Raised garden beds are exactly that—a raised garden area. They are often simply made with landscape timbers, two-by-twelves, or two-by-fours. A raised bed can be created from any kind of sturdy container, such as a drum, water tank, or even an old pick up bed. There are several pre-manufactured raised bed structures, but most folks find building them not so difficult. Most gardeners then buy garden or flower soil to fill them.

Raised beds provide two advantages over ground gardens.

• The soil within a raised bed will warm more quickly because of its increased surface area. This favors our warm season crops.
• It is far easier to bend over to weed or harvest your vegetables.

A tip to new raised bed enthusiasts: Don’t build a bed wider than four feet across. As you walk around your raised bed, you’ll never have to over extend your reach. Consider a fence that can keep rabbits, deer, antelope and even Bears from getting in, if you don’t have a yard or area fence already.

A Raised Garden Bed can be made easily from structures like a stock tank.