Raised beds ruined me for in ground gardening and I'm not going back

I built four 4x8 cedar raised beds about 3 summers ago after fighting clay soil in my backyard for what felt like forever. I told myself it was just an experiment and honestly I figured I'd hate how they looked. Fast forward to now and my two in ground rows are basically a weed farm while the beds are pumping out tomatoes and peppers like crazy. The difference is the soil, plain and simple. I filled those beds with a mix of topsoil, compost and peat and I control every bit of it instead of praying the ground thaws right or drains after a big rain. Last April we got 4 inches in one night and the in ground stuff was a swamp for days while the beds drained fine. My back also thanks me because I'm not bending down to the dirt anymore. So am I crazy for wanting to rip out the rest of my lawn and just build more beds, or does somebody here actually prefer growing straight in the ground?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

haydenb361mo ago

Wait, 4 inches in one night and the beds drained fine, but is that really the beds or just that your yard has lousy drainage either way? Seems like if your in ground rows turn into a swamp for days after every big rain, the raised beds are just hiding a bigger water problem. Are you sure you're not just comparing good soil you bought to bad soil you never fixed?

1