Raised or Directly in Ground?

[dashboardc33]

I have always had my garden right in the ground. Last year I did try pallet gardening, but didn't have a lot of luck because it got dry rot. I honestly don't think I had enough soil in there. Anyways, this year I'm thinking about building a raised garden. What is your opinion on this? Is it worth the money and effort to do this?

 

[marlingardener]

Tell us why you decided to try alternatives to direct soil planting. Raised gardens give you much more control over the soil type, and are probably easier to weed and harvest because they are just that much taller and involve less bending. The drawback is that they are smaller and more expensive to establish (buying edging and soil additives).
We don't do traditional raised beds because our gardens are just too large, and if we tried to edge them with wood, stone, etc. we'd go broke! Our gardens are surrounded by paths that we dug out and tossed the soil on the garden area. That results in a garden that is 6" to 8" above "ground level" and improves drainage.
Every spring we rake the mulch on the paths back, till the garden, push the soil up to from the edges of the garden, then rake the mulch back into the paths.

 

[ShannonE]

I have never gardened before and I went with the raised garden. Mine is small as this is my very first garden but I also did this because of my natural ground. I live in a High Desert about 5,600 ft and it is just sand and lots of rock big and small. I have complete control of what soil I want to deal with and can even custom sections with different soil to accommodate my plants. I hope the best for your decision you make and you have a successful garden either way.

 

[ChanellG]

A raised bed is a great idea for several reasons, the least of which is no digging or tilling required. You have complete control over the soil quality, and you can grow anything you want provided it's suited to your microclimate. The simplest way to create a raised bed is with cinder blocks.

 

[R.R.]

I'm doing both this season. I'll compare results, but I love my raised beds.