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I used to think all you had to do to have a garden was stick some seeds in the ground.

The seeds would all grow into plants and I'd have lots of yummy veggies to eat.

Let's be honest, though- there's a lot more to a successful organic vegetable garden to it than that, especially if your soil is of poor quality and your drainage is less than stellar.

Planting in raised beds is one of my favorite vegetable gardening tips. Raised bed gardening has many advantages over planting directly in the ground, including:

• reduced weed growth and pests (you can line the bottom with chicken wire to keep out burrowing critters)
• greater control over your growing medium- you can fill your beds not just with organic soil but with lots of organic matter too (like peat moss, compost, and well-decomposed manure)
• improved drainage- excess moisture drains more easily from raised beds, and this is better for most vegetables and flowers
• the soil warms faster - this gives you a longer growing season which is especially important for heat loving plants like tomatoes (mulch should be used to cool raised beds down in the heat of summer, of course)
• raised bed gardening is easier on the body- you don't need to stoop so much since the plants are brought closer to you

Raised beds should be rectangular. A good width is 4 feet as it allows you to reach across from both sides (you don't want to have to walk in your raised bed as this compacts the soil).

If you plan to grow a vining vegetable on a trellis against one of the long sides of the bed, you should probably make your bed thinner- Brett L. Markham, author of Mini Farming for Self Sufficiency, suggests 3 1/2 feet- so you'll be able to access the trellis.

You can make your beds as high as you like- a higher level is desirable for less mobile individuals or those with back trouble. If you are building more than one raised bed, make sure to leave a pathway wide enough for a wheelbarrow to travel in between your beds.

You can build your own raised beds, and there are many materials that work well. Wood such as redwood or cedar is an attractive choice, but keep in mind that wood may rot. Pressure treated wood used to be frowned upon due to the potential for nasty chemicals getting into your plants, but it is currently considered a safe choice. You can paint or stain the wood, but make sure, again, that whatever you use won't contaminate your plants.

Concrete blocks are not as pretty as wood but they are very durable (and cheap!). You can change the shape of your beds easily if you use concrete blocks, but they are heavy and you'll need quite a few, so this may be a deterrant to using them. Stones make beautiful raised beds, but they too are heavy and they can be expensive. Bamboo is a possibility, and recycled plastic is a very long-lasting and relatively inexpensive option. There are many kits available for raised bed gardening- my favorites (as well as tons of other great organic gardening supplies) come from Gardener's Supply Company. Go to raised bed gardening kits to learn more about them.

You can also make a raised bed without using any material to enclose it, but the shape won't hold as well, and it may be subject to erosion. A good option if you prefer not to enclose your bed is to make a raised bed using the sheet mulching method. You can sheet mulch in a raised bed enclosure as well- you'll end up with wonderfully productive soil!