Raised garden beds are an excellent way to have a garden in small spaces.  If you have back trouble or pain when you bend over, you can create a raised garden bed that is high enough to save your back while providing you with a nutrient rich place to grow all manner of flowers and vegetables.

The most popular method for raised garden beds is the lasagna method, which is simply a descriptive term for layering different types of compost in a bed.  The compost will break down, providing a steady supply of nutrients to the plants throughout the growing season.  The disadvantage to this type of gardening is that you must manually apply new compost every year to maintain the soil.

To begin a lasagna-style raised garden bed, first mark out the desired size of your bed.  We have found that a bed three feet wide by sixteen feet long suits us very well.  We stack three 2x4 boards on each other, giving us a depth of not quite one foot.  You can make your bed higher than this, but generally not lower.

Once you have laid out your area, lay down a layer of cardboard to help suppress weeds.  On top of that, lay loose flakes of alfalfa hay, followed by a 1-2 inch layer of compost.  Next, spread a 4-6 inch layer of loose straw, followed by another layer of rich compost.  Top it off with a thick layer of potting soil to fill your bed, and then you can plant.

After you plant, mulch your plants with dried leaves, grass clippings, peat moss or more straw.  Keep it watered regularly and you will be amazed at how quickly plants and vegetables will grow.