Raised Garden Beds and Growing Your Own Food

As more and more people are confronted with the health risks of processed foods and the energy drain of trucking foods into our areas, they are turning to gardening and growing their own food. Others are content to eat as much local food as they can find and just fill in the gaps with shipped in foods.

While space can be limited, since many of us do not live somewhere that has a lot of land to garden, we have to seek alternatives to growing our own foods. Using one or more raised beds can help reduce the amount of space needed to produce a good amount of fresh food.

There is a unique bond between the older generations that went through the depression and the younger generations of today as they are both very aware of what is happening to the world around them. It seems lack brings on this consciousness as well as innovation and good use of resources.

It is by using what we know about gardening that can bring on some pretty good ideas about incorporating raised bed kits into a year long growing plan that can be used whether you live in the city or out in the country. It will be less expensive in some ways but as with all gardening, it does take a commitment of time and resources.

One of the greatest challenges is living in the inner cities. One of the greatest things about a raised bed is you can, if you are careful, use them on stoops, balconies and decks. You need to find out the weight restrictions of the platform and use light soils to fill the bed. If the bed is too heavy, try different types of containers to create a container garden.

Since your plants will not grow well without the sun, make sure you place your raised garden bed where there is as much sun as possible. There are some options for covering the plants that range from using plastic of some kind to cold frames and small portable greenhouses. You will need to make the best choice for your situation. Just know that you will need to cover plants once the temperature dips below 45 degrees.

Another consideration during the colder months will be heat. Your plants will need to be kept above that 40 degree mark if at all possible. You can accomplish this with a number of methods but the easiest is to use a small electric heater. Just be safe and make sure it is free and has a lot of room around it. You can also heat up and pot of water and simply place it within the enclosure as the heat will radiate all night long.

Though you may think this is way harder than you want to tackle, the fact is, it takes real effort to grow your own food on a year round basis and not everyone will succeed. However, when you serve a meal fresh from your deck garden you will feel fantastic and know you grew it and it is healthy. So have fun and experiment to find the best way to year round garden for you.

Many people love their raised vegetable garden beds to grow their own food year round. You can use wonderful wood raised beds to grow organic as well.

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