If you find yourself picking more rocks than plants in your garden, then raised beds will be your new gardening best friend. Easy to create, raised beds are water efficient, eco-responsible, and provide the perfect growing medium. Raised beds are never walked on, which keeps the soil loose and well aerated. Best of all, gardening in raised beds makes it possible to tend to your plants without straining your knees and back, something that adds to the joy of an already gratifying activity.

Some gardeners simply use open raised beds, mounding new soil several inches above the original soil line. I prefer to frame the beds, as this prevents soil loss from wind and watering. Framing material can be as informal as two-by-ten planks or as elegant as decorative rock, but it’s usually best to start small the first season and add a little each successive year. This allows you to try out raised beds with little effort and expense, saving you the frustration of trying too much too soon.

Begin with site selection, based on what you want to grow. Spend a few days observing how many hours of sun the site gets. This will allow you to choose plants that will thrive in specific growing conditions. With four two-by-ten planks and L-brackets, build a square frame. My beds are four foot-by-four foot to allow complete access. If possible, spade the existing soil 8-10 inches to give plant roots added room to grow. I like to put two frames side-by-side with two feet in between to give me room to reach around all of the plants without ever stepping on the growing soil.

Once the frames are in place, the magic begins. Fill the frames with equal parts top soil, sand, and compost. Voila! The perfect growing medium with no muss or fuss. Be sure to use guaranteed weed/seed free products. The soil you create in the frames will use water efficiently, provide much needed oxygen, and be a dream to weed and cultivate.

As you plan what to plant, think of the beds as having four, 1 foot square spaces. Place tall plants in the two back sections and lower growers in the front. It’s easy to build frames for runners like beans and peas using PVC pipe or 1-by-1 wood pieces. Twine hung from the top and secured at the bottom of the frame makes a perfect trellis.

Weeding is much easier on your joints because the soil is ten inches higher. It’s easy to use a gardening stool between the frames and move it around as you weed and cultivate.

Raised beds can also be adapted for the wheel-chair bound. The frame is built at table level, bringing the garden to the gardener. Frames of this type should be two-foot by four-foot to allow access to all parts of the bed. Table level frames give the gift of gardening to new gardeners and return the joy of gardening to those who thought they might never garden again.

In this first season, select known growers for our area. Keep track of what plants do well and what plants don’t, then next year you can add a frame or two knowing that what you plant will succeed. If you like, you can get creative with the new frames, building diamond or triangle shapes.

Every spring, you’ll be thrilled to find that your raised beds are ready to plant much sooner than the original soil. Because the soil is raised and separate, it thaws quickly and can be worked early, making you the envy of your gardening neighbors. Since the soil has never been walked on, it isn’t compressed, and you’ll feel like you’re spading butter. Add more organic material to feed the new plants, and you’re off and running to another great gardening season.