July 16, 2025, 4:00 am | Read time: 5 minutes
Whether on the balcony or in the garden: Raised beds are easy on the back and can be highly productive. However, they come with a price in more ways than one. We explore the pros and cons of raised bed gardening.
Whether on a city balcony, in a townhouse garden, or in the backyard: Few garden elements have experienced such a boom in recent years as the raised bed. It is considered a versatile high-performance bed that delivers a lot of crisp vegetables in a small space. But a closer look reveals several significant disadvantages alongside many advantages.
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Advantages of a Raised Bed
Working at a Comfortable Height
Raised beds are usually 70 to 100 centimeters high. All sowing, maintenance, and harvesting tasks can therefore be done while sitting or standing. This is a great relief for people with limited mobility.
Independent of the Ground
Whether balcony tiles, sealed backyards, or heavy soil that can’t drain rainwater: In raised beds, plants root in a self-mixed substrate, making them independent of the ground. Even contaminated soils can be used this way–provided the bed has a solid bottom or stands as a table bed completely above the contaminated ground.
Extended Season
The filling acts like a kind of compost: Coarse shrub cuttings, grass clippings, leaves, and compost release heat during the decomposition process. Additionally, the sun heats the side walls. This allows the growing season to be extended both forward and backward. A fleece or an attached cold frame adds even more.
Higher Yields
The multi-layered structure of the raised bed filling provides so many nutrients that yields can be up to 30 percent higher than in ground beds. On the same area, you harvest significantly more than in a ground bed. This is an important advantage, especially for gardeners with limited space.
Also interesting: The Advantages of Gardening in a Frame Bed
Better Protection Against Pests
A fine-mesh wire mesh, spread on the ground before filling raised beds with ground contact, keeps voles and moles at bay. Snails can also be managed relatively well. Copper bands or snail-repellent coatings on the outside of the raised beds make it difficult for snails to enter the bed. But beware: This protective effect is lost if snail eggs from the compost find their way into the bed during filling.
Raised Beds as Garden Design Elements
Raised beds can do much more than just grow vegetables! Skillfully placed, they serve as privacy screens or eye-catchers and can also divide garden areas and hide unsightly corners.
Less Trouble with Weeds
In ground-level beds, weeds easily migrate from the side, but in raised beds, this path is blocked. Additionally, the top layer in raised beds is usually made of purchased, nearly weed-free raised bed soil. If seeds do get into the bed through wind or birds, the seedlings can be easily pulled out of the loose substrate.
Reuse Garden Waste
Prunings and autumn leaves often end up in the compost bin or at the recycling center by the ton. Those who fill a raised bed save the trip there, as this garden waste is ideal as filling material.
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Disadvantages of a Raised Bed
Raised Beds are Material and Time-Consuming
Reading and understanding the construction manual, sorting and screwing together parts, and additionally bringing in large amounts of filling material: All this must be done before the first bean sprouts. What looks like a nice weekend project can quickly extend over several workdays and–depending on the size of the raised bed–cost several hundred dollars or more.
Ecological Balance is So-So
Wood, metal brackets, foil, transport routes, and later recycling leave a significantly larger ecological footprint than simple, ground-based beds.
Decomposition: Curse & Blessing
The prunings and other organic garden waste initially heat up during decomposition, but they settle by many centimeters each year. New substrate must be added, or the working height will drop. Once the compost oven is burned out after some time, the heat advantage disappears too–to regain it, the bed must be completely emptied and refilled.
Higher Water Consumption
Because the raised bed is exposed to sun and wind not only from above but also from the sides, it dries out faster than a ground-level bed. The watering can must be used more frequently, especially during dry and hot periods, which can take a lot of time and drive up water costs.