Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry
No offense intended but I see those raised beds springing up all over our neighborhood. For the life of me, I've never been able to figure out the advantage of dirt surrounded with expensive lumber versus dirt just left in the ground. I just plant my tomatoes in regular ground level dirt and they grow just fine.
I've been planting one Better Boy tomato seed per day in my little potting cups for the last month or so. They sit on the radiator in the front south facing window. Can't plant them permanently in the dirt until mid-May to avoid potential freezing. The first ones to mature will go into 5 gallon buckets and go outside in April but brought in when it freezes. After mid-May, the bucketed ones will go in the ground and by mid June the last maturing seedlings will go in the buckets where they will grow late in the summer and into the fall where they can be brought inside if it freezes.
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While I can't speak for everyone, some of the reasons we went with container/raised bed gardening are:
1) Better ability to control soil conditions, we have some tubs (as we call them) with very sandy soil for pants that prefer that, and others with acidic conditions.
2) The area we wanted to garden in was filed with rocks. Seemingly from a previous owners landscaping efforts, what appeared to be soil was actually ~1' of small river rock filled in with topsoil. Very frustrating to dig in.
3) Better ability to control watering. Both as far as keeping water contained, and tailoring to each tub's requirements.
4) Pest control has been easier, especially slug/snail concerns. Also keeps the dog from claiming any plants. Though it hasn't kept him from learning how to pick things he wants.
5) The raised position is easier on the back/hands/knees when it comes to working in the garden.
My father gardens in the ground, and does just fine that way, I have nothing against it, it just wasn't the best choice for us. I'd like to garden in an unused area in our front yard, but she has ideas that neighborhood kids will sneak up and eat our vegetables. He also has to space to rotate areas, and better access to mulch/compost/chicken ****. His garden usually works in conjunction with ours, providing a greater variety of produce for each household, while still allowing us to each have our favorites. For instance, rarely does a meal go by in our household that doesn't have at least one pepper in it, often one of each of a few varieties, while we might only use half a dozen tomatoes a year. My parents will grow a dozen tomato plants and use tomatoes quite a bit, but only a few jalapenos. Corn production is also better in his field, where there is space to grow enough. Same goes for wheat. But we have the grain mill, so...
MV