With spring time here, and the weather finally warming up, it’s about that time to start planning and planting gardens. The farmers have already been busy for weeks in the fields preparing their land for crops. Although that is on a much larger scale, back yard gardening follows many of the same guidelines.

Simple back yard vegetable gardens saw a huge comeback in 2008 after the recession. Gardening has always been a staple in America, and around the world, but it has seen its ups and downs with it’s popularity. Some people were afraid gardening was going to become some what of a lost art, but thankfully with its increased popularity over the past few years, it is actually becoming quite the trend.

More and more people are getting into gardening and trying it out for themselves. There is several benefits from cost savings, the exercise, also things like you can control what chemicals you do or don’t use on your food, and plus there is nothing better than picking something fresh from the garden and using it for dinner.

With the popularity of gardening on the rise, new techniques are being discovered just about everywhere. One of them being raised garden beds. These are not particularly “new” but their popularity due to their convenience is.

Raised garden beds offer protection around the soil that you plant your vegetables in. This will help keep weeds, and some unwanted bugs out of the plants. It will also help keep your good, nutrition packed soil in the same spot and reduce erosion.

Raised beds can come in a few different styles and heights. You can even build one high enough so that you do not have to bend over to weed and tend to your plants. This prevents serious back issues, and opens up the possibility of gardening to people that wouldn’t normally be able to crawl around on the ground.

Typically a raised bed does not have a bottom, the fertilized soil you put in the bed for your vegetables will just lay on top of the existing ground, giving the plants room to expand, and grow their roots deeper.

Scott Garwood who is a resident here in Dysart has always been a fan of gardening. He recently built a beautiful, well designed raised bed garden on the edge of town which you can see off of Wilson Street.

Scott has simplified his gardening by using this method of raised beds. This creates less work in both the spring and fall when preparing the gardens. There is less tilling and weeding. Your soil from the year before is still there and will probably just need refreshed. Therefore cutting out a lot of the work that could come with an average in ground garden.

Scott loves growing the vegetables while his wife LeAnn enjoys planting the flowers around the property. They also have a few fruit trees on the property including apple and pear. He also has an entire bed of one of his favorites, asparagus. There are several other items in Scott’s garden from raspberries, rhubarb, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, you name it. He probably grows it, or has, or may attempt to some day.

With a garden as large as Scott’s I figured there had to be quite the harvest of things. So I asked him what he does with all of his produce and, He stated “One of his favorite things about gardening is being able to not only feed his family with the fresh, delicious food, but also being able to share with even more family and friends as well.”

If you would like to know more about starting your own garden there is several resources online, or you could come to the local farmers market and i’m sure you’d find some serious knowledge there. Keep posted for when our local farmers market in Dysart will start. It is held weekly and even if you don’t have time for your own garden, you can come on down and support local farmers and gardeners, while buying fresh, delicious produce, for a much better price!