With some planning, those in cooler climates can start planting their vegetables early enough to be enjoyed during the summer months.

One of the best ways to grow vegetables in cool climates is to plant them in raised beds. By elevating the soil, it dries more quickly, warms faster, and provides deeper soil for root crops to develop. You can plant earlier in the season and harvest later in the fall.

Raised garden beds can be used to overcome poor soil conditions and less than optimum drainage. By raising the soil, excess moisture from spring rains tend to drain away more quickly and the soil remains warmer thus allowing for earlier planting.

Another advantage in raising the soil is that the depth makes it easier to grow deep rooted crops such as carrots, beets and radishes. In addition, the warmer soil often makes it possible to grow crops that you couldn't grow before. If you ever tried to grow melons in traditional planting beds in the northern half of the United Sates, you already know how difficult that is because of the cool soil and shorter growing season. However, I have been able to grow some short-season varieties of melons in raised beds, which I could never do in a conventional ground-level vegetable garden.

Vegetable garden beds can be raised by mounding the soil with a shovel or rake and are typically enclosed by stones, concrete blocks, bricks, pressure-treated (non-toxic) lumber, or recycled plastic boards. 

Design beds to fit any size or type of outdoor space. Choose a sunny location and leave enough room between beds to accommodate a garden cart. Raise your bed 6-12 inches above ground level. Fill it in with a mix of topsoil, compost, composted manure, and packed soil such as Miracle Gro Enriched Garden Soil. Amend soil yearly.

Whichever way you form the raised bed, it is important to rake the soil so there are no low spots where moisture can gather.

Remember, you will want to reach everything growing in your raised bed without stepping into it. A garden bed that can be reached by only one side should not be wider than two feet, whereas a bed that can be reached both sides can be as wide as four feet. I make my beds four feet wide, which makes it easier to reach in when I water, weed, thin and harvest my crops.

Raised beds with a wide frame provides a place to sit or kneel while tending and harvesting crops. Wood frames painted in cheery colors add to the attractiveness of raised bed vegetable gardens.

For a longer growing season and the possibility of growing a wide range of vegetables, it may be worth trying a few raised beds.