Raised Bed Vs. In-ground Gardens, Unpacking the Pros and Cons! 

You are not uneducated. You are self-educated. You have researched how things work and read to learn more. You are a good teacher.

Ruthann, don’t take this as an insult because it is meant as a compliment. You may not be educated;, but, you are so intelligent. You amaze me!

I think you are one of the most eloquent speakers ever. I love listening to you speak. You are also more intelligent than a lot of people I know who's first language is English! Lol

Ruthann you have spoken before about your lack of education. However, you have educated yourself on the things that are important to you. That is what matters. If you listen to many young adults in their early twenties, you will be amazed at how little they know and how lacking they are in simple common sense. A school education does not guarantee an abundance of knowledge. You are a smart person and more important you are kind and compassionate. Your kids are lucky to have a mother like you.

For someone who English is their second language , you do an awesome job at it .

As an aging gardener I converted almost entirely to tall raised beds. My back and knees thank me! If not for these beds I would no longer be able to garden and I'm not willing to give it up! Not yet!

You have SO much knowledge, it's mind-boggling 🤯. You're an amazing person.

Good Morning! I had no idea English wasn’t your primary language, lol. I wait each week for your video patiently 😏. God Bless you and your family 🙏❤️

All your kiddos are having the best childhood they could possibly have. I love watching them be kids and enjoy the simple things in life like fun and adventure.

I don't think you are uneducated. You have done a lot of research to know the underlying basics of what you teach in your videos. I love listening to you, and I've watched many of your videos just because you are so interesting, so knowledgeable, have such a soothing voice, and I see the love of God in you.

I fall in the clay soil category 😢after 30+ years of fighting with, working with and ammending abundantly, I gave up. Began raised bed gardening last season and my joy of gardening is returning. I'm adding 4 more this season. All your pros and cons are right on!!❤❤❤

At 24 years old you have taught me so much knowledge. I constantly talk about you to others and tell them they need to subscribe to your channel because you are SO SMART!!!

You are the first person Io speak about heating degree days. Thank you! Now it all makes sense!!!

I love your garden and seeing the kids in it participating in different aspects of it with you, along with playing! God’s beautiful rainbow was the perfect ending! Have a beautiful day, Ruth Ann! God bless!🩷

I always hear you mention not having as high an education as some. Let me tell you, you are much smarter than some I've known with degrees. You are highly intelligent about the things in life that really matter. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us, I found this video fascinating. 😊❤ Lots of love to you and your beautiful family

Enjoy your channel so very much. I am physically disabled and live alone. I find you and your family very uplifting. Thank you for explaining your processes so well. I never understood about sourdough discard, etc. God bless you and your family.

I have raised beds and they are great. If I had acreage in the Midwest I would in a heartbeat, not even think of a raised bed. You do what you can where you are.

Ruthann, you are a walking encyclopedia of knowledge and wisdom. I heard somewhere that the make up of rain water is actually different than using well water to water the garden. The rain comes down, the soil pulls out nutrients and so watering from the well is not as effective. I don't know if this is accurate. Beautiful rainbow - God's promise.

Your garden is exquisite! 😮

Thank God you were not over watered with too much education, so you could get deep down into your own life and be bountiful ! God Bless

Everything you said makes so much sense. Raised beds dry so much faster. And, I see a huge difference in my plants when we have a season when we get more rain. Something about rain water that nourishes the plants more than sprinkler water.

Good morning! Thank you for sharing your experiences and the "whys" behind your gardening techniques. I have been experimenting and learning to grow a garden for about 5 years now and it is refreshing to be reminded it's good to just dig in and not give up because something doesn't work for me! I'm blessed when my children ask me why we are trying to grow something again when it hasn't worked for us in the past and as I share with them the importance of perseverance it refreshes me and reminds me to be patient and allow God to keep stretching me personally, and us as a family! God bless you and your beautiful family!

Iowan here also. My great grandfather and his two brothers were onion farmers. He died before I was born but I grew up near to where their land was. When the people who bought the land plowed it, the soil was pitch black. I had never and to this day (at age 58 years old) have not seen soil as dark. I still remember the smell. Sadly that land is all industrial now except for a small area that is a tree farm. What a waste of excellent farm land. You have such a beautiful garden, farm, and family. I have learned quite a bit from you and I thank you for sharing your wisdom. God bless!

I love seeing your kids be kids!! I look forward to your video every week!

Good Morning, I appreciate your providing pros and cons for raised bed and in ground gardens. I’m 75 and was watering my raised bed garden at 7AM. I try to give it time before full sun evaporates some of the water. I love my raised beds and they produce so much good food which I preserve. My home is on hard pan clay and I have attempted in ground garden with pumpkins and they were great but I really can’t do all that bending required.😊 I love your beautiful garden and go back and watch your series on the garden. Have a wonderful weekend to you all.❤

Hello RuthAnn and sweet family! Great advice and nothing like growing in the ground the way God intended for us. Have a blessed day everyone!

I have mastered in ground gardening over 30 years. I agree with all your pros and cons about it. A very good friend asked me to mentor her, so we tilled up a large area for her to grow in next to my garden. (We have acreage to spare). It’s been a wonderful 9 years of gardening together. We have learned together, even with my years of experience. I’m not a spring chicken and It’s harder now to garden in ground (my garden is 50’x100’), so I’m starting to add some raised beds and do less in ground. I’ve always adapted to whatever comes my way. Looking forward to many more years of gardening. Thank you RuthAnn for your input and wise advice!

I agree with you about in-ground gardening, and I also grow in raised beds. I think it's most important just to put seeds in the soil and grow something, no matter where it is.

My Daddy (born in early 1900's) always said, what you see above ground, you should below ground. Root system is everything. We have a few border gardens but we garden in the ground. I know it isn't for everyone, main thing is to GROW something. Love your channel.

Ruthann I love that you are not incumbered with a modern education, It leaves room for your strong traditional education, practical knowledge and understandings, that are much more valueable.. in the real world.. we have enough activists and politicians, We need more hands on, dirty nails, and messy aprons, firm foundation individuals to keep this earth turning, and not destroying its self in self-proclamed mainstream-cultivated superficial intellegence.

A new video from you all makes me smile! 💚

Back in the 1990s when I ran a security business using active duty military personnel and veterans, I was driving around and saw an elderly couple struggling to get their garden started. With their permission, I brought some of the employees to till their garden for them, it's a long story but these employees did something they shouldn't have and this was part of their punishment, and I made them go back periodically to do maintenance. The funny part is that I wouldn't let the guys use a tiller, I made them pull an old plow with their own physical strength, I still laugh at my decision to do that. ;-) The couple grew the best garden they had ever had, according to them. The next year when I showed up to have the guys till their garden again, I discovered that the husband was unable to bend over and mess with a garden any more, and the wife couldn't do it alone, so I had the guys build them raised beds. The raised beds didn't produce like the in ground garden, but there were enough raised beds to produce what they needed. It's such fun to be a female in charge of a bunch of males. ;-)

You are the first to explain about the root system in raised beds. I always was gardening in the ground but this year I can only use containers. I will do the best I can. God bless

Wouldn't it be nice if all kids could grow up like that? Your gardens are beautiful and one can tell all the love and thoughtfulness you put into it! Thank you for allowing us a peek into them! Wishing you a happy and bountiful gardening year!

You are such a wealth of knowledge. Thank you for sharing it with us!

Ruth ann, your garden is amazing and beautiful. My heart goes pitter patter when ever I see it. I do a combo raised bed/ in ground garden here in zone 5a Wi. We have a lot of clay. My raised beds are 2 feet high, but are directly on the ground. Similar to your border garden. So the roots of my plants can and do go as deep as they need to grow. I agree that a lot of these raised beds that you see for sale I just shake my head at in amazement wondering what the roots are suppose to do in there. In the fall I often have to climb into the raised bed and dig out the roots with a shovel. I also mulch heavily with grass clipping to keep the garden cool, moist and weed free. This prevents moisture loss, and once my plants are established and mulched I rarely water them at all, both in my raised bed areas and my in ground areas. I filled my raised beds using the lasagna type method. over the years filling it higher and higher, and every fall add composted manure to each bed. raised beds are more difficult for vining plants like pumpkin or squash and also sweet corn. I love that so many different techniques are available and so many areas of the country have different needs. I agree with you 100% about just trying it!! My advice to everyone who has anxiety about starting a garden is Just Start! You are not laying concrete, everything you do can be dug up and redone if it doesn't work out. Most of the fun of gardening is trying new things and experimenting with new ideas. After 40 years of gardening I am still experimenting with new ideas and still having great successes and great failures and still learning new things. PS I love watching your boys be boys.

Absolutely love how you always find the right words for us that aren't Pennsylvania Dutch. Your always so great. Love and respect you and the family.

RuthAnn...As someone with a mobility disability, a raised bed is really my only option. I do so appreciate how you explain things in such an understandable manner. Have a beautiful and blessed day. LUCRETIA 🇺🇸

Life educated is as important as formal education. We need all. I am 76 and I’m here every day learning from you.

I Love getting a good science lesson from Professor Ruth Ann ❤

Oh, thank you for reminding me. I've been meaning to compost my raised beds for a week, and haven't gotten to them. They are done now. In the fall, I collect leaves and grass clippings, and store them in two trash bins for use in the spring. The rest of the leaves are raked into two compost bins. Rain is in the forecast for this afternoon, so I got done just in time for it.

Wow! That rainbow! I’d call that a God nod. Well done.

We so wish we could grow our vegetables in the ground! Our Bermuda grass/ rocks make it impossible! I learned so much from you today! You amaze me!

I'm 70 with 2 artificial knees, I've switched to raised beds and container gardens using no till method. I've had great success, Less bugs, less disease, I'll never go back to in ground gardening. PS love your channel.

Thanks for clearing the pros and cons of raised beds. I've often thought I was the only one who wasn't growing in raised beds.

Even though I don’t garden anymore, I really enjoyed this video. You explain everything so well! I laughed out loud watching the boys ride the wagon through the arbor… thankfully!! I love their energy whether at work or at play! Yours too Ruthann!

WHEEEE!!! Farm younguns have a lot of chores, but they also have a lot of good, clean fun!!!

😊😊 Even those who are very well educated have problems remembering right words and phrases. I love your videos. There's no pretending. 😊😊😊

Love when your sweet face pops up in a new video,love your channel RuthAnne ❤ we are so lucky have wonderful soil too, we are in the midst of spud growing country in Australia

sGood to receive so much good input on gardening. We do fall into that category of more physical inconvenience as we are both seventy this year. We also plant less that we used to and supplement our produce by the generosity of Amish friends. We mainly are doing tomatoes, peppers and onions in our raised beds. As always you definitely give insight into both gardens, which is helpful to so many. Thanks for sharing such great knowledge on gardening. Have a great gardening season.

Hi Ruthann. Great topic. Right from the start, you hit all the reasons I grow in raised beds. The exception are my herbs which are grown in ground. The soil where I live in central Alabama is red clay. When dry, it is as hard as concrete, and the soil PH is alkaline 7.0-7.5. Blue berry bushes, blackberry bushes, and most vegetable crops will grow poorly, or die off. The soil has to be amended with organic material and acidifiers. I started raised bed gardening five years ago. For the last three years, it has done very well. Each year gets better. Voles are a big problem. Four of my raised beds aren't protected from them. Two of them will be moved in the fall, and lined with hardware cloth. The other two will be dug out as time permits, and the bottoms lined with rocks. Take that voles! Fertilizer is used sparingly in my garden. Compost is used to amend my raised beds, and they are covered with leaves in the fall, then in the winter, the leaves are turned into the soil. For mulch, the only things I use are leaves and grass clippings.

I have two small border gardens. The cats thought they were great places to nap, the brambles decided growing right against the border perfectly. Ai-yi-yi. I spent last week digging out the brambles and other weeds.

What a beautiful way to end a video --a promise from God!

Ruthann, you may only have a limited education, but girl, I have my masters and I just got "schooled!" Thank you for the education!! I LOVE seeing the boys playing! Their sweet little faces!

Thank you for another great video offering. I enjoy hearing your wisdom acknowledge when it comes to homesteading I must say that opening scene of the sunrise and the dew on that beautiful garden fills something up in my soul I can almost smell that fresh soil right after God has just kissed it with the morning dew. I could weep for missing that very thing. Thank you for your channel. God bless❤

My garden is my love.😊❤

Ruthann, you are doing an absolutely wonderful job! You are teaching many of us to homestead. My dad only had an 8th-grade education, and he became an airplane mechanic in both the Air Force and Boeing. We love your teaching, so don't stop! Just be you! You are incredible the way you are! God bless you and thank you!

I love your garden, My Dad always grew a in ground garden and yes I did have to help him plant and harvest lol, then help,can lol , but I love watching you and your and your children working in the garden , it brings back so many wonderful growing up memory’s . He always loved his garden, I remember how big it was and how hard we worked but it was a labor of love. I love watching the boys riding down the hill it also reminds me of my childhood and the farm is beautiful everything sprouting out green and the beautiful rainbow God gift to us to remind us that he will never destroy the earth again by water . God Bless you and your family.

I'm in Kansas City and we have made our garden space both, raised beds and inground. I've considered going all inground, because I feel like I'd have more growing space, but it also would be a lot of work to create the conversion. I think hubs happy medium is to build me higher raised beds so I don't have to bend over so much, especially as I'm getting older. And we can possibly combine two beds together, adding in the walkway space to create garden space. So, instead of two 4x8' beds, I'd have one 4x18' bed. Doing that four times already would allow me an additional bed of space that I currently have. If I did that eight times, then I'd have one more full size 4x18' to work with. Fewer walking aisles, but with the way we installed our fence last year, we left a huge amount of space around the perimeter, so we'd have room to easily navigate our carts around. Always evolving and always learning what is working best. I definitely love my gardening ❤

😆 how many scrapes and bruises did the kids get going down the hill in the wagon? That was great! Reminds me of my childhood. Your soil is so beautiful! I’m jealous with my clay soil battles. border beds or hilling is what works for me. We are almost past the season of rain and mudd 😃 🌧 then tomato planting begins. Zone 7. Love all your videos and started using your white bread recipe (without sourdough) my new go to. Never had such good french toast in my 63 yrs. Thanks for sharing your skills ❤

Plants work with soil bacteria, fungi & micro nutrients to thrive. Its an awesome subject to study.

Your garden is amazing!!

I really enjoy your posts. The rainbow is beautiful! God is good, may He bless you abundantly!

This was a very informative video! And I LOVE the rainbow at the end! One of Our Fathers promises to us, Genesis 9:11-17

Honestly Ruthann you are an amazing self taught well self educated and you are a inspiration to me ❤

Thank you for sharing this. You have given the absolute best comparison of raised beds vs inground gardening. Great explanation of why raised beds produce a bit less and why that happens. I have been gardening for our family for 43 years and as a child helping my parents. In east KY we never water inground gardens. Dad taught me to plant early enough to get the spring rains and plants get established and when drier summer days come the plants have a good deep root system to go kin search of that deep moisture. Thank you for this and God bless and keep you.

Good morning you're amazing and remind me of my young adulthood because I learned all of the canning and freezing of fruits and vegetables from my grandmother, mother and dad but learned most of my gardening and animal butchery from my dad! The one thing we never did was pressure cook/can anything which I would LOVE to learn! Thank you for your faith and thank you for being here, much appreciated ❤

Education is anytime you are learning something you didn't know before. Your videos have educated so many people. I watch your videos and wish I could do what you do! I've taken a lot of your ideas and applied them to my small area of life and home as a single adult teacher of second language learners! I was amazed when you said that English was not your primary language. Is it Pennsylvania Dutch? You do not show any signs, except for when you say certain vocabulary words you're not sure of, that English isn't your primary language. Keep doing what you're doing. I love that you are not only making these videos for us englishers, but for the future of your own family so they can refer back to them. What an incredible legacy!

Good morning this is the nitty gritty of gardening 😊thanks for all the education

My grandmother was born in 1918 to Scottish/English farmers. She was oldest of 10 children and the first six were girls. She worked very hard learned how to home out a cylinder and drive tractor how to work in the fields. She also would come in after that hard day's work and help in the kitchen to feed the farm hands. My grandma taught me just like you're teaching and I'm still learning from you is the ways that are tried and true. By the way my grandmother was born in Sharpsburg Iowa. They went to Colorado for a few years due to the fact that my great-grandma had TB then on to Nebraska. My Grandpa always had a garden and shared not only his wonderful crops also his amazing ability to grow the best kohlrabi I've ever had. Oh Grandma knew how to put together a garden and she shared with me how to get one started. Her best kept secret was sprinkling a little bit of ammonia sulfate to get everyone started especially when she was transplanting. Thank you for sharing ❤❤❤

I enjoy seeing you and your family barefoot in the garden. Brings back wonderful childhood memories. My mother would almost always kick her shoes off when she was in the garden. I can almost smell the soil. GOD Iis good. All the time. Kind regards..

The intro of your garden is stunning! I learn something from every video. Thank You.

Wonderful information. Thank you Ruthanne! When I first started watching you, you spoke to the fact that someone had commented that you sound ‘uneducated’. You agreed that you are. That is the only thing I’ve ever heard you say that I vehemently disagree with. You have more knowledge, and have been taught by experts on such a wide range of important, useful subjects. Our Ivy League colleges should strive to turn out such knowledgeable students! There are many ‘worlds of learning’, and the ones you attended actually serve an amazing purpose! I deeply envy you your knowledge base!

I love your knowledge, teaching with simplicity about a lot of complexity and transparency❤ Please don't get pulled in and lose this🙏 Thank you for teaching us the Ways of life through your experience.

BORDER GARDEN!!! That's what I have but never knew what to call it! Thank you!!! For years and years I had an inground garden with all the rows hilled up just like my parents did. Now in my mid 60's, I can't keep up with all the weeding, so last year my husband put some 2x6 boards down on the ground and weed fabric on the walk ways. So much easier for me to keep it weeded BUT, I never knew what to say when people asked what kind of garden did I have. It's raised, but not really. lol

After loosing all my early spring collards and kale, radishes and spouting peas to a native bunny that has moved into my back yard as of last summer. I didn't know it was still around but had put a fence around the small garden space I use for my early garden. Well, that little thumper dug under the fence and in one night everything was gone. They were just small plants but I was so upset. I had worked hard and was so happy to see the radish and pea seeds just starting to grow. So, I wish I could afford to buy some of those metal raised beds so maybe I could be better able to protect my garden. I have terrible knees and feet so garden from a chair but don't mind having to get up and down and move around even with the pain but a raised bed would make that so much easier. Oh, and the new strawberry plants I put in were eaten back to the crown.

I look forward to each new video and I learn so much from you! I now garden using straw bales. They are higher than normal raised beds and I didn't have to build anything. They are placed inside an old chain link dog run which acts as trellising for any plants that need it. It also helps keep the critters out. The advantage is that the conditioning process to get the bales fermenting warms the bales up, so plants that need warm soil can be planted earlier. Fewer weeds too! When I'm getting ready for new bales, the old bales have composted into a mulch I can use for edging my flower beds.

I always learn so much when I watch your videos. My husband is the gardener. I am the canner, freezer, dehydrator, baker, and food prepper person. I don’t know how you do it all. We have an in ground garden. We live in the Brazos Valley of Texas. We do have to water some but try not to. Our growing season is mostly over by the time yours is coming in. We have small tomatoes on our plants that we are anxiously waiting to pick. We have a few Early Girl tomatoes that will come in first for eating. My canning operation will start the end of May and finish in early July. It just gets too hot here in the late summer, although last year we extended it a little when my husband put shade cloth up over the tomatoes. Last year was very heat intensive. We are praying for a wetter year. My husband has no desire to do a raised bed garden, but my sister has good luck with hers in town. To each his own. Your kids crack me up. My brother and I used to take turns pushing each other in the wagon. We had a lot of fun growing up. We could always think of something to do and our pekingnese dogs were not far behind us.

Here in Missouri our soil is rocky & clay. We lived in Minnesota all our lives (55 & 63 years old) and gardened mostly in the ground. But here in Missouri it’s just not possible. I miss the nice rich soil we had in Minnesota. But since we both have back problems, we appreciate the raised beds nowadays.

RuthAnn, God has given you the gift of teaching and for sustaining the old way of life. Thank you I appreciate re-learning how to can. I have two masters, one doctorate, and one bachelor's degree. The degrees did not make me any smarter, only a better person to jump through hoops. I always thought that everyone else was better than me and smarter. Those thoughts are lies. You are amazing just the way 'God made you. You are a kind gentle and caring person with compassion. Those qualities with the fruits of the spirit are caught when taught. Thank you for what you are teaching.

After years of doing inground gardens, then no-till gardening, I went with "short height" raised beds, but no limit on the bottom.. it goes into the original ground. I found tilling/working the ground it is a swamp until mid June, to late to plant most, and/or floods what I did get planted. My beds work well for me, I do heavily mulch the beds also, so the soil keeps moist (and seldom have to water), and cool and/or warm depending on the season. I know it all depends on location and soil. Thanks for sharing your info!

I studied German and it helped me so much with English later on. each part of the world has a set of quirks unique to the speech of that area. Goodness knows my community where I was raised had a set for the books! You speak like someone from Iowa and I find it enchanting. I admire your organization and knowledge! You know how we have a lot of the formal education available today? People recording what they learned and know, just as you are doing. So, thanks for adding to the knowledge bank!

It is such a blessing to watch your boys playing and working together.

I’ve been binge watching your yeast and sourdough baking. Just found you today and I just want to say you are the perfect teacher. No rushing thru it and taking time to explain everything so we’ll and your pleasant personality is captivating. Thank you !

I have a new term to use, border garden. That’s what I have, but I always called it raised bed knowing that it didn’t look like most raised beds and it wasn’t even raised. We use 2x4s to keep out grass.

I wait for your videos ❤. My husband manages the gardening and I am now trying to get more involved. Thanks for this and thanks for all that you share.

Ruthann I absolutely love listening to you and your explanations. I learn so much from you. Thank you for all you provide for us through your videos.

Thank you for this! I always learn so many new things from you, RuthAnn! Your little ones make me laugh! So glad to see kids making their own fun!

That's amazing about the rain during a thunderstorm, how it brings nutrients out of the atmosphere and into the soil. I knew that there had to be something to that. There's such a difference between plants that are watered by the natural rains, versus plants that are watered by hand or artificially. In 2022, we had a very long, hot dry, summer, with little rain. The tomatoes didn't ripen on the vine. I had to water everyday. Things just don't grow the same, even with adequate water.

I always take at least a minimum of two things from all of your videos!! I can’t wait to see what you will teach every week. What a well of knowledge. Thank you so much for sharing it every week.

You are such a good teacher, blessed by God. It is very obvious that you have thoroughly researched and studied this topic.

No till gardening is where it’s at in my book. Raised beds are so much kinder on the soil.

I love what you have to share here… and all your cooking, baking and when your cow had two babies!! So informative and I LOVE your channel! Thank you Ruth Ann!

In addition to what you said about using plastic weed barriers, folks should consider this: All plastics begin to break down the moment they are produced, and plastics used outdoors will break down faster being exposed to heat. When they break down they not only pollute the soil, they destroy certain nutrients in the soil. This contaminates, not only the soil, but also the plants, their fruit and ultimately you. If you were to do a test case, like I did a long time ago with others, by starting plants in beds that have been soil tested prior to planting, with one bed using plastic weed barriers and another nearby (but not too nearby) using organic mulch, several things will happen, the plants that use plastic barriers will have stunted/weak plants, the taste of the produce will be off, yields will be smaller, and the soil will be depleted of certain nutrients, and the contamination will continue because the plastic particles that remain will forever be contaminating the soil and need constant, various and costly amendments to produce anything else. This test was done without using chemical fertilizers or pesticides on both beds. The plants used in both beds came from the same source and were not from various varieties or from store bought seeds. Do your own test if you don't believe me.

You are a special lady with many gifts.Thank you for sharing with us your knowledge and allowing us to become part of your life.

You are my kind of person with your knowledge. Smart as a whip. My dad had an 8th education but was smart as a whip too. He started his own business (asphalt company) with a pick-up truck, a shovel, a bucket of a tar, and a broom at the age of 40. When he passed at 83 he had passed the company to my 2 brothers with 8 employees. Company was valued at over $2 million and provided an income for 10 families. NW Iowa gal here too. I have an inground garden also and mulch .Our soil is amazing, but i do compost too.

Yes, GOD IS SO GOOD! Thank you for sharing your life and family with us! Every time I watch a video my mind goes to this scripture because I see it lived out in your family: ‘The fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control”. God bless!

Hi RuthAnn! You are so awesome! I like the way you present pros and cons, then give the reasons why you prefer things a certain way. This always allows us to make our own decisions. You are so greatly appreciated. Thank you for sharing your life with all of us! Blessings and love to you and your family!

Hello from Canada, I’ve only been vegetable gardening for a few years - when most around me are putting energy and funds into building and maintaining raised beds I’ve intuitively felt plants need to planted in-ground - now I know why. Thank you for your detailed explanation and also your take on watering. This year I’m more than ever determined not to water and do as you recommend with mulching.

Here in Colorado, we have to use raised beds because our mountain is rocky and we have more clay than dirt. We use all organic soil and seeds. We have only 90 days from planting to harvest due to the weather.