
i am inground all the way although i do have a few pots with greens and onions in them
I was very fortunate with my raised bed soil. It was from a guy who was clearing a section of his large, wooded property and the soil was rich in clean, organic matter. He had horses and chickens and brought some composted manure and dumped that in, along with the soil. In the years after, I have supplemented with worm castings, compost, and OMRI cert, supplements. I love my raised beds! I'm in Zone 5 and have nearly inch tall (cold tolerant) lettuce that I direct seeded the last day of March, then we got a foot of early spring snow that was of no consequence. It will be ready late May. I have your YouTube channel to thank for many of my successes!
I tried doing raised bed sides in the beds around my trailer, I am switching to just mounding and getting rid of the wood sides. They are so much less of a roly poly haven.
Hello, Jenna. Love this video. I pretty much follow your method of a hybrid garden. My new space doesn’t have hugelkulture yet, but maybe in the future. I have found that some things do much better in certain beds than others. My beets always do best with a mounded in-ground style, and tomatoes do best in ground. My peppers tend to love containers. As for compost, I swipe my neighbors’ leaves and garden scraps every fall to build a monster pile. Talk about some happy worms.
Awesome video Jenna! One of the very best ive seen on the subject!
Great information!!! All new garden for me this year. So, I'm going with 6 raised beds and everything else in ground. My husband just used his tractor to till up a 50 x 50 plot for me. I was totally surprised at the rich soil. WE just built a house and have no lawn, WE plan to rake and sew seed soon, but the lawn area, so awful, rocky hard dirt.. 🙁 So we thought our 10 areas would be like that. Very pleased with what I am seeing in my garden area. Bonus, after watching you winter sew in milk jugs, I did that, So FUN! everything germinated and is growing, I just opened them today, fed and watered them. You are a great source for gardening tips. Thank You.
Hi Jenna happy for the new video❤ I have sandy soil so I tried raise bed but i like to change the arrangment and i was getting frustated soooo i am amending my soil now…eventually it will be good. Thanks for the video love it!
I have a combination. Three raised beds with three more in the works this year, and about 400 sq ft of in ground. Your vids actually inspired me to try mounding the in ground beds in rows like you do! Though I’ve also evolved my own style into kind of a hybrid and I use cut logs to line a lot of them: I find this keeps the soil mounded more, and I gain several inches of real estate this way. My big problem is finding enough soil from a reputable source as I have to import for both. I have used a lot of leaves and compost too. Here in central PA the landscaping companies strip topsoil from ag land when they develop it. And I get concerned about pests, weed seeds, and even heavy metals. Need to get a comprehensive metal test done!
I live on the west side of the Rocky mountains so we 'Grow Rocks' . . . we also have trees which are excellent to make soil. Mostly it's a matter of removing the rocks and adding compost and amendments.
Thank you for the comparison
I definitely prefer my permanent in ground beds to my raised beds. Besides the watering issue, I find raised beds a little awkward to work in (they're too wide for my short arms).
Love raised beds and love your channel. jessie at plot 37 ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvp9j__Awj4rJCwgs4GN4yA) – grows beautiful vegetables and flowers in them.
Hello. We specialize in creating boots and waders for hunting, fishing, gardening and farming. Absolutely love your content style! Would you be interested in collaboration?
I have mostly inground beds but also raise them a little and used extra landscape brick we had to create their shape. This was very inexpensive for us. I wholeheartedly agree that everyone does not need raised beds. It might be the best option for certain gardeners but definitely not everyone. I don’t have any drip system setup and rarely water because our in ground beds don’t really need it. We used landscape fabric in our garden paths and covered them with pea gravel. It sounds nice to walk on and some weeds pop up but few and far between. Also everyone says raised beds are more ergonomic but I always find I have back pain whenever I help friends or family with raised beds because I have to bend over so much. With my beds I can squat or kneel and I’m not uncomfortable.