Choosing a field, an in-ground bed, a raised bed or a container
The four ways to hold a garden, what each one costs and buys, and how to pick the one that fits your yard, your soil, and how much work you want.
Photo: Mary O'Neill · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
What you need
A clear look at your existing soil. Is it decent, or compacted, wet, or unknown?
How much space you have, and whether you own it
How much you want to spend and lift at the start
Before you plant anything you are choosing a container for it, even if the container is the open ground. There are four common ones, and the right choice is mostly a question about your soil and how much work you want to do up front.
What are the main kinds of garden?
A field, or row garden is the oldest form: a large patch of the native soil, tilled and planted in rows with walking paths between them. It is the cheapest way to grow a lot, and the most space-hungry. It is the right call when you have room, decent soil already, and don’t mind the tilling and weeding that come with it.
An in-ground bed is a defined bed worked into the native soil, planted densely with no lumber around it. It costs almost nothing and skips the wasted walkway space of rows. It works best when the soil you have is already good, because you are gardening in it directly.
A raised bed is a framed bed of imported soil sitting above the ground. It costs the most to set up and the frame and fill are real work, but it pays that back. The soil warms and drains faster in spring, you never step on it, and you can give it good soil even if the native ground is terrible. It is the standard answer for compacted, rocky, or poorly drained sites, and for backs that would rather not bend to the ground.
A container is any pot. It is the most portable and the lowest commitment, good for a patio, a balcony, a rental, or a first try. The trade is water, because a pot dries out fast and needs watching.
My soil is poor or wet. What does that point me to?
If the ground where you’d garden stays wet after rain, fix that before you plant into it. Lifting the bed above the wet ground is one of the standard fixes.
Ground the gardener has observed to stand water after rain is a site problem to fix before planting. Selecting plants around it does not solve it.
If you skip this, you lose real yield. The planner warns you.
How it works: Saturated soil has no air in it, so roots suffocate; and standing water lets Phytophthora release swimming zoospores, which need free water to reach a root or crown at all.
Evidence: checked against 5 sources in the research-based literature.
Almost all fruit and nut trees, as well as many ornamental trees and shrubs (including many California natives), can develop Phytophthora root or crown rot
Periods of 24 hours or more of saturated soil favor Phytophthora infections. Conversely, good soil drainage and more frequent but shorter irrigations reduce the risk of root and crown rot.
Zoospores are released from sporangia only when soil is completely saturated with water (standing water).
Remedy
You told us this ground stands water after rain. Fix the site. Changing the planting list won't solve it. Plant on a mound or berm, or build the bed up. UC IPM puts the mound at 8 to 10 inches for annuals and up to two feet, with a gradual slope, for trees and perennials; WSU asks for at least 12 inches for raspberries. Fruit trees and brambles have the most to lose, and tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are named as susceptible too. Never bury the root crown or graft union when you mound. We are not naming a drainage rate or a tile spacing, because that is an engineering number and this is a garden app.
If you skip this, it still grows, just less well. The planner suggests it.
How it works: A container holds a small fixed volume of soil, its whole root zone sits above ground, cut off from the soil below, and a porous pot loses water from its sides as well as its surface. The reservoir is smaller and it empties faster.
Evidence: checked against 2 sources in the research-based literature.
Depending upon the size and material of the container, you may need to water more than once per day during hot, dry weather.
Plus one working note on how the sources were read.
Remedy
Check a container at least once a day, and twice when it is hot, dry or windy. In high summer it may need water more than once a day. A plastic pot holds moisture longer than an unglazed clay one, and a bigger pot longer than a small one.
So containers reward big pots (they dry slower) and a habit of checking them daily in summer heat.
If I build a raised bed, how wide should it be?
The dimension that matters most on a raised bed is its width, because of your arm. You should be able to tend the whole bed without stepping onto the soil and compacting it. That is why the classic raised bed is about four feet wide (reachable from both sides), or about half that against a wall. The planner enforces the same logic on any bed you draw.
A planted bed keeps every plant within arm's reach of a path, edge, or walkable row.
If you skip this, it still grows, just less well. The planner suggests it.
How it works: You can comfortably reach about 2 feet (0.6 m) into a bed. Soil farther than that from a path or edge can only be tended by stepping on it, which packs it down. So a bed worked from its edges and wider than about 4 feet (1.2 m) is laid out as planting strips no wider than 4 feet, with paths about 20 inches (0.5 m) between them. A field is worked from rows you walk, about 2.5 feet (0.75 m) apart. Raised beds, in-ground beds and containers are worked from their edges; a field is walked.
Evidence: checked against 2 sources in the research-based literature.
The 2 sources
Iowa State Univ. Extension, Yard & Garden FAQ, raised bed size
Beds accessible on both sides can be 3 to 4 feet wide
Univ. of Minnesota Extension, Raised bed gardens
… the reach of your arm is generally a good metric ... If you can access both sides, the bed can be up to five feet wide.
Plus 2 working notes on how the sources were read.
Keep the boards short enough not to bow, give the walkways between beds room for you and a wheelbarrow, and fill to the top, because fresh soil settles in its first season.
Which type does the planner assume I have?
When you place a bed in the planner, you tell it the structure (field, raised bed, in-ground, or container) and the rules adjust. A bed reserves its access paths and a field does not. A container is measured for what one pot can hold. The advice follows the ground you have, which is why you choose the ground first.
Further reading
Good places to read more about the technique on this page. The grade on each card comes from that card’s own sources.
