ORGANIC FARMING- Why have raised beds?

Using raised beds is a choice one has to make for oneself. It depends on circumstances.

We use broken fridges, freezers, jaccuzis, tyres, drums, bottles, diving tanks and soon adding a boat. This Photo was taken on the 29th of January 2020.

On the Nomad farm we use raised beds because there is little topsoil on the shallow corral, the earth there is is not very fertile and in some places it has a low PH thanks to the Neem trees shedding their leaves.

This Photo was taken 16 days after the one above. Kress, Basil and Lettuce mixed

• Raising the beds allows the area within the bed to be treated well and looked after, creating a microclimate filled with the correct microorganisms that help with productivity. IE- It’s easier to control soil biology.

• The more the beds are off the ground the less pests there are.

• The higher the bed the easier the management and harvesting of it. (Waist height is ideal- Not having to bend or crouch).

• Some negative’s would be that some raised beds can dry out faster than ground beds. However this can be remedied by what material is used in the raised bed.

Adding worms to a contained raised bed means the worm colony will form, aerate the soil, fertilise the bed with their castings and so hopefully create a growing space that will take little effort to keep it producing.. sustainable thinking.