The Idea of Raised Garden Bed

Build your plants in a place they like to call home (and make you happy).

Therefore, you decide that in this growing season, the elevated bed is suitable for your garden type. yeah! However, you need to make another decision. In addition to being easy to grow, another benefit of elevated bed gardening is that you can use materials found in home decor or farm supplies stores or your own house to build your own. There are many ideas about elevated bed gardens (thank you, Pinterest!), But most use wood, brick or stone, metal, concrete or straw. To help you move faster from planning to planting, we have narrowed down the benefits of each method and provided some hints that you need to complete your work in a day or less.

• Brick or natural stone movable bed garden
• Wooden high bed garden
• Metal movable bed garden
• Concrete high bed garden
• Straw bed garden

Whichever style you choose, first use ropes or garden hoses to create the outline of the bed on flat ground. This will help you get a sense of scale before you begin to assemble the bed. You may dream of a classic 4x8 foot bed, but then realize that it occupies half of your backyard. Any size that allows you to reach the center of the heightening bed is OK, so please look around until you find the size that suits you. Once you are satisfied with the size and location, remove grass from the area to prevent weeds from growing in the soil. If you love your lawn too much, spread it with cardboard or landscape cloth; It is like the bodyguard of the club, letting the annoying weeds know that they are not invited to your plant party.

When you conceive of your fertile new garden, remember that once assembled, you need to fill the soil - how much depends on what you want to plant.
But first, let's take a closer look at the idea of these high bed gardens.

Brick or natural stone movable bed garden.

Whether you are pursuing the # cottagecore appearance found on Instagram or hoping to make things look more natural, brick beds or stone beds (as shown in the above figure) will bring you beauty. You don't even need mortar: dry stacking means less work to build the bed, and if you want to move it next season, you can choose to take it apart. What you really need is a solid brick paver or flat natural stone from any home decoration shop. You can also save your own - just make sure they're in good shape and don't collapse under pressure (literally).

If you want to assemble a dry stacked elevated bed in the yard, you need to create a shallow ditch with the same shape as your bed to help fix the foundation row. Use a straight bladed shovel (or shovel) to dig 1 to 2 inches deep. Then, no matter what type of surface you build on, if they are uneven in size, use the widest brick or stone in the first row. Stagger the second row of vertical joints, and so on, until all four sides are about 1.5 to 2 feet high. This is a good stop point; More than 3 feet, they may overturn and hurt you or your plants.

Wooden high bed garden

Wood is one of the most common materials for elevated beds, perhaps because it is easy to assemble. If you plan to use the bed in more than one season, select a decay resistant wood, such as cedar, oak, or cypress. Otherwise, any untreated wood should be in good condition for at least one successful growing season.

If you are not skilled in using the circular saw (completely fair), most timber yards will cut the wood to the length you want for free or for a small fee. You can then very simply pin or screw each adjacent end together to create a frame. Make sure that all sides are at least 1 foot high, but if you plan to plant deeply rooted vegetables, plan for 18 inches or more. In order to increase the stability, further, the board is nailed to the wooden column at each corner.

Metal movable bed garden

For permanent elevated beds, try rust proof galvanized steel. One of the most popular appearances of this lightweight material is the tank - you know, the kind that cows drink from dairy farms. You can buy one from most farm supply stores, but it is not too difficult to make your own panels from metal panels. The hardest part (hard, we mean undertaking tasks you may not have done before) will be cutting metal. The fastest way is to use a circular saw to cut it with a metal cutting blade (sparks fly, so you must wear goggles and gloves), but you can also use a tin shear. These are scissors for cutting metal. It takes more time and wrist strength than using a saw.

For DIY metal elevated bed, use steel bars or EMT conduits as wooden piles, and then use a mini sledge hammer to drive them into the ground along the outline of the elevated bed. Then, each sheet of metal is placed against each row of wooden piles to form a frame, and the bed is filled with soil so that the sheet of metal can be pressed against the wooden piles. You can also tighten the side together with the metal corner guards to ensure safety, but it is better to keep some wooden stakes on the side to prevent the sheets from bending. Remember to watch out for sharp edges, both now and when gardening outside.

Concrete high bed garden

Concrete blocks are one of the cheapest materials available for elevated gardens (starting at about $1 per block on average). Remember, there is a difference between concrete blocks and cinder blocks; The latter may contain heavy metals, so be careful if you use anything you find, or if you do not buy new concrete blocks from a home improvement store. For easy rest, just spread landscape fabric or food grade plastic lining on the bed to avoid any leaching, and plant ornamental flowers in the well.

Use a unicycle to move the blocks (your back will thank you). They are very heavy, but that means you don't need to dig ditches to fix them. A row of feet creates a simple protruding frame for annual plants or herbs. However, if you have enough muscle - or a friend with muscle - you can stack them in two to three rows to meet the needs of deeper rooted plants. If you are not selling on a solid grey surface, you can always cunningly decorate the sides with mosaic tiles or colored paint.

Straw bed garden

Put down the power tools and pick up some straw bales. This is one of the easiest ways to assemble an elevated bed garden. Straw bales can be purchased at most home improvement stores, or if you have a farm supply store near you. Don't pick hay instead! Although it seems that they are not the same thing, hay full of seeds will cause some gardening problems.

Use these bags to form a square or rectangular frame with an open center - this is where the soil is. You can make them neat by tying them in the twine they come in, or you can cut them off to get a loose look. Both methods work, but strong bales provide a place to sit, and you can look after your plants in the center of the garden or just relax and enjoy them. Once you have harvested your crops and the growing season is over, you can use a unicycle to scoop up the straw and throw it into your compost. You will have a blank canvas from next season, or there will be space to build something permanent.

Once your elevated bed is assembled, it's time to enjoy it. Step back, wipe the sweat off your forehead and give yourself a round of applause.