So You Think Raised Beds Will Keep Me Out?

I'm getting a little fed up with this whole raised beds gardening thing.  It seems to me you humans don't want to share your lettuce seedlings with me anymore.  Can't think why!  Anyway to this end you have all been very busy building raised garden beds into which to grow your veg and then fortifying them with things like woodchip paths (I absolutely cannot stand trying to walk across those) and copper piping to give me a little electric shock should I ever get as far as the edge of your precious raised beds.  I am now considering ways of abseiling into your raised beds using clematis and honeysuckle!  I am also going to lay eggs in the compost heap, that way I can smuggle my babies into your beds through the back door when you mulch them in the autumn!

Of course, besides keeping gastropods at bay, raised garden beds have many other advantages for human gardeners.  The first is that you need not be restricted in terms of what you grow by the soil conditions in your garden.  Acid lovers can be bedded down in tailor made raised beds full of ericaceous compost and right next to that you can have a bed full of lime loving brassicas!  Stony soil need not impede the growth of root crops such as carrots and parsnips, you can simply fill your raised garden beds with lovely, crumbly finely sifted top soil.  Root crops will romp away in these conditions and you will have much greater success with germination rates.

Perhaps the greatest advantage for humans who are pressed for time and have many other commitments is that you don't have to spend a great deal of time cultivating the soil.  Deep double digging can often be what puts new gardeners off having a go at growing their own.  Raised garden beds however, obviate the need for double digging, firstly because they are not walked upon meaning that no soil compaction occurs and secondly because it is very easy to just top up raised beds with good quality soil and home-made compost. 

Build some raised beds!

Raised beds can also be planted more intensively than you might think, enabling gardeners to reap substantial harvests from really quite small spaces.  In fact, it is probably worth looking at how the square foot gardening movement uses raised beds.  This system allows gardeners to grow small amounts of many varied crops, this is often more satisfactory for the nuclear family of today.  Traditional gardening can lead to gluts that few small families can consume.  So intensively planting up a raised bed can provide just enough of any one crop throughout the growing season.  Plants thrive in these close plantings because they make their own living mulch and conserve water and nutrients and also create a warm micro-climate where they support each other's growth.  Crops are rarely in the beds long enough for soil borne diseases to accumulate.