What are the pros and cons of planting in the ground, in raised beds, or in containers? - Salisbury Greenhouse - Blog (2024)

FAQs

What are the pros and cons of raised garden beds? ›

Planting in raised garden beds helps ensure great drainage, warmer soil temperature in early spring, and loose soil that's easy to mix up with compost and amendments. The downside is that you need to construct a raised bed, buy lots of soil to fill it, and you won't be able to move it around.

Comparing raised beds and in-ground gardens, it's important to consider their respective advantages. Raised beds offer better soil structure and drainage, which can help grow plants more effectively. They also provide an opportunity to amend the soil with organic matter, improving its fertility and nutrient content.

raised planter boxes in your greenhouse. Raised beds are the real MVPs when it comes to growing larger plants with a craving for room to stretch their roots. Think juicy tomatoes, fiery peppers, and those down-to-earth root vegetables. The depth and width of raised beds give your plants the space they need to thrive.

In an in-ground garden, your plants' root growth can be limited by poor soil structure, poor soil quality, and large rocks. Their roots will spread out closer to the surface of the soil, which means you'll need to give plants plenty of space to sprawl.

In comparison to the ground, containers hold substantially less growing media. This means their surface-area-to-volume ratio is far greater, which causes them to heat up and cool down far quicker than the ground. These fluctuations in temperature can damage plant roots and compromise overall growth.

The Verdict: Metal Raised Beds Do NOT Get Too Hot for Your Plants.

In the unheated greenhouse, plants are usually four to six weeks ahead of their counterparts in the outdoor garden. By growing in the greenhouse and outdoors it is possible to obtain two and sometimes three crops of the same plants.

Ideally beds should be at least 40cm deep, especially if they are built on paving or compacted soil. But you may want much deeper raised beds if you want to grow plants with deep roots, or to avoid bending down too much whilst gardening. If you buy a kit, you may want to get two, or even three tiers instead of one.

Some of these detriments, according to Bartholomew, are the amount of space single-row production requires, the large amount of soil amendments needed, and the amount of seed used to plant the rows.

It can also be experienced through grounding equipment such as conductive mats or shoes with copper inserts in the soles. Aside from feet, earthing goes for hands too. Planting and weeding in the garden counts, as does—yes—tree hugging! Plants that have roots help to transfer this energy too.

Are gardens worth it? ›

When done correctly, even the smallest backyard plot can produce copious amounts of fruits and vegetables and possibly even a significant saving to the grocery budget. However, it takes time and patience, and a small outlay of money to buy seeds, and tools, if you need them.

Not necessarily! When do you really need raised beds, and when should you NOT use them? The concept of raised beds was created so that gardeners with poor soil conditions could have a way to grow great gardens, too. They do not grow vegetables any better than naturally deep, well-drained soil.

A depth of 8 – 12 inches will suffice for most gardening situations. Because of the excellent drainage properties of raised beds, it is possible to grow an abundance of vegetables in a limited amount of space.

Newspaper or Cardboard

Even simple, cheap materials can block weed growth from below your garden beds. You can simply lay them on the ground before setting your garden beds on top of them.

On average, a DIY raised bed constructed from wood will cost $25 to $50 per square foot. To have a wooden raised bed constructed and installed for you, budget for at least $100 per square foot. (Find a kitchen garden company in your area.)