LIFT YOUR GAME

A raised bed is any elevated gardening platform designed to improve drainage while retaining moisture, holding nutrients and often providing an ergonomic advantage — and that means no bending.

Have you ever installed raised beds and found they don’t perform as expected? Perhaps they dry out too easily or become boggy when watered. Maybe your plant leaves have turned yellow and the only plant flourishing is the uninvited onion weed.

Here is some advice on how to avoid such outcomes.

TO ACHIEVE GOOD DRAINAGE, THE GROWING MEDIA SHOULD CONTAIN APPROXIMATELY 30 PER CENT COARSE RIVER SAND.

THE IDEAL VEGIE SOIL

A lack of structured soil and nutritional balance results in boggy or dry soils and nutritional deficiencies in plants. Soil for vegies should have good structure, with material like coarse river sand or perlite to allow water to infiltrate and drain while retaining moisture.

Any compost must be well aged, providing a stable