Nothing changed my gardening more than raised beds.
The beds allow me to be able to control the soil type.
Drainage is greatly improved and soil temperature is increased for earlier planting in the Spring.
Natural compost is added to the beds in the Fall…I can measure exactly how much goes into each bed.
Weeding is easier! Now that may be the best benefit of all!
I do rotate crops from season to season.
Have you been raised up yet?
down to earth digs 
How about a tutorial on how you made your raised beds and the soil therein?
We have used raised beds since forever, but went to permanent wood edged beds about 10 years ago. Love them! And they are so much easier to weed:)
We have a raised island in the center of the garden, for visual effect. It is surrounded by stacked pieces of limestone which just don’t want to stay in place; but it is still very nice. Something that I have done a bit of reading about is accessible gardening for aged or handicapped gardeners. Those beds are raised quite a bit off the ground or that they can be accessed without getting down on the ground.
Sure do! My first one I dug down 24″-30″ first, then built my raised bed on top. Now I just lay cardboard and figure nature can do what it wants that deep.
This looks so nice and neat and beautiful. Makes me crave springtime. I have some raised beds in my hoop house, but I would love to put some outside in the garden itself. I’ll be working on that this year along with my rudbeckia. 🙂 And…have you ever grown fennel?
In case you didn’t get notified I have a surprise over here for you… http://alittlecorneroftheartistinme.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/almost-finished/
Yes, we’re definitely raised up. Those darn tree roots still like to invade the raised beds each year. I tackle them each spring, but they are stealing my nutrients! I don’t have much of a choice because my garden is pretty small and in an urban area. I think last year was my last year at our current home…and I’ll make darn sure NOT to put my beds near any trees at our next home.
What type of wood do you use for your raised garden sides? I want to do raised beds eventually and my husband suggested railroad ties but I’m not keen on that plus they have all that kerosote in them. Alot of online sites suggest cedar.
This past year I had the area I wanted to put my garden tilled. It was an inexpensive way to get started. But oh how many problems I encountered. The ground is full of rocks, some huge! I wasn’t happy with the results so began to build raised beds and prepare them for this spring. This year all my beds will be raised, not just the strawberries.
This looks like an awesome set-up Stacey! You can practically see the plants growing. How deep is your raised bed?
I really like the idea of planting earlier, since our summer tends to be rather short. I spotted your old manual mower at the end of the planter too, so cute!