Raised Bed Misconceptions (part 1)

Raised beds are popular among gardeners, but this seems to have lead to a proliferation of claims about their advantages that don't makes sense. This two-part series explores those misconceptions.

Raised bed gardening in various forms has arguably been around for centuries, but in the late 20th century, things really took off - especially among home gardeners in North America. I am not sure why this happened, but there are stacks of books that have been written about them, and the internet is flooded with bloggers and YouTubers singing their praises. There are, of course, some definite advantages to using raised beds, but over the years, I’ve read so many articles making claims that exceed the bounds of good reason that I felt compelled to write this one. I’ll start with the claims that make the most sense, and then work my way down to the progressively absurd.

Raised bed are popular among home gardeners, but they are not the panacea of gardening solutions that many bloggers claim them to be.

Easier access:

Some people have a very hard time bending, stooping, kneeling and crouching. For these people, gardening is practically impossible unless the soil level is raised to a height where these movements are not required. Raised beds, when built about as high as a table (to reach while sitting), or a counter-top (to reach while standing can solve that problem. This claim is absolutely true - but of course - the catch with beds raised to these heights is that they are prohibitively expensive to build.

Aesthetic appeal

Raised beds look very nice. I can’t argue with this claim!