My introduction to gardening care is one of my earliest memories. Although there was a brief period during my early childhood when we lived in the middle of a big city with no space for a garden, we always had a garden and much of the gardening care was up to the children of the family. Since I am second oldest, naturally I had the opportunity to put in many hours in the family garden.

From first grade on, most of our backyard was taken up by garden. I loved the day in spring when the garden was tilled and the rows measured off. It was my delight to help with the planting, but not such a delight to see all the weeds that came up along with the plants. The pesky mosquitoes didn’t help matters any! They made gardening care a chore instead of fun.

As I grew older, I discovered a new way to garden – using raised beds. I devoured many books on gardening and experimented with many different methods, but none has made gardening care easier than using raised beds.

In another post, I may address some of the other gardening methods I’ve tried, but suffice it to say that traditional gardening that requires tilling a large space, only to make paths out of most of it in order to care for the plants, is one of the least efficient and least enjoyable methods I’ve tried.

Raised beds make gardening care much, much easier. The beds can be constructed such that there is no need to ever step into the garden itself, the plants can be grown closer together than you would ever imagine so weeds are minimal, no tilling of soil is necessary and the soil can be customized to the specific needs of the plants to be grown in that particular bed.

My objective with this site is to collect as many helpful gardening care tips as possible to enable you to enjoy your gardening experience to the maximum.

If there is anything specific you need, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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Expert: Yolanda Vanveen
Contact: www.vanveenbulbs.com
Bio: Yolanda Vanveen is a third-generation flower grower and sustainable gardener who lives in Kalama, Wash. She is the owner of VanveenBulbs.com.
Filmmaker: Daron Stetner

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Also, if anyone has any ideas on where to acquire inexpensive materials (railroad ties, cinder blocks, wall pavers) to build the beds with that would be great too!

It is easy to get the soil but you might have to purchase more than you need. Google "landscape supplies soil" + your location. There should be several places near you.

Problem is, these suppliers often have a 3 cubic yard minimum and you only need 1. The other problem is, the delivery charge might cost more than the material.

Ways around this are to find a neighbor or two who would also like some soil, to borrow a pick-up truck, 3 yards will just fit, and deliver it yourself. You split the cost with your neighbors.

What you should buy is loam, don’t get topsoil because you never really know what’s in it or where it came from. Loam should cost about $35.00 – $40.00 per yard. You should also get 6 or 7 40 pound bags of compost. That should just about fill up your area and give you some nice fertile soil to start your garden.

If this bed is going to be in a conspicuous location you should get the most attractive building materials you can afford. Cinder blocks would be hideous, and most of the wall pavers look fake. Real railroad ties are very hard come by but landscape timbers are sold at most home improvement stores and even some lumber yards. They last about 7 or 8 years then start to rot so you’d need to replace them.

Those would be your least expensive option though that doesn’t look awful. And they come in 8′ lengths so you wouldn’t need to do a lot of cutting.

Post a new q on how to do this, I have done several such beds, if you like the idea. It is easy.
All you need is a drill and some bolts or cut rebar sections basically.

For additional reading, check the Bookworm for propagation and seed saving books, and check out the Watchdog for propagation and seed starting supplies.