Raised garden beds have gained popularity, especially among new gardeners. However, there seems to be confusion about raised garden beds vs container gardens. They often look the same, but they are fundamentally different. We wanted to explain it in this blog article.
Personally, we use both, and each has its place. Let’s first see what is what, and then where and how to use each.
What is a raised garden bed?
A raised garden bed is a raised bed in the garden. It can be as tall or as small as you want. What makes a raised garden bed a garden bed is its connection to the soil and the soil life in the garden.
A raised garden bed can be used anywhere with some soil available. It does not matter if the soil is weedy, hard, rocky, or great because we can build new soil on top of the existing soil in the raised bed.
A raised bed can be any size and shape. It is good, though, if you can reach the middle of the bed from both sides without stepping on the soil. A 4ft wide raised garden bed seems to be the most common size.
A raised garden bed warms the soil more quickly in spring but dries out during hot summer days. Raising the beds just enough to gain the advantage of an organized garden while avoiding drying out is a good option. Read more about the best garden beds, in our opinion.
A tall raised bed is easy to use, especially for people with health problems. Durable material makes it a good choice for many years of gardening.
We share how we created our main raised beds in the article Replace your lawn with food production. After that, it seems that each year we add at least one more raised bed to our landscape.
In our opinion, raised beds are the way to go in a cold climate. Not just because the soil warms up better, but it is also easy to add protection from frost. Read more about simple hoops for frost and hail protection.
Our smallest raised bed is only about 2×4 feet tall. It has a fine mesh underneath to keep the sunchokes that grow in it from spreading. However, it is still a raised bed, not a container garden.
What is a container garden?
A container garden is any container with soil for growing. Not just common growing pots and grow bags are container gardens; really, any container or bed that has no connection to the earth has to be considered a container garden.
Container gardens are a great choice for growing a garden without soil: patio, deck, driveway, parking space, balcony, etc.
Our raised window-protected garden bed in our driveway is a container garden. It looks just like a raised garden bed from the outside, and it could easily be a garden bed if placed in a different location and opened up to the soil underneath, but since it is on concrete and lined with weed-control fabric, it is a container bed. The soil has no access to the soil life and is contained within it.
Any container with good drainage can be used for a container garden. Or make your own grow bags and grow away. Read also how to grow in grow bags successfully.
A wicking bed is also a great choice for a container garden. It makes watering easier by containing some of the water at the bottom of the bed.
Why is the difference important?
Why is it important to know the difference between a raised garden bed and a container garden, you might ask? Especially since some of them look the same and can even be mistaken for each other?
The difference between a container garden and a raised bed is in the soil, if plant roots have acces to the native soil, earthworms to move in, and moisture to balance, or if the soil environment, nutrients, and moisture levels completely the responsibility of the gardener.
A raised garden bed that is open to the earth over time becomes part of the earth’s ecosystem. Why, over time, you might ask? Because it might be that there is no good garden soil where you place your garden bed. Maybe there are weeds, rocks, or even gravel. Still, we recommend, whenever possible, to leave the garden bed open to the ground.
An open garden bed can be filled with all-natural material. Some of our beds are layered the lasagna garden way. Some are just filled with good garden soil. We would suggest lasagna gardening if the soil under the bed is not good garden soil, because there is no good soil life yet to help you build good soil. If good soil is already present, you can fill the beds with garden soil, and they will quickly blend and become good soil for growing.
Weed control fabric under an open garden bed turns it into a container garden. People often think that weed control fabric will make it so easy, just roll it out, and all the problems with what could possibly be under the bed are solved.
It is not so.
You just locked the border down so the hardworking crew can do the dirty work for you.
In a container garden, the quality of the soil is all your responsibility. No soil life will move in and build soil over time. You will have to feed the plants rather than the soil.
The container soil must include 3 components: a light growing medium, a moisture-retaining agent, and a fertilizer. Personally, we use the soil mixture from the All-New Square Foot Garden book.
We cover the soil for container gardening and closed raised beds in this article. Yes, you can use all-natural materials like in a lasagne garden in a container, too. But again, it is your responsibility to keep that healthy and in balance year after year. Please head over if you need to learn more.
What if you don’t know if it is a container or a raised bed?
That is a good question, especially since weed control fabric is widely used and is a common problem. You can dig down into the soil until you reach the bottom of the bed to see if it is open.
Start by examining the soil. If the soil is nice and loose and earthworms are present, it is most likely an open raised bed. Just add some compost each year and grow healthy veggies.
If the soil is nice and loose with no earthworms, but some vermiculite or perlite, it might be that the bed was filled with a good container mix. Add some compost at each planting and grow away.
If the container bed has rock-hard soil, it needs to be redone. In this case, if possible, we would remove the bottom of the bed, then add natural material like straw or compost, and layer it back in with the existing soil. The natural material will loosen up the soil, and the earthworms will move in and help you build good soil. Cover the bed with about 1 inch of compost and plant away.
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I am so glad I just trusted my intuition and avoided landscaping fabric . I am now in my slow second gardening season and only learning , WHY it was essential for our situation to leave open ground .
Your article brings the point straight and easy to understand within first page. Thank you !
Intuition is hands down the best gardening guide. Understanding the reason why can be helpful, too. Happy gardening, your beds will get better year after year.