Planting in raised beds is a widely recommended technique among seasoned gardeners. When I began my gardening journey, I shared a snapshot of my small backyard garden on an online forum, where experienced members encouraged me to try raised garden beds. Fast forward to today, and over 50% of my crops are thriving in raised beds!
In this article, we’ll delve into the advantages of raised garden beds and explore the best crops to cultivate in them. Let’s get started on maximizing your gardening potential!
Why Raised Beds Are Great For Quick Crops?
There are countless reasons to consider incorporating raised beds into your garden, but here are the key benefits I’ve personally found to make the most significant difference:
- Faster Soil Warming: Raised beds warm up more quickly in the spring, leading to faster germination rates for your seeds. This means you can enjoy earlier harvests!
- Improved Drainage: The design of raised beds promotes better drainage, helping to prevent rot, which is a common problem for young seedlings. Healthy roots lead to stronger plants.
- Easier Weed and Spacing Control: Managing weeds and plant spacing is much simpler in raised beds. This control fosters faster, healthier growth, allowing your crops to thrive without competition.
Fast-Growing Crops That Do Well In Raised Beds
1: Radishes (Ready In 20–30 Days)
Radishes are an excellent choice for quick maturation and are perfect for succession planting. They thrive even in shallow raised beds and are remarkably resilient, able to withstand incredibly low temperatures without any problems.
2: Lettuce (Harvest in 30–45 Days)
Lettuce is ideal for cut-and-come-again harvests. By simply harvesting the outer leaves while leaving the inner center in the soil, you can enjoy another round of fresh leaves in no time.
This leafy green prefers cooler weather and thrives best in partial sunlight, making it a fantastic addition to your garden.
3: Spinach (Harvest In 35–50 Days)
Spinach thrives in shaded areas and prefers rich, fertile soil for optimal growth. This versatile green can be successfully grown both early and late in the season, depending on your planting schedule.
4: Arugula (Harvest In 20–40 Days)
This super-fast-growing leafy green packs a peppery kick, making it a perfect accompaniment to fatty meats. Simply sow arugula directly in your raised beds and regularly harvest the baby leaves for continuous growth and a fresh supply throughout the season.
5: Green Onions (Harvest In 45–60 Days)
Green onions are compact, shallow-rooted, and an excellent option for interplanting. By continually harvesting the greens as they grow, you can enjoy a highly productive crop of green onions throughout the season.
6: Bush Beans (Harvest In 50–60 Days)
Not only are bush beans incredibly fast-growing, but they also produce very high yields. Since they don’t require trellising for support, they are an ideal choice for raised beds.
Tips For Speeding Up Growth In Raised Beds
- Warm up the soil faster with black plastic or row covers early in the season.
- Use compost-rich soil and mulch lightly to retain moisture. Keeping the raised beds moist is crucial for accommodating healthy growth.
- Water consistently (set a fixed routine) and avoid overcrowding crops in one raised bed to allow for better airflow and faster results.
Conclusion
Raised bed planting has been an important element of gardening for centuries now.
While it was an online gardening forum that first convinced me to give raised beds a try, the concept wasn’t entirely new to me.
In my family, it was actually my grandma who taught the concept of raised beds to my mother, and, as I grew older, she passed that knowledge down to me. It wasn’t until I tried it myself that everything clicked!
Give some crops from the list above a shot in your raised garden beds and let me know in the comments below how it went.
Also, if you have any special tips and tricks regarding raised beds, don’t hesitate to share them with the rest of us gardening enthusiasts. I’m sure the community will appreciate your help!
