Raised Beds vs In-Ground Gardens

After several unsuccessful and unproductive years of gardening in the ground, I converted to growing most of my edible plants in raised beds. Not only did setting up a raised-bed kitchen garden help me find so much more success and productivity, it added one thing to my entire backyard I didn't expect: beauty. That's why my Houston-based kitchen garden company, Rooted Garden, exclusively works with raised beds.

When it comes to installing raised beds, you have four options:

• Purchase a raised bed kit online, at a hardware store, or at a local garden center
• Build your own raised garden bed
• Hire a professional carpenter or contractor to build your raised beds for you
• Hire a garden consultant to build and install a turnkey garden for you, complete with raised beds, soil, the works

You can start small for a couple hundred bucks or invest more significantly for a few thousand dollars.

I'm sure plenty of you are now thinking: But... gardening in the ground is basically free, right? Why pay money at all to house dirt? I've got dirt in my backyard. Let's get into the reasons I recommend upgrading from the ground.

What Are the Benefits of Raised Beds?

Before we get into the cost of raised beds, let's consider their many benefits.

• The soil in a raised bed warms up faster in the spring than the soil in the ground. You'll be able to extend your total growing time by planting earlier in the spring and later in the fall.
• Raised beds improve drainage and prevent the roots of your plants from sitting in water for too long. It’s hard to control what kind of drainage you have in the ground, so you end up battling mold, rot, and mildew without raised beds.
• Raised beds provide plenty of room for the roots of your plants to dig down deep, which means they don't have to take up much lateral room. This means you can practice something called intensive planting to maximize your total growing ability. You end up being able to grow two to three times more in a raised bed than in an in-ground garden.
• Raised beds provide instant gratification. They look good from the get-go.
• Raised beds allow you to start with the very best soil for your edible plants. You don't have to spend years amending the soil in the ground to get the right composition for growing vegetables. In many of the places I've lived and gardened, the local soil has often been filled with too much clay to keep picky plants happy.
• Raised beds are easy to maintain. The added height prevents weeds from taking over.
• You don't need any expensive tools to tend or harvest when you're growing in raised beds. I went from planting my first (unsuccessful) in-ground garden with a rototiller to barely even using a shovel. Now, I can largely make do with a hori hori and a good pair of pruners.
• Raised beds are more comfortable to work in. Their extra height means you don't have to kneel or bend over very much to be on the same level as the plants while tending and harvesting.
• Thanks to the better drainage and increased depth for roots, your plants will be two to three times more productive growing in a raised bed than they would be in the ground or a small container.

Read more about why raised beds are better for gardening. I may be biased, but the only negatives of raised beds are the added expense of the materials and the time/labor required to install them—though, again, in-ground gardens also require a lot of work to level the ground and amend the soil.

Now, let's look at those extra costs.

How Much Do Raised Beds Cost?

Keep in mind that costs will vary depending on your location and materials available. Other factors, of course, are the raised bed size and the quality and type of materials you're using.

Overall, the total cost might include:

• raised bed material (wood, steel, brick, stone)
• hardware
• delivery
• labor to build
• labor to install

If you're DIY'ing your raised beds, then your cost will include the raised bed material, hardware, and soil to fill the inside (and, obviously, your time). If you plan to have materials delivered, don't forget to factor in delivery cost.

Wood Raised Beds

Wood is typically the most affordable option for your raised bed material, even if you go with cedar. On average, a DIY raised bed constructed from wood will cost $25 to $50 per square foot. To have a wooden raised bed constructed and installed for you, budget for at least $100 per square foot. (Find a kitchen garden company in your area.) 

These costs are for the thickest pieces of wood you can afford. While there are many inexpensive wooden raised bed kits available for purchase, I've found the boards are usually too thin (typically 1 inch) to be very durable. I hate to see people going through all the work to set up their raised beds only to realize it's a space they won't be able to grow in for longer than a couple years.

Steel Raised Beds

After wood, the next most affordable option is steel. I've created loads of raised beds and planters out of stainless steel containers by adding drainage holes. Corten steel, growing in popularity thanks to its rusty appearance, is a sustainable and incredibly durable material.

We have two different corten steel raised beds available for sale in our Gardenary shop, each in various sizes to suit your space. Let's look at the large corten steel bed, which is 48"W x 96"L x 16"H. You're paying about $31 per square foot of growing space for this raised bed. If you were to commission a custom corten steel raised bed from a metal worker, you'd obviously be looking at much more per square foot.

Stone Raised Beds

Stone is by far the most expensive material for your raised beds, at about $42 per square foot just for materials. You have the option of dry laying stones (or not securing your stones with cement), but if you're going above two layers tall, I highly recommend using a cement footer or hiring a professional to install it (same goes for brick). Brickmasons typically charge between $40 and $70 per hour for labor. The good news is, after all that, those beds will be there forever.

Raised Beds Are a Good Investment

As you can probably see, costs can add up quickly when you're installing a garden. When my husband and I installed our kitchen garden in Houston, we bought untreated cedar and built the raised beds ourselves. We ordered the best soil we could find (I recommend you do the same), and then we did all the shoveling ourselves and started everything from seed to save costs elsewhere. Even so, we still spent over $2,500 for 120 square feet of kitchen garden space.

Our finances had been tight at the time, so I felt an urge to report to my husband every time I "saved" us money by not having to buy boxes of kale or lettuce or parsley at the grocery store. I experienced more than a little guilt over how much my whole garden setup had run us, especially when my husband pointed out—with a smile—how many bags of lettuce I'd have to skip before we made up our $2.5K investment.

And an investment it was. Unless you discover a way to grow money in your garden (and please let me know if you do), it'll take you a long time to come out "even." But I still believe raised beds are worth every penny you spend on them.

Instead of hoping your garden will one day save you money at the grocery store, view your garden as an investment in your home, your landscape, and yourself. As I write in my book, Kitchen Garden Revival:

“Consider money spent in the garden like money spent on gym equipment, a club membership, or music lessons, or simply consider it as paying for a doctor's visit. The saying is a little lame, but it doesn't mean it's not true: Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. It would take quite a few therapy sessions to equal the cost of a kitchen garden, but you will at least get to eat your results."

Wait, you might be thinking, you're talking about gardening, and I just want to know if the raised bed part is worth it. To me, gardening and gardening in raised beds are one and the same. If you want to have a beautiful and productive kitchen garden that you can tend easily and harvest from regularly, you need raised beds.

Raised Beds Are an Investment in Your Home

Opting for raised beds is like splurging on a piece of art to hang in your entryway.

Some of the critics of my book, Kitchen Garden Revival, were appalled at the prices I quoted for raised beds, but I'd love to know how much those same people would be willing to spend on a new couch or a home improvement project like a new deck or even a swimming pool. I know that not everybody spends money on improvements in their home, but most people do. If you're a homeowner, it's normal to spend thousands a year improving aspects of your space.  

The kitchen garden is just a small part of your overall home, but I can tell you that it is a very important one. In fact, I experienced this firsthand when we sold our home in Houston, Texas, to move to Chicago. Our realtor put a photo of the kitchen garden in our listing, and it became a key selling point. One of the first offers we received was from an interested buyer who wanted us to throw in the garden trellises.

The kitchen garden had been one of our favorite "rooms" in the house, and I guarantee you the buyers appreciated having that space too.

Ask Yourself

How much would you normally spend on a home improvement project? How much would you spend to create a space that brings you joy? How much are you already spending on home decor? Your garden will become a beautiful place where you can grow food and have special experiences.  

Raised Beds Are an Investment in Your Landscaping

When I first started Rooted Garden, I did some research on how much you're supposed to spend on landscaping for your home. I wanted to ensure it was worth it for my clients to spend so much money on their kitchen garden setups. The consensus from real estate agents and home professionals seemed to be that you should spend about 10 to 15 percent of your home value on landscaping. That means if your home is worth $300,000, you should spend about $30,000 on landscaping.

Unlike growing your own kale versus buying it at the grocery store, you can potentially see a much faster ROI on your raised-bed garden if you were to sell your home. Landscaping projects can give homeowners a return of between 200 and 400 percent, and landscape economists estimate that good landscaping can make up as much as 28 percent of your home's total value.

Ask Yourself

If you're going to spend, say, $10,000 on your whole landscape, then why not consider at least 10 percent of that going to the kitchen garden? That's $1,000 for your kitchen garden, and most of that budget can be for your raised beds. They will become a central feature of your landscape.

Raised Beds Are an Investment in Yourself

It's time to assess the garden's real value, not just to our properties but to us. Think of the four sides of raised beds as a room, and here are the things that room can be in your everyday life:

• A gym - Every day when I step out to my garden, I move my body in a purposeful way for long periods of time that have been shown to be excellent for cardiovascular health. Gardening is like going on a long walk, but when you're done, you come home with a bowl of salad you grew yourself.  
• Therapy - Whether you're someone who regularly goes to counseling or has never spent a moment meditating, being in the garden can be therapeutic. It's a place to clear your head, give you some space to think and to notice yourself, your thoughts, and your emotions in a new way.
• A classroom - Your garden is a place where you're going to learn so many new things. It's like going back to school, only there are no grades or tests this time around. Constantly being a learner is something that keeps me coming back to the garden again and again. Each new discovery is a wonder to me in the garden—and I don't have to spend $20,000 a year on tuition to experience it.
• A workshop - We learned during the pandemic that many of us miss doing hands-on things, and that's because we largely stopped making things ourselves once the world went digital. So many of us crave making art, building something, creating something. My garden is my workshop, a place where I can touch things and pull things together in a unique way. 
• A health food store - When you harvest food right from the garden and pop it directly in your mouth, you enjoy more nutrition than any vitamin could ever provide. You cannot buy more nutrient-dense food from the farmers' market or Whole Foods. When you have raised beds filled with leafy greens, herbs, and cherry tomatoes, you don't need to waste money on shakes or powders or gummy vitamins.
• A grocery store - You don't have to worry about spinach wilting or sage leaves turning brown when you can pick everything fresh, at the peak of its flavor, from your own garden. You also don't have to worry about food recalls or supply chain issues when you're growing your own. Of course, you'll still need to grocery shop, but the idea is to be able to skip past all those little plastic containers of herbs and salad mixes as often as possible.
• A family hangout spot - The garden creates family time. I've enjoyed so many special bonding experiences with my husband and my children while we're experimenting in the garden or harvesting together.
• An ecosystem - An organic garden filled with a variety of plants is a place to support nature and our beneficial insects. Your garden is a place to make a small difference in the world.

When you consider that a raised garden can be all these things at once, you'll realize it's actually one of the most valuable things you can own.

Ask Yourself

I like to say to my clients, or to anyone considering a garden, that the question really is not: “Do I have enough money for a garden?” Instead it's: “How much am I already spending on all the things that a garden could provide in the areas of experience, health, community, and beauty?”  

Do a little math.

How much do you spend on entertainment and experiences and vacations? How much do you spend on classes you attend, memberships, excursions, toys, equipment, etc.? How much do you spend on vitamins and gym memberships and organic produce?

Because I guarantee you that a garden can fulfill the same urge that drives you to spend money on many of these things. The same amount of money spent on a 20-class pass to a workout studio, for instance, could instead be spent on raised beds that will last for 20 years.

Which of the above items could you pause for a few months to save up money for raised beds? Remember, these raised beds are something you can have for many years to come.

Find Raised-Bed Gardening Support

No matter your budget, there are ways that you can set up raised beds and start gardening simply and quickly—even for just a few hundred bucks. There is a beautiful garden space that will work for you no matter what your financial situation is, whether you build it for $300 or $30,000.

So, take a look at your home improvement budget and your available fun money to see how much you can afford to invest in your raised beds. You can always start small and add another raised bed to your space later. I promise that the value those raised beds will bring to your gardening experience and to your overall life will be well worth it!

If you're feeling stuck or intimidated over building your own raised bed, you're not alone. Gardenary exists to give beginner gardeners a place where they can find all the resources they need to keep on growing.

My book, Kitchen Garden Revival, delves deeper into picking a location for your kitchen garden and then walks you through the planning, designing, and building of your raised beds, plus how to plant and tend your favorite edible plants.

If you're more an online-course-type of person, check out our popular course, Kitchen Garden Academy. Over the course of eight modules, we walk you through the complete step by step to set up and grow in your own kitchen garden.

For maximum help setting up your own kitchen garden, find a garden consultant near you to come out to your space. A garden consultant in your area can also connect you with local carpenters or masons if you need a little extra help with the bed construction process.

I'm confident that you're going to love having raised beds if you choose to install them in your outdoor space, and we've got tons of resources to help you build your own gardening haven and start growing!