A raised bed done right is one of the best setups a vegetable gardener can have. They provide better drainage, warmer soil in spring, and fewer weeds than in-ground garden beds. However, a raised bed done wrong is just an expensive container full of problems.

Many of the common raised bed mistakes aren’t obvious at build time. They show up months later as sagging boards, compacted soil, or overwhelming water bills. But luckily, a few adjustments during the planning or building stage can prevent most problems.

Whether starting fresh or troubleshooting an existing setup, raised garden beds work best when the basics are right from the start. Here are the most common mistakes gardeners make when building and growing in raised beds and how to fix them.

1. Building Your Raised Bed Too Wide

Around 4 feet (1.2 m) is the limit for raised bed width. That’s roughly the reach of an adult arm from either side, which means the entire garden bed is accessible. Go any wider and the center becomes unreachable without climbing into the bed, which creates other problems.

Foot traffic compacts soil and compacted soil doesn't have the loose, aerated structure that makes raised beds worth the effort in the first place. One hard stomp can undo months of careful soil amending and building.

For new builds, make small raised beds with a width of 4 feet (1.2 m) or less. If the space calls for something longer, two narrower raised beds with a path between them is easier to work with than one wide bed that requires climbing in.

An existing raised bed that’s too wide can be improved by adding a sturdy center plank or flat stepping stones to distribute weight without compacting the soil below.

2. Not Bracing Your Raised Bed

Wet soil is heavy and a raised bed filled with saturated growing mix can push the side boards outward – especially on beds that are longer than 6 feet (1.8 m). The wood doesn’t fail all at once. Over a season or two the boards will bow out, the joints will loosen, and eventually your bed will give out.

Internal cross-bracing stops this. A simple metal tie or a short length of lumber running across the width of the bed every 4-6 feet (1.2-1.8 m) holds in the sides and distributes pressure evenly.

Galvanized corner brackets from Amazon and bed braces solve this problem without requiring much carpentry. On an existing raised bed that’s already starting to bow, adding bracing now will stop further movement even if it can’t fully reverse the damage that’s already happened.

3. Filling Your Bed With Only Potting Soil

A 2-foot (60 cm) deep raised bed filled entirely with bagged potting mix is an expensive way to create a mediocre garden.

The roots of most vegetables don’t reach all the way to the bottom of a deep raised bed in a single season, so using expensive potting mix in the lower half of your beds is wasted money. Potting mix also compresses as organic matter breaks down, meaning your bed needs topping up every season regardless.

A hugelkultur approach solves both problems and helps you fill raised beds cheaply. Fill the bottom half of a deep bed with logs, branches, wood scraps, and coarse organic matter before adding soil. As the wood decomposes it creates long-term aeration, holds moisture during dry spells, and eventually contributes nutrients as it breaks down.

For the top 10-12 inches (25-30 cm) of your raised beds, use a high-quality organic raised bed mix like this one from Home Depot. This is where the investment really matters.

4. Not Watering When Your Plants Need It

Raised beds drain faster than in-ground plots – which is part of the appeal – but they also dry out faster. Watering on a fixed schedule regardless of the actual conditions of your soil can go wrong in both directions.

Overwatering in cool weather keeps roots saturated long enough to cause root rot. Underwatering during a hot stretch stresses plants when they need the most pampering.

Push your finger 2 inches (5 cm) into the soil to check if your plants need a drink. If the soil is dry at that depth, then it's time to water. If not, skip watering for today.

A 4-in-1 soil meter from Amazon removes the guesswork and helps avoid over or underwatering in raised beds. For a spot that dries out fast and reliably, setting up a simple drip irrigation system for your raised beds is a good idea.

5. Putting Your Raised Bed in the Wrong Spot

A raised bed placed in a spot that gets fewer than 6 hours of direct sun daily is going to underperform for most vegetables regardless of how good the soil is.

Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and all the other major summer crops need full sun to produce well. Shade is fine for lettuce, spinach, and herbs like parsley or cilantro. But a shady raised bed built with vegetables in mind is a mismatch that no amount of fertilizer can fix.

Not considering the proximity to large trees is another common raised bed mistake. Tree roots spread well beyond the drip line and will work their way up into a raised bed – especially one filled with loose, moist soil – within a season or two.

Lining the bottom of your raised bed with steel hardware cloth, which you can get at Home Depot, can help slow roots. But placing your raised bed at least 10-15 feet (3-4.5 m) from the nearest tree is the best fix. Choosing the right location for your raised beds the first time saves a lot of effort reworking your plans later.

Raised bed gardening can be combined with composting to give you the benefit of healthy plants and sustainable waste disposal with the help of something called a ‘keyhole garden’. A round, raised garden bed with a notch in the center allows gardeners to deposit organic matter into the center pit in the bed to break down and create wonderful compost.

Keyhole gardening incorporates in-ground composting into your garden so the nutrients go directly into the soil you’re growing in. I’ve thought about building my own keyhole garden, but have always been a little intimidated by the project. Then I saw that Costco has 4’x4’ pre-made keyhole garden beds for sale. Sign me up!

I love that you can throw leaves, kitchen scraps, plant prunings, and other yard waste right into the composting section and let the garden go to work for you. It is so simple and it is perfect for my backyard raised vegetable garden.

Why Use a Keyhole Garden?

Keyhole gardening is a technique that was developed in Africa to help address low soil fertility. It is a compact and efficient way to garden that increases soil fertility and health and it has become popular in the U.S., too. Keyhole gardens are essentially raised beds and in-ground composters in one.

The Vita keyhole composting bed from Costco is a great entry point for curious gardeners looking to improve their soil and boost their plants. You can use a keyhole garden for vegetable beds, ornamental beds, cut-and-come-again flower beds or anything you choose. This innovative method of gardening makes it so you don't need to fertilize to get the garden of your dreams. You also won’t ever have to lift a pitchfork to turn compost again.

Composting in your keyhole garden can reduce household waste by up to 30% and all the energy from food scraps and yard waste gets transferred directly into your garden. I especially love that this keyhole garden from Costco uses a BPA and phthalate-free polymer so you don’t have to worry about chemicals leaching into your produce. Compost-fed soil also requires less water since the water from the scraps is being added directly into the bed.

How to Use the Vita Keyhole Garden

The Vita keyhole bed has a generous basket in the center of the bed which is where you will do your composting. Like with all composting, you need a healthy mix of “greens” and “browns.” Greens refer to items that are high in nitrogen like grass clippings, tea bags, kitchen waste like fruit and vegetable peels (no meat, fat, or dairy), and freshly pruned plant matter. Browns are high in carbon content and can be things like paper, dried leaves, small twigs, saw dust, wine corks (not the rubber kind), and coffee grounds.

When you set up your new keyhole garden, just slide the boards into the posts and set the basket in the center. It requires no tools and comes together super quickly! You can begin to fill in the bed with organic matter like logs, sticks, leaves, grass clippings and even cardboard to help fill it up. Water the layers as you add them to help them begin to break down – it’s just like filling a hügelkultur bed! Then add 6-8 inches (15.2-20.3 cm) of top soil to finish it off.

You can plant your garden and begin adding compostables to the central basket as soon as it is assembled. Easy peasy!

The Vita keyhole composting garden bed is so quick and simple to get started using and it is virtually maintenance free. I also love that it comes with a 20-year warranty for material defects, and Costco is also known for standing by their products and superb customer service.

I can’t wait to get started on my own keyhole garden!

More Keyhole Gardening Setups

The old-fashioned idea that vegetables belong in a hidden work patch out back while flowers claim the glory out front is a rule nobody really enforced, but somehow everyone just followed it. Well, I’m here to encourage you to ditch that rule. Edimentals (plants that earn their keep on both aesthetic and culinary grounds) make a powerful case for a more integrated, joyful landscape where edibles can be beautiful, and border plants can be tasty. Just imagine a garden where crimson climbers provide a living privacy screen, and silver architectural leaves create a dramatic backdrop for perennials, all while cultivating homegrown harvests in a practical, thoughtful way that maximizes every square inch with flavorful abundance.

Early spring is the perfect time to start these dual-purpose vegetable garden border ideas, and sow the seeds of a multi-layered growing space that looks like a high-end cottage garden yet tastes like a gourmet feast. By growing these easy vegetables amongst your flower beds and borders, you aren't just saving space, you're attracting more pollinators, confusing common pests, and improving soil health by supporting a diverse root mix. Whatever your growing space, these plants offer vertical drama, low-maintenance beauty, and months of vivid color that you can actually eat.

This is your invitation to see your yard differently, to value a plant for the curve of its pod and hue of its leaf as much as the flavor of its crop. These pretty vegetable garden ideas thrive on a little neglect once settled, and offer electric color and prolific edibles with practically zero effort. You can start some indoors, or direct into the ground now it is warming up. Get them going now, and your borders will pop with sensational colors and crops through summer. So, forget everything you thought you knew about growing vegetables, and get ready for a season of tasty border beauties.

Plants for a Pretty Gourmet Border

Most of these edimentals are hardy, generally thriving across USDA zones 4-9, but they do share a love of the spotlight. Aim for a location that receives at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. Before you make a start on planting your pretty vegetable garden, consider soil drainage. If it needs a boost, work in a few inches of well-rotted compost or an organic mulch, such as Back to the Roots Organic Premium Mulch, available from Amazon. This helps lock in moisture and suppress weeds, allowing you to spend more time harvesting and less time hoeing. In the first few weeks, keep plants well watered, and add a slow-release feed like Espoma Organic Garden-Tone from Lowe’s when putting transplants in the ground.

While many of these crops, like peas and beans, prefer to be direct-sown into the warming soil in early spring, slower-developing amaranth and artichokes will benefit from a few weeks indoors, or being purchased as plugs for planting out once the risk of frost is passed. When planning your layout, think in layers. These edimental options cover every layer of a border, with low frontal color, mid-border structure, and tall screening at the back. A few are climbing flowering plants that give a small space real privacy without the commitment of a hedge; all earn their space twice over. Spacing is key, so give these beauties room to grow and show off their foliage. A crowded border can hide the visual drama we want to showcase.

Creative planting schemes can really make these veggies pop. Try a modern potager vegetable garden border design, planting in geometric clusters rather than lines. Or you could try a cottage edimental look by interplanting with traditional ornamentals. The silver leaves of an artichoke look breathtaking next to some purple salvias, while the electric stems of chard gain a neon glow when paired with lime-green lady’s mantle. By treating vegetables as structural elements and as visual specimens, you create a yard that feels intentional – as well as packed with flavor.

1. Purple Podded Peas

If you find standard green peas a bit underwhelming, purple-podded varieties like 'Blauwschokker' or 'Sugar Magnolia' will be a revelation. Along with deep violet crops, these decorative climbers also produce stunning bicolor blooms in shades of violet and dusty rose to rival any cottage garden sweet pea. These flowers eventually give way to those midnight-purple crops that hang like jewels against the green foliage. And when you pop them open, their emerald green treasures gleam against their vibrant casings. Reaching heights of 4-6 feet (1.2-1.8m), these peas plants are perfect for a mid-border screen or a vertical interest on a trellis.

For the best results, sow direct in early May. Purple podded peas love a cool start but need the sun to develop the deep anthocyanins that give the pods their color. Plant 2 inches (5cm) deep and 3 inches (8cm) apart. These plants are fast-growing and relatively low-maintenance in zones 3-9, though they do appreciate consistent moisture during the flowering window, late spring to early summer. Pair them with silver-leafed companions or yellow marigolds to make that purple really sing, or interplant with nasturtiums or violas. While the pods turn green when cooked, the raw flavor is sweet and crisp, perfect for a garden-side snack. You can buy Purple Podded Peas from Burpee and‘Blue Shelling’ Heirloom Seeds from Eden Brothers.

2. Scarlet Runner Beans

Scarlet runner beans in full flower are very hard to walk past. The blooms are electric coral-red, produced in long racemes that hummingbirds love. They are also ferocious climbers, easily reaching 10-12 feet (3-3.6m), making them ideal for quick-growing privacy screens on fences or large tepees. The wow factor here is the coral shower of flowers, which appear in abundance and last for weeks. Unlike many other bean varieties, scarlet runner beans thrive in slightly cooler summer temperatures and keep pumping out flowers and pods until the first frost. Some key varieties to try are heirloom red-and-white ‘Painted Lady’ and classic intense ‘Scarlet Emperor’ beans. You can buy ‘Scarlet Emperor’ Runner Bean Seeds from Eden Brothers.

In early May, you can direct-sow your beans once the soil has warmed to 60°F (15°C). Because they are so vigorous, they need a sturdy support system. Think heavy-duty twine, a permanent cattle panel, or a sturdy trellis like the Lassmonk Trellis from Amazon to support and showcase these prolific flowering beauties. They aren't picky about soil, but do love a bit of mulch to keep roots cool. Interplant them with white-flowered climbers to create a high-contrast display. The young pods are delicious steamed, but you can also let them mature to harvest the stunning pink-and-black mottled dried beans in the fall. Hardy in zones 3-11.

3. Globe Artichoke

If you want a plant that looks like it belongs in a high-end architectural magazine, the globe artichoke has impressive visual prowess in a border. These are the giants of the border, reaching 5-6 feet tall (1.5-1.8m) and nearly as wide. Their silver-green, deeply serrated foliage provides a dramatic, fountain-like structure that holds its own against any ornamental shrub. Depending on variety, buds blush in hues of purple, olive or burgundy. If you don’t harvest the buds, they open into massive, neon-violet thistles in late summer which are genuinely spectacular and loved by bees. Try ‘Imperial Star’ or ‘Green Globe’ for a verdant twist, or ‘Violet de Provence’ Artichoke Seeds from Eden Brothers for dramatic structural interest and highly tasty crops.

Artichokes are perennials in warmer zones (7-11) but can be grown as annuals in zones 3-6 if started early. Early May is the time to get young starts into the ground. They are heavy feeders, so if you want to set and forget these generous croppers, dig in plenty of compost at planting. They are drought-tolerant once established and rarely bothered by pests. Use them as an anchor at the back of a border or as a centerpiece in a circular bed. Pair with dark purple flowers or fine-textured grasses to contrast with their bold, silver leaves. The first-year foliage alone earns its keep, and by year two, a well-established crown is one of the most visually arresting things a kitchen garden can produce.

4. Dragon Tongue Beans

Dragon tongue beans look like a seed catalog photograph come to life, and are almost too beautiful to eat. These compact bush beans (no staking required) produce flat, creamy-yellow pods heavily etched with vivid violet-purple streaks running lengthwise across them. They are the perfect front-of-border or mid-border plant, providing a tidy mound of interesting foliage and high-contrast pods. They also grow quickly (and are often ready to harvest in just 55 days), making them a great choice for gardeners who want fast results. For the definitive variety, buy Sherwood’s Seeds Dragon Tongue Seeds from Walmart.

Sow direct in May, planting an inch (2.5cm) deep, thinned to 6 inches (15cm) apart. They are very easygoing and handle heat better than many other bean varieties. Because they don’t climb, they are perfect for filling gaps in flower beds where a bulb has finished blooming. They are a set-and-forget dream, and you just need to keep picking them to encourage more production. The pods are stringless and have a buttery, nutty flavor. To keep the color story going, plant alongside purple alyssum or yellow pansies for a coordinated ground-level display in zones 3-10.

5. Bright Lights Rainbow Chard

Rainbow chard earns the word “vibrant” with stems in electric yellow, deep magenta, electric pink, coral orange, and white, all from one packet. It is essentially living neon lighting for your yard. The leaves are large, glossy, and often crumpled, adding a rich texture that complements delicate flowers. Because it is a cut-and-come-again crop, you can harvest the outer leaves for months, while the plant continues to provide a structural, colorful center for your border. This hori hori garden knife like the Perwin Hori Hori from Amazon makes harvesting at the roots clean and easy.

Sow direct in early May in zones 2-11, thinning to 9 inches (23cm). Chard is remarkably resilient – it handles a bit of shade better than most veggies, and is more heat-tolerant than spinach or kale. Plant in a sweeping drift, and try backlighting. When the afternoon sun hits those translucent colored stems, they literally glow. Rainbow chard is virtually maintenance-free once it reaches a few inches tall. Just provide regular water to keep the leaves tender, and enjoy the living spectacle from spring through hard frost. You can buy Bright Lights Swiss Rainbow Chard Seeds from Burpee for the classic mix of gold, pink, white and crimson stems, or ‘Peppermint’ for a quirky alternative featuring pink and white striped stems.

6. 'Hopi Red Dye' Amaranth

For sheer drama and vertical scale, ‘Hopi Red Dye’ amaranth is unbeatable. This plant sends up towering, plush flower spikes in a deep, brooding burgundy-red that can reach 6 feet (1.8m) in height. Flowers, leaves and stems all carry the same rich red-to-purple tint, making it a powerful color block for the back of a border. It acts as a fantastic temporary summer hedge, providing privacy with a structurally dynamic appeal. As privacy screening goes, this one looks more like a designer ornamental than a grain crop, and it really earns its place at the back of a border in zones 3-10.

Amaranth loves the heat, so May is the perfect time to transplant seedlings or direct-sow in sunny spots. It is exceptionally drought-tolerant once established, and really does thrive on neglect. While the young leaves are a delicious addition to salads (tasting like a nuttier spinach), the stunning seed heads are undeniably the big draw. These plumes remain vibrant for weeks, flowering midsummer to first frost, and can even be dried for indoor arrangements. Pair with gold-flowering perennials like rudbeckia for high-drama or pink and red zinnias for surreal color drenching. You can buy ‘Hopi Red Dye’ Amaranth Seeds from Amazon, for lush tassels on tall burgundy spires, while ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ offers a unique weeping form.

7. Tuscan Kale ‘Lacinato’

Also known as Dinosaur Kale or Cavolo Nero, this kale is the ultimate structural edimental. Its leaves are so long, narrow, and darkly puckered, it sits somewhere between vegetable and sculpture, and its deep blue-greenish notes look purple black in certain lights. Growing in an upright, palm-tree-like fashion, it provides a sophisticated, vertical accent that works beautifully in modern and minimalist garden designs. It reaches 3 feet (90cm) tall and retains its glorious shape in zones 2-11, long after other plants have faded in the summer heat or succumbed to the first frost.

Early May is a great time to transplant starts or direct-sow. This tough cookie isn't fussy about soil, though it does appreciate a nitrogen supplement with some chicken manure, such as Espoma Organic Chicken Manure from Walmart. To keep it looking its best, harvest lower kale leaves as it grows to emphasize that palm tree effect. It looks especially dynamic when paired with bright white flowers or silver foliage like dusty miller. As a bonus, the flavor actually improves after a light frost, making it one of the few plants that provides visual interest and food well into winter. You can buy ‘Lacinato’ Kale Seeds and Plants from Burpee. For something even darker, try ‘Black Magic’ for seriously sultry foliage.

8. Malabar Spinach

If you need a climbing vine that loves the sweltering heat, Malabar spinach is your go-to. While not a true spinach, it produces thick, glossy, heart-shaped leaves on vivid crimson-to-purple stems (in the 'Rubra' variety). It is a vigorous vine that will quickly scramble up a trellis, archway, or fence, providing a lush, tropical-looking screen. It climbs to six feet (1.8m) or more and handles summer heat in a way regular spinach can't, staying lush and productive long after other leafy greens have bolted. Malabar produces small, pinkish-white flowers, followed by dark purple berries, adding multiple layers of interest from midsummer through to first frost.

This is a heat-loving tropical, so don't rush it into the ground until the soil is warm in mid-to-late May. Wait until nights hold reliably above 50°F (10°C). This pretty climber needs a trellis to show off its crimson stems, making it an excellent choice for vertical gardening in tight spaces. Try fabric grow bags like Land Guard Fabric Pots from Amazon as the extra drainage suits a tropical vine. The leaves of this pest-resistant cropper have a mild, peppery flavor. Train it up an obelisk in the center of a flower bed to create a pillar of edible emerald and ruby. Try ‘Red Stem’ for crimson stems, or go classic with OutsidePride Malabar Spinach Seeds from Amazon. Grow as a perennial in zones 7-11, and an annual in zones 3-6.

Why the Edimental Approach Works

The magic of the edimental border is that it functions as a living community. When you mix these architectural vegetables with flowers, you’re practising companion planting on a grand scale. Tall climbers like scarlet runner beans provide much-needed shade for smaller, heat-sensitive flowers. The deep taproots of globe artichokes help break up compacted soil, improving drainage for everything nearby. Furthermore, by allowing some of these vegetables to flower, you are providing a buffet for beneficial insects, which in turn protects your crops from pests like aphids without the need for chemicals. Mix it all together, and the border runs itself better than a monoculture ever would.

As we move through early May, remember that the key to a beautiful border is layering, and what goes in now will define the border come July. Think about height, color, and cropping sequence before sowing — what emerges should feel layered rather than like a collection of things that happened to end up in the same bed. Place your amaranth and artichokes at the back, your ‘Lacinato’ kale and purple peas in the middle, and dragon tongue beans and rainbow chard at the edge.Don't be afraid to mix in traditional ornamentals. Nasturtiums are a classic companion for beans, providing a carpet of edible orange blooms. Marigolds and calendula add pops of gold, while deterring soil pests. This intentional mixing creates a garden that feels abundant, healthy, and deeply personal, as well as incredibly tasty. Bring on summer.

Shop Veg Seed Superstars

Ready to turn your borders into a gorgeous gourmet masterpiece? This curated trio of edimental seed favorites dutifully carry out "double duty" in beds and borders, producing crops that are as easy on the eyes as they are on the palate. Sow these gorgeous veg varieties for high-impact color and low-maintenance loveliness.

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Raised garden beds offer a lot of benefits over simply putting plants in the ground. They allow you to customize and improve the soil, provide better drainage, and are easier to access – especially if you have back or knee issues. Raised beds also give gardens a neat and tidy look.

But the one big drawback of raised beds is how expensive they can be. Whether you want to build a DIY raised bed or buy one premade, the costs can add up fast. That’s why finding free materials to build cheap raised beds is a great way to save money and still reap all the benefits raised beds provide.

You can find free lumber to make your own raised beds from a number of unlikely places, as long as you know where to look. I’ve rounded up the best spots to find free wood for raised beds to help you build your dream garden on a budget.

1. Lumber Yards

Yes, you can start right at the source and possibly find some free lumber for your raised beds at a lumber yard. Instead of assuming you’ll need to buy new wood from your local yard, ask if they have any scrap materials you can have for free.

Lumber yards often have small pieces or slightly damaged lumber that they can’t sell, so it never hurts to ask. One of the best types of wood for raised beds is cedar. So ask the lumber yards if they have cedar or other hardwoods, which are durable for outdoor use.

2. Construction Sites

New home construction sites are particularly fertile ground for free lumber. They usually have a scrap pile consisting of the cut-offs from pressure-treated lumber. The cut-offs are the pieces that are too short to be used in the construction project, but they’re often the ideal length for making raised beds for a small garden.

Another type of construction site to target is any home or building that is getting new doors or windows. Window and door manufacturers use heavy wooden frames to transport and protect the glass. These are typically made from untreated lumber. But you can use the Shou Sugi Ban technique to make untreated wood last longer and add a beautiful dark color to your beds.

If you look for lumber at a construction site, always be sure to ask the person in charge before you take any materials.

3. Appliance & HVAC Warehouses

Appliance and HVAC warehouses are other great places where you can find heavy-duty wooden frames. Big appliances like refrigerators and air conditioning units are shipped on sturdy wooden bases that you can easily turn into raised beds. Manufacturers typically use 4x4 or 2x4 lumber to hold these heavy pieces of equipment and appliances, which are perfect for building recycled raised beds.

If you have a warehouse near you, find the boss and ask if they have any leftover free lumber you can have.

5. Wholesale Tile & Stone Distributors

Yet another product that requires sturdy lumber to support it is tile and stone. These heavy materials are shipped on pallets, but not the kind you see in other settings. These pallets are larger and much sturdier.

Visit your local tile or stone wholesaler to find out if they have some used pallets you can turn into raised beds. They’re often willing to let them go for free because they cannot easily be recycled or reused like smaller pallets can.

6. Local Fencing Contractors

Old wooden fences being torn out and replaced with new materials are often a great of free lumber for frugal gardeners. Fencing contractors often have to pay to have the old fencing shipped to the dump, so they’ll likely agree to your proposal to take some of it away for free.

Of course, old fences are often deteriorated or rotten, so be selective about what lumber you take. Look for old cedar fences first. Cedar raised beds are great because they naturally resist rot, even without being treated. So this type of wood is a great choice for safe, sturdy raised beds.

7. Your Neighbors

Sometimes it makes sense to approach your neighbors for free lumber, if they're doing construction of their own or getting rid of an old fence. Watch for piles of materials they’re getting rid of to see if there’s anything you can use.

Fences and old decks being are particularly good sources of free lumber for raised beds. But you may also find something useful from inside their house as well. If their renovations are extensive, like they're taking down a wall, they may have old framing lumber they're trying to get rid of.

Start a conversation with your neighbor about their project to find out if they have anything you can use in your garden.

8. Online Marketplaces

You can often find free lumber by driving around town looking for renovation projects or going to local warehouses and distributors. But you can also expand your search by going online.

Look on sites like Facebook Marketplace or your local Nextdoor page to find people getting rid of scrap wood or lumber for free.

Word of Warning: Watch Out for Treated Lumber

As you search for free lumber, keep in mind that some types of treated wood are not safe for use in the garden. Modern pressure-treated lumber is considered safe, but watch out for older reclaimed products.

Lumber is often treated with chemicals to help it last longer. The older treated wood for raised beds that you find for free might be contaminated with these toxic chemicals, including some arsenic-based preservatives. These can leach into the soil and get into plants. It’s especially dangerous to use this type of lumber with edible plants in a raised bed vegetable garden.

Modern, pressure-treated lumber uses copper-based compounds, which are safer. They can still cause copper to accumulate in the soil, but it rarely moves far enough to risk plants taking it up in their roots.

If you're worried about chemicals, you can use untreated wood to build your raised beds, but be aware that they won't last as long. Another option is to choose a wood that naturally resists rot, like cedar.

Shop Raised Beds

Gardeners work hard all spring and summer preparing, planting and tending their vegetable gardens to ensure they have a delicious harvest when the time comes. Unfortunately, the appearance of veggie garden pests can make all that hard work even harder.

Whether you have a single, small raised vegetable bed, or a massive plot of edible delights, bugs, slugs, birds, and mammals can take a toll on your plants. Spring is the time to install preventive barriers and get your pest arsenal ready for when you transplant veggie starts outside. Luckily, there are some easy and natural steps to get rid of vegetable garden pests after they strike, too.

Keep reading to learn about the best natural methods for preventing and dealing with pests in your raised bed vegetable garden. I have four fool-proof tricks that will help beginners and garden gurus alike!

1. The Fortress Method (For Birds, Bugs, and Mammals)

The best way to keep your garden pest free without the use of harsh chemical pesticides is installing a barrier. You won’t have to use any sprays if the pests never make it to your produce! I have protected seedlings with cheap garden cloches, aka plastic colanders, with great success. However, they only work while the seedlings are small. There are cuter and larger wire garden cloches available from Amazon which will keep seedlings and young plants safe from birds, squirrels, and groundhogs.

Once your plants get bigger, a taller cover will allow them to keep growing while still staying protected from bugs, birds, and pesky critters. Vego Garden has an awesome mesh cover system that works with their raised garden beds, but also can be used with other types of raised beds or even inground plantings.

2. Double-Duty Natural Remedy (For Aphids and Mites)

No matter how well you cover and protect your raised bed veggies, some pests will slip through. Pests often overwinter underground and can pop up underneath whatever barrier you have chosen. Enter, neem oil. Neem oil is a naturally derived vegetable oil of the neem tree. It is incredibly helpful for pest control and also battling fungal infections in your garden.

It treats infestations of mealybugs, thrips, aphids, mites, cabbage worms, leaf miners, caterpillars, and more, but doesn't harm birds, worms, honey bees, or ladybugs. And if your cucumber plants always get powdery mildew (like mine) neem oil will knock that out too! You can find neem oil from Amazon or your local garden center.

3. The Powder Barrier (For Crawling Insects)

If your garden suffers from crawling pests like cucumber beetles, cutworms, ants, or Japanese beetles, diatomaceous earth is a great way to control populations. Pair diatomaceous earth (DE) with netting to really up your chances of winning the bug battle. Sprinkle it around the edge of your raised vegetable beds to create a deadly barrier for bugs. DE is made of ground up diatoms, which are fossilized aquatic organisms. When the powder is dusted on plants and surfaces, crawling insects get cut up by the tiny fossils which cause them to dry out and die. You can find food-grade diatomaceous earth from Amazon or your local garden store.

Safety note: While DE is a safe and non-toxic mechanical pest control, the powder can still hurt your lungs if you inhale it, so wear a dust mask when using. It also doesn’t discriminate between beneficial insects and pests, so use wisely.

4. The Shock Barrier (For Slugs & Snails)

Slugs and snails can wreak havoc in a vegetable bed. You go to bed with a wonderful patch of lettuce and wake up to utter destruction the next morning. Creating a snail and slug trap is a great way to draw them away from your plants, but a simple ring of copper tape will protect your beds even further. I had never heard of this until recently, but copper reacts with the mucus of slugs and snails which results in what feels like an electrical shock to them.

Apply a 3-inch (7.62 cm) line of copper tape around the rim of your raised bed or plant pots and slugs and snails will steer clear. It doesn’t harm them, just keeps them out! You can find copper tape from Amazon. I’m very excited to try this one myself!

Shop Pest-Proofing Essentials

For many of us, winter is a time when a raised bed becomes a receptacle for old plant matter, relics from summers past, hastily discarded empty pots – and questionable-looking soil. Believe it or not, knowing how to prepare raised beds for winter is a huge win for future planting. And your raised beds deserve so much more than to spend the next few weeks as glorified boxes for bad weather and stubborn weeds.

Now we're past the final straggly tomatoes and spent annuals, it’s tempting to turn our attention indoors, and focus on festive plants like poinsettias or great ways to use evergreen trimmings around the home (guilty as charged, your honor). But this time in the gardening calendar is a golden opportunity to elevate your raised bed horizons. Raised gardens are a vital asset during winter, as they drain better and warm up faster than in-ground plots. Neglecting them means they are left vulnerable to erosion, nutrient leaching from heavy rain, and compaction from snow.

These quiet months are your chance to nurture some timely crops and soil boosters, support local wildlife, and optimize growing conditions for next year, setting yourself up for lots of fresh growth when spring arrives. The following jobs are geared towards preparing raised beds for winter and early spring. So carve out some time between the tree decorating and mantel displays for this vital 5-point action plan.

5 Easy Jobs for Raised Beds in Winter

There are a few approaches to making more of your raised beds during this quieter time. It’s a chance to replenish and rejuvenate the condition of the growing medium, excising any residual issues ahead of the new planting year. You can do this either by protecting the ground by introducing a physical barrier, or by making soil amendments. You can also tackle active growing projects, both to enhance the quality of the ground and cultivate raised vegetable garden plants for harvests. Raised beds can even be deployed as a way to support (and enjoy) local wildlife.

Several tasks are cheap, or free, and some involve using organic matter you may already have. The best part? Almost all of these jobs are fast, most only taking a weekend afternoon. You get an immediate benefit by protecting your soil from plummeting temperatures and heavy rain, and a massive benefit next year with fewer weeds, earlier planting dates, and quicker growth. Whether you’re growing at scale or in small raised garden beds, this is a brilliant ‘pay it forward’ scheme, where you benefit directly and in volume later for small efforts now. So do take time to tick off these important winter tasks!

1. Cover to Protect Soil

For many of us, winter is about dodgy weather. Extreme cold, heavy snow, unforgiving rainfall, and drying winds can all take their toll on exposed raised bed soil. Because raised beds are elevated, they freeze faster and dry out quicker than solid ground. Exposure to the elements can ravage the contents, leading to leaching and erosion. Even simple protective covers for raised garden beds can make a world of difference. Before you cover raised beds in winter, do pull out all the dead plants, weeds, and debris left over from the summer.

The most effective cover is a mini greenhouse or cold frame. These structures sit directly on top of your raised bed and create a microclimate, trapping solar heat and insulating the soil. You can use cold frames, mini cloches and small greenhouses creatively to keep soil protected, and optionally protect anything you choose to grow. Models with twin-walled polycarbonate are ideal. Twin walls offer superior insulation, making them highly effective against deep freezes. Try the following:

• Hinged Cold Frames: Lift-up polycarbonate lids allow easy access and ventilation on slightly warmer days. Look for top-lifting panels, or front-opening options. You can get Firwood Mini Greenhouse Cabinets from Amazon with green or brown wood.
• Extended Cold Frames: Taller, often modular, frames are great if you keep taller crops such as kale growing in winter.

That said, there are some decent thick plastic options that protect against rain, and shield raised bed soil. Quictent has some great tall options to shield growing plants, with panels to access beds during the winter. The Quictent Reinforced Waterproof Mini Cloche from Amazon is resilient and great for beginners. If your budget doesn’t stretch to this, you could use common household items like bubble wrap as raised bed covers in winter, although I prefer jute or burlap as windbreakers to reduce soil erosion, as they are breathable. They also help soil warm up faster in spring.

When covering raised beds for winter, never use thick, black plastic sheeting for long periods, as it traps moisture and heat, which is conducive to mold and rot. If you know you aren’t going to want to look at your raised bed for the next couple of months, a simple winter fleece, tarp or cover like the Luckiplus Cover with Drawstring from Amazon is inexpensive, breathable, and helps protect against extremes of cold.

2. Grow Cold-Hardy Vegetables

Why stop growing and harvesting crops? A winter raised bed garden is ideal for cold-hardy vegetables. Their excellent drainage prevents the waterlogging that often rots roots in the ground. For many veg planted in winter, using a cold frame with a raised bed helps to prevent sudden death caused by bad weather. But you don't need a cold frame for many cold-hardy veg, as they tolerate lower temperatures. Indeed, in some cases, frost can improve flavor. Try these in a winter raised bed:

• Kale: One of the most cold-tolerant crops, kale leaves get sweeter after a frost. Plant established seedlings now for a continuous harvest throughout the winter.
• Spinach: This leafy green is perfect for overwintering. Spinach will slow down dramatically in freezing weather, but the leaves remain usable, and it will be one of the very first things to bolt (produce new leaves) in early spring.
• Purslane: A lesser-known gem, this succulent green is extremely cold-hardy and offers a slightly tangy, fresh flavor for salads in the dead of winter. Purslane grows close to the ground, which helps it use the soil's warmth. Survival Garden Seeds Purslane from Amazon have excellent germination rates for newbies in winter.
• Carrots: Root veg store well right in the ground. Plant them now and cover the tops with a thick layer of straw. You can harvest carrots as needed through winter as the soil thaws. There are some lovely cold-hardy Carrot Seeds at Burpee for sowing even now.

Other great options for winter include wintercress, endives and spring onion. If possible, move portable raised beds to a sheltered spot, like against a south-facing wall. If you don’t know what to do with raised garden beds in winter, cold-hardy crops are perfect. But stick to hardy greens and root veg at this time of year.

3. Plant Cover Crops

There are other ways to get the soil working for you in winter. You can grow cover crops and green manures to prime your soil for the year ahead. These crops are the true legends of the winter garden. Sowing them protects your soil from rain and erosion, suppresses weeds, and replenishes key nutrients that you can dig in later. While alive, winter cover crops for raised beds help to insulate the soil's surface and improve soil structure. Great options to direct-sow now include:

• Winter Vetch: This nitrogen-fixing legume pulls nitrogen from the air and stores it in root nodules, releasing it when you turn it over.
• Phacelia: This fast-growing plant suppresses weeds and attracts beneficial insects when it flowers. It helps capture nutrients that otherwise wash away.
• Crimson Clover: Another nitrogen-fixer and excellent erosion control. Grab Everwilde Farms 500 Crimson Clover Seeds from Walmart for a jumbo hit at a bargain price.
• Winter Rye: This cover crop grows a deep root system that tunnels through compacted soil and improves its structure.

As well as cover crops, it’s also worth sowing a few seeds for early germination of key crops in the new year. Sow the likes of radish and borage now for satisfying early harvests early in spring while many other plants are sleeping. I love starting some borage over winter for a cheeky early burst of blue and white flowers in late spring. You can sow borage in warmer climates (ideally USDA 9-10) from November to spring. Buy Sweet Yards Borage Seeds from Amazon in large packs.

4. Mulch to Prep for Next Year

This winter lull is the perfect time to replenish the soil in your raised beds. Through summer, crops have been pulling nutrients out, depleting the goodness, and that weary soil needs your help now. Top up beds with a thick layer of organic material to top up nutrients and also insulate the soil. My absolute favorite organic mulch is Back to the Roots Mulch from Amazon, for a bespoke blend of yucca and gypsum, but there are other mulching options, including a few you can source closer to home:

• Shredded Leaves: There should still be a few leaves about, and they make a nutrient-rich humus. Run through a lawnmower before adding.
• Straw: A lovely way to insulate the soil. However, avoid hay, which contains seeds and may lead to issues with weeds.
• Compost or Aged Manure: Use these well-aged organic materials to ensure that a steady supply of nutrients slowly feed the soil before spring arrives.
• Fabric Mulch: Cover with a thick tarp or landscaping fabric to suppress weeds and protect the soil from rain. You can get ExtraEasy Weed Barriers from Amazon that still allow some air to reach the soil.
• Pine Bark Mulch: This option looks great as well as breaking down slowly. Look for fine-grade pine bark nuggets.

There’s no need to add fresh potting soil now. Focus on improving existing soil quality in raised beds with organic matter over winter. Wait until March to topdress with potting mix right before you plant in earnest. To optimize the soil now, use a gardening fork to aerate and loosen the texture, and break up compacted hunks, then rake it to create a level surface. This helps drainage and improves oxygen flow.

5. Create a Wildlife Station

If you have a raised bed situated near a window, winter is the perfect time to repurpose the empty space as a habitat to attract local garden birds, bringing a flurry of life to your yard. By adding a bird feeder, native berrying shrubs, or small dish of water, you provide a crucial lifeline to birds when natural food sources are scarce.

Platform or standing feeders are ideal for raised beds, as they can sit directly on the surface or be secured to the rim. Use weather-resistant options like the Flanagan Heavy Duty Bird Feeding Station and Pole from Amazon, with a baffle to deter squirrels. Remember, winter birds rely on fats and proteins in winter. Choose simple bird food such as suet for woodpeckers and chickadees, peanuts and mealworms for robins and bluebirds, and black oil sunflower seeds for small birds to crack open with their tiny beaks.

To make the most of your winter bird watching with raised beds, give some thought to placement: make sure feeders are sheltered from harsh winds, and be mindful of predators. Don't place near walls that cats could leap from. And maintain good levels of cleanliness with any feeders. Brush away old seed hulls and clean feeders at least once a month.

Essential Raised Bed Checklist

As you rattle through these winter tasks for raised beds, here is a quick, actionable checklist for raised beds ahead of spring. Make sure you have ticked off all these winter raised bed jobs before spring!

• Tidy Things Up: Remove weeds and unwanted plant matter to reduce the risk of spreading contaminants and depriving crops of goodness.
• Check and Cover: Give wooden raised bed frames a check for rots, loose screws, or warping. A quick repair now will prevent a massive problem later. Add cloches, cold frames or miniature greenhouse covers to keep the soil warm in winter.
• Add Organic Matter: Ensure you have a 3-inch (8cm) layer of organic material on the surface of your raised beds to keep soil at its best and to prevent erosion.
• Cultivate New Crops: Grow cover crops or cold-hardy vegetables to give soil an extra boost whilst cultivating useful plants in cool months.
• Support Birdlife: Keep birds well fed with well positioned bird feeders that you can enjoy from your window.
• Clean and Store: Clean cold frames or polycarbonate sheets with soapy water. If you have a rolling raised bed and you're sure you won't be using it until spring, store it in a dry place like a garage.

By dedicating just a few hours to your raised beds now, you are making one of the wisest investments a gardener can make. You’re not only protecting your soil from the harsher elements but actively building a richer, more fertile environment that can service you much sooner, and for much longer. So embrace this quiet season, and you will be rewarded with healthier growing and more abundant returns.

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Strawberries are the ultimate summer fruit to grow in the home garden. Just seeing those pretty, juicy berries nestling in raised beds and garden borders seems to signal one of the genuine pleasures of the season. It can be hard seeing the plant once you have picked the first strawberry fruits, especially if you’ve waited a while for that juicy payload. But that doesn’t mean the harvest has to end once August draws to a close.

Many strawberry plants are capable of producing fruit well into the fall, and if you are willing to think creatively, it is possible to eke a little more fruiting potential out of your homegrown strawberry plants so you can harvest fruits for longer. Here’s how to extend the strawberry harvest season so you can enjoy them well into fall – and possibly even winter.

5 Ways to Extend the Strawberry Harvest Season

There are a few approaches to enjoying sweet berries longer, although there are a few aspects to this that will vary in accordance with your growing region, hardiness zone, growing method and strawberry varieties. The good news is that if you are willing to keep a close eye on both the means and the quality of your strawberry growing, you can make the strawberry harvest season last longer.

You can also store your harvest in a way that allows you to enjoy garden berries even after the growing season is winding down. Here’s how to get more strawberries to grow for an extended harvest.

1. Choose a Mix of Berry Varieties

First, consider the variety of strawberries you’re growing and how long they will take to grow. You’ll get the most out of varieties suited to your growing area. You can also choose types developed to produce a larger or more extended harvest. However, the one thing guaranteed to extend yield over a longer period is to grow a mix of different strawberry varieties – this will generate overlapping harvest times for more continuous berries. Grow a mix of these types to make a strawberry harvest last longer.

• June-bearing strawberries: These produce a June-early July harvest, but the yields are higher than those of the other two types. Options include ‘Earliglow’, ‘Honeoye’ and ‘Surecrop’ strawberries.
• Day-neutral strawberries: These are a must if you want to harvest more berries. These varieties can potentially produce throughout the entire season, although they don’t have the biggest harvest. Excellent options for fall potential include ‘Evie 2’, ‘Toscana’ and ‘Portola’ strawberry varieties.
• Everbearing varieties: These give you two harvests, one in early summer and another in early fall. Reliable everbearing options for fall fruiting include ‘Malling Opal’,’Albion’, ‘Ozark Beauty’, ‘Eversweet’ and ‘Seascape’ varieties.

2. Optimize the Growing Space

Proper planting and care for strawberries ensures healthy growth and a good harvest, so take the time to do it right. The best site for strawberries is one in full sun and with soil that is neutral or slightly acidic, and which drains well. Prepare the soil in advance, adjusting the soil pH or adding compost if needed. If you’re ever in doubt, it’s wise to test the soil using a soil meter like the Raintrip 4-in-1 Meter from Amazon, which also tests for nutrient and moisture levels.

Another good way to optimise the growing space and ensure the longest possible growing period (and therefore the most chance to extend the strawberry harvest) is to grow your strawbs in a polytunnel, greenhouse, or cold frame. Low tunnels keep strawberries warm for longer, protect from rain and, as an added bonus, they help you protect plants from disease. This keeps plants healthier and encourages a good long harvest.

Try the Tierra Garden Haxnicks Easy Poly Tunnel Garden Cloche from the Haxnicks Store, available from Amazon, in standard and giant sizes. This is good for regulating warmth, while allowing you to tweak ventilation.

3. Pinch Off Early Flowers

Although it seems counterintuitive, you’ll be increasing your future strawberry yield if you are willing to pinch off the first flowers that appear on your strawberry plants. This is admittedly a tough thing to do – especially if you’ve been patiently waiting for signs of activity and got excited by the appearance of the blooms.

However, a little fortitude now is really important to the overall health of your strawberry plants. Pinching off is a clever practice, irrespective of variety. Doing this encourages the plant to put energy into developing its roots and leaves. Although it may not feel like it straight away, it will boost the resultant berry yield later.

The advice for June-bearing varieties is particularly tough – if you’re serious about wanting to grow more strawberries later, the advice now is to remove all flowers in the first flowering season. For everbearing and day-neutral varieties, you just need to remove the first flush of flowers, then you can let the rest develop into fruit.

4. Water & Weed Constantly

Because they have shallow roots, your strawberries will need to be watered regularly. Keep in mind that containers and hanging strawberry baskets will dry out more quickly. Container-grown strawberries should be watered daily. For bed-based growing, you can use mulch to keep more moisture in the soil. The Gardening Know How Team loves Back to the Roots’ Organic Mulch, available from Amazon, which gives excellent moisture control and also helps keep weeds to a minimum.

Speaking of weeds, these can be an issue over summer, and if you are not careful they will compete with plants for nutrients and water. Strawberries are particularly poor competitors and can let several common garden weeds run rampant if left unchecked. Get a handle on weeds early in the season and keep pulling them out as necessary. As another option, lay down a weed suppressing fabric like ExtraEasy’s Weed Barrier, also available at Amazon. Don’t forget to keep strawberries producing with a careful application of nitrogen-rich fertilizer every few weeks.

5. Harvest & Store Properly

Critters in the garden will want to eat your strawberries, reducing your harvest. If you want to keep harvesting strawberry plants for longer, keep an eye on them as the berries begin to ripen and harvest them in a timely manner. Strawberries are ripe when they are uniformly red, shiny and firm (but not hard). Harvest times vary by type of strawberry, but also by region. Check plants regularly for ripe berries as soon as they begin to appear.

Finally, you can make a strawberry harvest last longer by storing them for fall and winter. Fresh berries should be stored in the refrigerator and not washed until just before you eat them. Store your harvests wisely. Freezing is an easy option for long-term storage. Wash and dry your berries, remove stems and leaves, and spread the berries out on a parchment-lined baking tray, then place them in the freezer. Once they’re solidly frozen, store the berries in zip-top freezer bags. They should be good for up to a year. The Hefty Store’s Hefty Slider Freezer Bags, available from Amazon, are great for bulk-freezing fruits.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you own a raised garden bed, hopefully you’ve either got some specific plants in mind or have already started growing them. However, while it’s understandable to focus on both the bed and the contents, there is another crucial landscaping element – the walkways between raised beds and the rest of the garden. It’s important to consider what to put around raised garden beds in terms of linking beds, unifying the beds with the other parts of your yard, the overall aesthetic, and also how well you will be able to retard weeds and retain moisture.

If you’re not sure what to put around your raised garden beds, here are some of the main practical raised garden bed ideas to try. Whether you want to add a stylish garden path between raised beds or just help to finish off the look of your raised garden, here are the best options to help you landscape around raised beds.

The Best Pathways around Raised Garden Beds

Before you choose one of the walkway, edging or pathway options here, prep the area around the raised beds. Remove any weeds and make sure you are happy with the consistency of the ground, addressing any compaction or drainage issues. The top 2-3 inches (5-8cm) of soil and dead vegetation need to be dug up. Compost any vegetation and add the dug up soil to the raised bedding area.

Whether you are edging a raised vegetable bed or ornamental bed, the width of the walkway or pathway should be around 2 feet (60cm). Even with raised beds for small gardens, this should be wide enough for good access to all planting areas, and ideally wide enough to accommodate a wheelbarrow. Laying some newspaper or cardboard down before adding your walkway material will kill any grass or weeds in the pathway – this takes 6-8 weeks. Then cover your pathway with a weed barrier or landscape fabric There are some great weed suppressant options available at Amazon. We love ExtraEasy’s Weed Barrier for Landscaping at Amazon.

1. Wood Chips for Raised Bed Pathways

Raised garden bed pathways made out of wood chips are a terrific option for a raised bed layout, especially if you have had a tree felled and chipped. Wood chips or bark pieces aid in water retention and weed retardant, especially when a thick layer is used. Wood chips used as a pathway material are especially great around perennial beds, raspberries and blueberries, and as a standalone walkway. A wood chip pathway creates an earthy, naturalistic look, and looks great against wooden and galvanized beds.

Although wood chips make a very good natural raised bed pathway option, just bear in mind that this material does break down relatively quickly, and as it breaks down, it can foster disease and pests. We love Back to the Roots’s Organic Bark, which you can bulk-buy from Walmart for a reassuringly natural walkway option.

2. Gravel for Raised Bed Pathways

Gravel is another option for use between or along raised garden beds. It has the benefit of being long lasting. However, gravel pathways need something to stabilize them, such as pavers or cement. They should be laid fairly deep and a permeable membrane should be laid down prior to laying the gravel or rocks.

In order to keep the rocks from shifting, the path should be dampened and tamped down, or a gravel binder can be mixed into the stones to bind them. For a bit more money, there is the option of self-binding gravel which contains a mix of dust, sand, and clay. Kolorscape pea gravel from Walmart has a nice natural look and is great for outdoor projects.

3. Slate for Raised Bed Pathways

Natural materials like slate somehow manage to look very modern yet also timeless. They are also durable, and can look especially effective when crushed into haphazard pieces or chips. Their darker tones are an excellent contrast to wooden or willow-based raised bed structures, as well as brick or galvanized beds. They can look cheap and cheerful or elegant, depending on your overall raised bed garden design. Plus, slate is great for drainage and dries quickly.

Slate walkways make relatively inexpensive garden path ideas for raised bed walkways. If you know of a remodel or demolition site in your area, it’s worth asking if they have any slate pieces. Prepare your area with a weed-suppressing membrane, then add your slate – ideally, to a depth of a couple of inches (5cm) and try to make sure the slate is distributed as evenly as possible.

4. Using Stepping Stones for Pathways

Stepping stones are both practical and very appealing, helping to draw the eye around an area like the raised beds in question and linking it artfully with other parts of the garden. Use natural stone slabs of any shape – geometric, circular, or irregular. Combine with pea gravel to set off your stepping stones, whether you place them in a straight, uniform arrangement around a formal raised flower bed, or a more curved shape to suit a more naturalistic raised bed style.

Prepare the area around your raised bed, as with the other options, by laying weed barrier fabric. You may wish to incorporate a layer of sand under your stepping stones to help with stabilizing and keeping things level. Arrange the stones according to your preference, garden size, and the number of slabs, then fill in the gaps with pea gravel or similar.

If there is a remodel or demolition site near you, ask if they have any broken concrete or other likely materials. There are some great patio paving options online that can help you create an inexpensive backyard oasis linking raised beds to the main garden. You’ll find a range of stepping stone options at Walmart, made from stone, wood, mosaic pebbles, cast iron, and weatherproof plastic. We like Gardener’s Supply’s circular mosaic-style recycled rubber discs, available at Walmart.

Thrill, fill, spill – this mantra is a simple yet effective recipe for a stunning mixed container. The spill element includes cascading plants that dangle over the edge of the container. We tend to think of spillers as plants that hang down in pots, planters and hanging baskets, However, while they make incredible additions to a thriller filler spiller container formula, these versatile plants make vivid and abundant declarations elsewhere.

Spiller plants also look great on the edges of rock walls, bursting freely from the sides of raised beds, and pouring out of the gaps in rockeries. They can even work at ground level to soften a garden border. It’s not difficult to find a variety of trailing plants in seed catalogs, specialist online suppliers or local garden centers. Often annuals, they are reliable summer stalwarts and tend to be easy to care for. Here are some of the most dazzling and dynamic cascading trailing plants for color, texture, volume, intensity and longevity.

Making the Most of Trailing Plants

The best trailing plants for pots as well as rockeries and the edges of beds will yield an abundance of flowers or foliage. Plants that cascade have their own natural movement which helps to create a naturalistic but exuberant focal point in the garden. The classic use for these cascading plants is in a container. This means adding a spill plant to one that grows tall and one that fills spaces. This classic recipe makes it easy to create creative containers, planters, and window boxes.

You can also use these trailing plants in hanging baskets. For an outside patio or balcony, these garden masterpieces can also add privacy screening, and it is also a gorgeous way to provide some extra shade. You can also use cascading plants to soften hard edges in beds, to burst forth along walkways, to spill over walls, or to tumble across rockeries. Just be sure they are out of the way of stepping feet!

Choose varieties that match your growing conditions, that will pair well with other plants – and that you love the best! Choose spillers that speak to you. Here are 8 inspirational ideas for the best spiller plants for pots, rockeries, patios and walls.

1. Sweet Alyssum

Sweet alyssum produces delicate pink or white flowers in profusion. Although these spiller plants aren’t capable of elongated trailing displays, their pretty ‘clouds’ of flowers create great shape and bulge at the edges of rockeries, borders, pathways, and planters.

When growing sweet alyssum (Alyssum maritimum), you’ll find these plants are generally happiest in cooler weather. However, they will tolerate heat if you keep them topped up with plenty of water. Grow a mass of white fragrant blooms with Sweet Alyssum ‘Carpet of Snow’ from Burpee, perfect for windowboxes, hanging baskets, and anywhere you want butterflies to congregate! Shear back by around a third after the first flush of flowers to encourage more of these honey scented blooms.

2. Sweet Potato Vine

Perhaps an unexpected addition to a roundup of ornamental cascading plants, the sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas) is a lot more than just a foil for the tasty tubers, This striking member of the morning glory family is also a stunning cascading plant which presents with some exciting variations in leaf shape and color.

Pretty ornamental sweet potato vine trailing plants include ‘Marguerite’ for lime green heart shapes, or ‘Tricolor’ for spikier foliage. There’s also ‘Sweet Caroline Purple’ for deep purple tones. Or why not try Ipomea ‘Blackie’ from American Plant Exchange as a live plant from Walmart? These trailing plants offer dramatic leaves that contrast well with bright thrillers and fillers in containers and hanging baskets.

3. Nasturtium

Hardy in USDA zones 9-11, the exuberance of a nasturtium plant cannot be overstated. Tumbling over raised beds or dangling merrily from balcony rails, nasturtiums add vitality and harmony to all manner of mixed arrangements, both edible and ornamental. Some of the most renowned companion plants for raised beds, they rub along nicely with a broad array of crops including tomatoes, melons, and zucchini.

They are some of the most enduring flowering annual plants for ornamental summer displays as well – capable of spilling over tubs and raised edges well into the fall. As well as supplying any garden corner with delightful blooms, their foliage is capable of great variety and charm. Try fragrant Nasturtium ‘Double Gleam Mixed’ and superbloomer ‘Troika Red’, both available from Burpee.

4. Wave Petunia

If you love the trumpet-shaped flowers of standard petunias, try this wave variety (Petunia x hybrida) for a hanging basket or mixed container. While standard petunias didn’t seem to have much staying power after a heavy downpour, these floral dynamos keep going in all weathers, although they especially love full sun.

Wave petunias make lovely cascading plants for hanging baskets, window boxes and balcony rails, as well as well appointed walls and patio planters. They even hold their own in a heavyweight urn or stone-based container. Try the Easy Wave series for a low-maintenance petunia that spreads up to 3ft (90cm) across.

5. Creeping Jenny

Word to the wise: this gorgeous tumbler has a reputation as being invasive, so you might not want to let it off the leash in your beds and borders. Still, if you want something to fill in a space quickly, creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummuleria) makes a super-stunning trailing plant for containers, thanks to its delightful chartreuse color, coin-shaped foliage and dangling form.

All these cascading plants need is moist soil and full sun or partial shade in USDA zones 4-9. Creeping Jenny (also known as moneywort) trails beautifully in hanging baskets and also produces cup shaped, bright yellow flowers from June to August. You can buy Creeping Jenny ‘Goldilocks’ from Hirt’s Gardens as a live plant from Amazon for shiny golden foliage that trails up to 24 inches (60cm) in length.

6. Trailing Verbena

The Latin name for trailing verbena (Verbena pendula) really sets the tone for the growth habit of this delicately fluffy ornamental! For reliable, summer-long color, trailing verbena spills beautifully over the edges of full sun containers, rockeries and walls. Growing outwards as well as down, plants appear to drape themselves lovingly over inclines and crevices. They bloom from May into fall, depending on how much sun you can give – and they respond particularly well to deadheading.

Trailing verbena comes in many colors, from pure white to peach to deep purple. One great trailing verbena range to try is the Superbena series, which is resistant to powdery mildew and known for gorgeous color combinations. For something a little unusual, try Trailing Verbena ‘Obsession Cascade Twister Violet’ from Harris Seeds, available from Walmart, for a well structured trailing effect.

7. Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’

Choose this trailing plant for its unique foliage in a silvery green color. It works well in spots with partial shade, especially in hotter climates. Its distinctive heart shaped or kidney shaped leaves, gorgeous dusty pewter foliage and silver stems look dazzling against both terracotta and galvanized containers as well as dark gray walls. As a bonus, these cascading plants have very few pest or disease issues to worry about.

Drought tolerant dichondra is capable of a spread of up to 36 inches (90cm). This easycare plant also makes a good ground cover option, thanks to its gleaming foliage. You can currently buy live plants for Proven Winners Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ from Walmart in packs of four. This trailer accents well with purple and pink thrillers, but also with bright yellows and oranges for an unusual color combo.

8. Trailing Lobelia

For a showy cascading ornamental, the breaktaking trailing lobelia (Lobelia erinus) makes a big impression with its exquisite sweeps of vivid blue and purple, though you can also find gorgeous variations in pink and white. These spiller plants have a delightful mounding habit which helps to create a satisfying volume as they pour over the edges of pots and beds.

Keep your lobelia plants well watered as the garden heats up, as they can stall a little bit on really hot summer days. Alternatively, try to position these plants where they can enjoy a little afternoon shade to ensure flowers last well into summer (and longer, depending on variety). Try ‘Blue Sapphire’ or ‘Crimson Fountain’ from Seedville USA, or ‘Regatta Series Rose’ by Mountain Valley Seed Company, both available from Walmart, for delicate floral trailing displays that bloom until fall.

Prior to the potato blights of the early 19^th century, only heirloom potatoes were grown. Because of their susceptibility to disease, heirloom seed potatoes from this era are a rarity found only in gene banks and special collections. That said, some of the best heirloom potatoes can still be enjoyed, and you can even find seed spuds for heirloom fingerling potatoes. Read on to learn about some of the tastiest heirloom potato varieties you can grow in the home garden.

What are Heirloom Potatoes?

The term ‘heirloom’ has a few different meanings for potato growers. Some define heirloom as plants grown prior to 1951, the year hybrids became commonplace. Others say that any variety grown without genetic manipulation for at least 100 years is an heirloom. While they aren’t as easy to come by as store bought potatoes, they can still be found if you are willing to look.

In the case of heirloom potatoes, varieties cultivated before the blight of the 1840s are seldom available. Instead, heirloom potato varieties available now tend to be those developed in the 1850s and 1860s from Mexican or South American stock resistant to blight. If you are interested in growing potatoes with an heirloom basis, the best known stock potato is ‘Garnet Chile’ but it has produced many of the favored American heirloom varieties available, several of which are listed below.

Best Heirloom Potato Varieties to Try

Heirloom potatoes come in a variety of sizes, colors and flavors – though often you will see heritage taters described as either ‘starchy’ or ‘floury’ in taste. The seeds are saved from year to year as heirloom seed potatoes, so each year’s crops are true to the previous year. Growing heirloom potatoes is possible using ground-based, raised bed, grow bag or container options. Ideally suited to USDA zones 4-9, these taters should be planted in well-drained soil that is slightly acidic with a pH around 6.

1. ‘Early Rose’

Native to South America, ‘Early Rose’ is the genetic parent of the ‘Russet Burbank’ more commonly seen today. Come harvest time, you can expect medium-sized tubers with smooth reddish-pink skin and fluffy white flesh. ‘Early Rose’ has been cultivated since the 1860s and is still widely adored for mashing and roasting. However, it does best in cool-weather climates.

2. ‘Russet Burbank’

Referred to as ‘the potato that built Idaho’, ‘Russet Burbank’ is a descendent of ‘Early Rose’. The most popular spud in North America, ‘Russet Burbank’ began as an 1850s breeding experiment. As well as being a great addition to a vegetable garden, this heritage spud is a favorite of chefs for mashing and chips, thanks to its high starch levels and course consistency.

3. ‘Irish Cobbler’

Early maturing and medium-sized, the ‘Irish Cobbler’ is an heirloom spud dating back to 1876. It is generally oblong in shape with deep set eyes. This potato is high in starch content and has a dry, creamy, white flesh, perfect for baking or mashing. This tasty tater is an ideal plant for container gardening and ground-based gardening – but just bear in mind that it is susceptible to verticillium wilt.

4. ‘Bliss Triumph’

Released around 1878 as a cross between ‘Early Rose’ and ‘Peerless’, ‘Bliss Triumph’ (also known as ‘Red Bliss’) is a white fleshed potato that is available in red, pink and white skinned varieties. Early to sprout, ‘Bliss Triumph’ is susceptible to potato blight and other diseases, since the skin is delicate. Still, its versatility and rosy appearance makes it a delightful spud to grow in the home garden.

5. ‘Early Ohio’

‘Early Ohio’ introduced in 1875, was a seedling version of ‘Early Rose’. A market was born due to its rapid maturity and prolificacy. A great heirloom type for the north, ‘Early Ohio’ is a larger, roundish tuber with light tan skin and firm, white flesh. This first-early tater is ideal for a range of preparations but especially boiling, as it holds its shape well. Perfect for ground-based and raised bed growing, it is also a reliable heavy yielder if grown in a fertile, well-drained soil.

6. ‘German Butterball’

‘German Butterball’ is an oddball of an heirloom. It is classified as an heirloom only because its grower David Ronniger bred it from a 19^th century tuber. Otherwise, it is a fairly modern potato, debuting in 1988 but with heirloom roots. A large spud, ‘German Butterball’ can weigh as much as two pounds (just under a kilogram). While hardly the most unusual vegetable to grow, it has a memorable buttery taste. It works well in a range of cooking preparations, from frying to steaming.

7. ‘Russian Banana’ Fingerling

Fingerlings are especially desirable thanks to their shape and diminutive stature, making them ideal for container potato growing. ‘Russian Banana’ is a waxy tuber with a distinctly yellow flesh. This fingerling varies in shape and size from finger-sized to that of a small banana. If that wasn’t enough, it even has the curvature of a banana! It has a mild, slightly nutty quality and is good for boiling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who doesn’t love strawberries fresh from the garden, warm from the summer sun? All home-grown strawberries are delicious, but growing strawberries in raised beds can make the gardening work easier. Planting strawberries in raised beds does involve a little more work upfront in preparing the raised beds. However, the happy tradeoff is that you’ll have to put in lots less effort later on.

So if you want to grow strawberry plants in a healthy and productive way, here are the most effective planting and cultivation practices for the ultimate June bearing, everbearing and day-neutral fruits.

Benefits of Growing Strawberries in Raised Beds

The boogie man for home-grown strawberries is poor drainage. Strawberries require excellent drainage and will not tolerate wet soil. Poor drainage leads to waterlogged soil, which can mean roots face a swift and ugly death. Growing strawberry containers or strawberry hanging baskets is one way round the problem – but there is another way. Growing strawberries in a raised bed filled with well-draining soil guarantees improved drainage. By raising the height of the soil, you increase the distance between the soil surface and the soil water table.

In addition, when growing strawberries in a raised bed garden, the height of the soil makes it easier to work the soil and take care of the plants. A gardener doesn’t have to bend all the way down to pull weeds when the soil is mounded in a raised bed. If you do a good job constructing the raised beds, you will be able to sit on a short garden stool to weed, rather than squatting down.

Best Raised Beds for Strawberries

The best raised beds for strawberries are built with wooden frames and filled with organically rich, well-draining soil with any needed amendments added. Adding organic matter improves drainage, allows air into the soil and assists the soil to retain nutrients. You can fill a raised bed using a mix of wood chips, chopped tree bark, sawdust, composted manures or plant-based composts. The mixing should be done before planting.

If constructing frames for the raised strawberry beds seems out of reach in terms of effort, it is also possible to make raised beds without frames. You can do this by building mounds of soil and organic compost material. While the soil works just as well as soil in frames, rain and wind can cause the hill of soil to deteriorate. This makes frames the best raised bed option for strawberries.

Planting Strawberries in Raised Beds

When you are growing strawberries in a raised bed garden, start as early as possible in springtime. If you can work the soil, it’s time to plant. One of the keys to growing bigger strawberries is to make sure you allow as much time as possible for the plant networks to develop and the fruits to ripen.

How deep to plant starts depends on which kind you buy. If you get bare-root plants, the hole should be sufficiently large that the roots can fit in without bending. Plant so the crown midpoint is at the level of the soil surface. Make sure the uppermost root is covered with soil so that even a hard rain will not expose it to the open air.

If you purchase container plants, they must be planted at the same depth in the raised bed soil that they were in the container medium. When the strawberry plants are inserted too deep, the tip from which the plant grows may rot. Tuck the soil around the medium of the container plant to avoid pockets of air in the soil.

In either case, water well after initial planting. Check the plant to see if the depth is still correct when the soil is settled.

Best Systems of Planting Strawberries

The two commonly used systems of planting strawberries are called the matted row system and the annual system. The former is a perennial system in which plants are allowed to send out strawberry runners and create a dense, wide row of plants. After the spring harvest period, narrow the row and allow new runners to continue the cycle. This requires year round watering, weeding and keeping out pests.

The annual system is best for warmer climates. Set plants about a foot (30cm) apart in the fall, staggering the plants in two or three rows. Take the harvest in February through May, then shovel under the entire crop and plant something else in summer.

Caring for Strawberries in Raised Beds

The maintenance raised bed strawberries require depends on the type of strawberries you select. There are three primary types of strawberries: June-bearers, everbearing, day neutral.

• June-Bearing Strawberries: With June-bearing strawberries, you get one crop annually in or near June, with a month of fruiting. Plants produce runners, traveling stems that root and create new plants. Because of this, they need more room to roam, so space them well apart. Alternatively, snip off runners as they appear.
• Everbearing Strawberries: Everbearing berries (also known as remontant or perpetual strawberries) also give a decent crop in June, but tend to produce smaller fruits in flushes from late spring to early fall.
• Day-Neutral Strawberries: Day-neutrals produce fruit throughout the season. Both everbearers and day-neutrals fruit the planting year. But when they first produce a flower stem, remove it to encourage the plants to establish a root system and grow a crown and leaves before blossoming.

You’ll need to water the new transplants frequently, twice a day initially, then tapering off to twice a week. The idea is to keep the soil moist but never wet. Every few weeks, offer small doses of a liquid fertilizer.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Tasty Berry Projects to Try

• Want to grow strawberries in a mess-free zone? Find out how to grow hydroponic strawberries for a cleaner way to cultivate juicy berry harvests.
• Would you like to grow sustainable fruiting shrubs? These native berry bushes are lovely, low maintenance and full of tasty fruit potential.

Want to make gardening easy? Raised bed gardens are the way to go. The vegetables you plant in raised beds are easy to tend since, by definition, they live in a bed that is well above the regular soil level. Raised beds are easy to access for weeding and thinning plants since they have walkways on either side. And the soil stays loamy and well-drained since nobody walks on it.

If you are considering installing raised beds, be sure to think about design before you start. Raised bed garden layout is very important. Read on for tips on making raised bed vegetable garden layout plans.

Considerations for Raised Bed Garden Layout

Most people start vegetable gardens with the hope of harvesting homegrown produce that will make its way to the dinner table. The more vegetables a gardener can grow from a planted space, the better. But some ways of planting produce more crops than others.

Check out the video below on mistakes you should try to avoid in your raised veggie garden.

The traditional vegetable garden layout involves long, thin rows of veggies planted a good distance apart – a practice that started in farms when horses or tractors had to pass between rows. If you continue with this tradition, you will have to devote a lot of garden space to the empty space between rows.

Raised bed gardening has advantages that traditional beds do not. First, the soil you are planting in, as well as the crops that start growing in it, are not as low to the ground. That makes it easier to plant and tend. In addition, most beds are no wider than 4 feet (1.3m), which means that you can easily reach each side of the raised bed from the walkway beside it.

Raised beds are more practical in a variety of other ways. For example, you save time and money since you only work and enrich the soil in the raised beds. No compost or fertilizer is wasted on the walkways. And compacted garden soil is a thing of the past since nobody is walking on the soil in the beds.

Raised Bed Garden Layout Tips

Don’t jump into building raised beds without giving adequate time to design your raised bed layout. Sunshine is an essential part of growing vegetables and you’ll want to maximize your plants’ sun exposure by choosing a good location for your vegetable garden. Generally, it’s best to build your raised beds in a north/south orientation, then install taller plants on the north, shorter plants on the south end.

You’ll also want to keep track of trees and structures that will shade out small plants. It is helpful to make a sun map of your landscape as you are designing the garden, including trees, fencing, sheds, dwellings, and any other shade-producing structures. Determine which areas of the garden will get morning shade and which will get afternoon shade. That way you can be sure that the crops you are planting will get the amount of sunshine they require.

Remember to build wide garden paths between the raised beds. While you may be able to squeeze by on foot if the pathway is a foot wide, that’s not the be all and the end all. Make the walkways large enough that a person can walk by pushing a wheelbarrow.

Raised Bed Garden Layout Ideas

What should the beds in your raised bed garden look like? You have a lot of leeway in determining your garden design. The raised beds themselves can be any shape, from a square to a long, lean rectangle to a series of triangles or ovals. The easiest to build are those with square corners. No matter the design, make sure the beds aren't wider than twice the length of your reach. Remember that you can work the crops from both sides.

A few garden bed designs include:

• Keyhole Garden: This design incorporates a compost pile in the center of the circular garden so plants get nutrients continuously as the compost breaks down. A walkway into the center of the bed serves as access to put new compost in the pile and also to maintain the garden and harvest vegetables when they are ready.
• Square-foot Vegetable Garden: Square-foot garden design is fairly straightforward; you divide your raised bed into square-foot increments for planting. This layout allows you to space your vegetables evenly and maximize the space you have in a very efficient way.
• Raised Bed with a Trellis: Adding a trellis to your raised beds will give plants like beans a place to climb and also give nice sturdy support for your tomatoes. Adding vertical growing space will help you maximize output.

There is no maximum length for raised garden beds. The height is also flexible and can vary from 6 inches (15 cm) to knee height. The latter works well for those who prefer to sit down and garden. The beds need not be aligned but can be scattered around the outside of a space or lined up neatly in the middle.

With all this discretion, it may seem difficult to figure out the best layout. It helps to decide what you plant to grow, since different crops will require different amounts of space. For example, if you are growing squash, they are best planted by themselves in a raised bed to allow them to sprawl without shading other crops.

Frequently Asked Questions

Just because you own a small garden or yard, that shouldn’t keep you from gardening and enjoying all manner of flowers, vegetables, and other plants. Raised beds for small gardens offer some great benefits over planting in the ground. They allow you to control the planting medium and they offer better drainage.

In order to work with the space you have, you may need to get creative. You can make your own raised garden bed ideas for smaller plots, but some pre-made beds come in smaller sizes, too. Use whatever you can to make it work for you. These raised bed ideas for small gardens allow you to think laterally while successfully showcasing the plants you want to grow.

Creating Small Garden Raised Beds

The best raised beds in a small garden are those that make best use of space without compromising on healthy plant growth. Just be sure you leave enough space around the bed to access the plants and keep them at their best.

While you may be able to find pre-made beds to fit your yard, you can also consider making your own. Good small raised bed designs involve creating vertical growing spaces or upcycling materials to create your ideal small raised bed garden layout.

Smaller yards and gardens require more planning and creativity than large expanses. But don’t let a small space limit you. These ideas for small garden raised beds will help you to think big!

1. Use Corrugated Metal Beds

Corrugated metal makes a great wall for a small raised bed garden because it is inexpensive, easy to work with, and adaptable to different sizes and shapes. You can find rolls of corrugated metal designed to be used in the garden.

Unroll the metal and shape it into any type of bed you want. Use a rubber mallet to secure the metal to the ground. You can make metal raised garden beds that are small or narrow (or both), depending on your yard’s dimensions. You can also save space and materials by using a wall or fence on one side of the bed.

2. Make Modular Beds

Many pre-made raised beds come in standard sizes that may be too big for your small yard. You can get hold of modular bed kits that allow you to vary the overall shape and size according to your garden’s capacity. Modular bed kits mean you can build your small raised bed garden layout around a neat, unified concept while retaining flexibility and planting freedom.

You can adapt kits like Vego Garden’s 6-in-1 Modular Metal Raised Garden Bed Kit to make different configurations. These kits are perfect for small or unusually shaped spaces, as well as urban gardens, patios and balconies. Use them combined, or separately in various corners of the garden wherever they fit. It’s a highly adaptable style of raised bed that you can tweak over time when you fancy a change.

3. Try Concrete Block Raised Beds

Concrete blocks can also be used like modular units to create the right sizes and shapes you need to fit your space. You can easily make your own raised garden beds for small spaces by using concrete blocks as the walls or edges of the beds. These concrete block or cinder block garden beds can be safely filled with edible plants as well as ornamentals.

This is a great solution if you’re not handy with tools or have little experience building anything. All you need to do to create a bed is to arrange the concrete blocks. There are plenty of possibilities for sizes and shapes. You can even grow small plants like annual flowers in the holes of the blocks themselves.

4. Grow Upwards With Vertical Spaces

One way to make the most of less space is to grow upwards. You can do this by creating a living wall. Hang a structure on a wall or fence to grow plants vertically. If you’re crafty, a shipping pallet is a great starting point for a hanging, vertical garden.

Small plants like herbs or vining plants like clematis, tomatoes or beans are ideal for easy vertical gardening hacks. A living wall requires extra maintenance and some structural work, so it’s not for everyone – but it’s a good way to make more space.

If you’re less crafty, try a cascading metal raised bed kit. Kits like Vego Garden’s Cascading Metal Raised Garden Bed Kit, allow you to deploy useful vertical space as well as horizontal space. It fits nicely against a wall or a corner, allowing you to grow more of the plants you fancy.

5. Try Upcycled Raised Beds

Raised garden beds for small spaces aren’t limited to traditional materials. Use what you have at hand or can find to make a smaller bed that fits your garden (and aspirations!). Here are some ideas for objects that make great small raised beds:

• Galvanized steel tubs
• Old vehicle tires
• Wooden pallets
• Old dresser drawers
• Railroad ties
• Reclaimed wood
• Old barrels
• Plastic storage bins

Just be sure that any materials you use for DIY recycled raised garden beds have good drainage. For instance, you’ll need to drill holes in an old tub to use it as a bed. Also, be sure that any reclaimed wood you use has not been chemically treated. That way, you can safely grow edibles as well as ornamental plants.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Great Small Garden Ideas to Try

• For a striking visual statement in small gardens, try a DIY raised bed with a bright uplifting wood. Find out why and how to make a cedar raised garden bed design work for you.
• Looking for bright and cheerful ornamentals to raise small garden bed displays? These quintessential raised flower bed ideas will turbocharge even tiny spaces with big, bold hues.
• Stuck for sublime designs that can elevate modest garden spaces? Get stuck into these contemporary small garden ideas and add a touch of class to compact yards and gardens.
• Just because your front garden is on the tiny side, that doesn’t mean you can’t grow ornamentals with the wow factor. Try these small front garden ideas and go big on blooms and foliage.

Raised beds are great solutions to poor drainage, poor soil and other garden conundrums. Winterizing raised beds is a must on your list of jobs to tackle before it gets too cold outside. It’s an important chore as the gardening season winds down. Knowing how to winterize your raised garden beds correctly means you can make good use of this downtime in the garden so you’re ready for the next growing season.

Good care now means beds will be ready earlier in spring for healthy, abundant growth. Our guide outlines some of the key steps needed in successfully winterizing raised garden beds to keep them protected from winter weather.

How to Winterize Raised Garden Beds

Overwintering raised beds isn’t a lot different from how you might care for other beds at this time of year. However, you might want to give them a little extra care when carrying out your early winter garden chores, since this is likely where you do most of your formal gardening. Preparing raised beds for winter requires several approaches to address a few different issues: dealing with decaying plant material, preparing the soil for spring, and protecting any plants that remain over winter.

1. Tidy and Clear Away Plant Debris

The first step in winterizing raised garden beds is to clear out debris from spent plants. As part of a general fall garden cleanup, remove dead plant material to prevent it from rotting under snow cover over the winter. If you see any diseased material, destroy it and do not add it to compost. Most perennial plants can be cut back to two to four inches (5 to 10 cm) from the surface of the soil. Completely pull out any annuals.

It’s also important to remove any weeds before the winter. As with other plants, they can rot, but they can also harbor pests or disease vectors, like fungi. Clearing out weeds now will also reduce the number of weeds you see in the next growing season. Once everything is removed, smooth over the bed’s soil to create an even surface.

2. Condition And Insulate Raised Bed Soil

Next, prepare or protect the soil. One option to condition and enrich the soil for next year is to plant a cover crop. Cover, winter wheat, or winter rye grow quickly and add nutrients to the soil. Alternatively, you can put down a layer of compost on top of the soil. Keep your soil insulated, protect perennials over the winter months, and reduce the risk of new weeds creeping in by covering the bed with an appropriate mulch. A cover crop, if you are using it, can serve as a living mulch with similar benefits.

If you’re not using a cover crop, you can use fall leaves as mulch. Straw also makes one of the best types of mulch for raised beds over winter. You’ll want to remove these in spring when you’re ready to plant, unless they have broken down significantly and can be worked into the soil. Wood chip mulch is not ideal for raised bed winter mulch, as it doesn’t break down very readily.

3. Cover Raised Beds in Winter

Your raised bed does not necessarily need to be covered in winter if you have taken the above steps. You might want to cover them to protect any plants that are a little tender for your growing zone or if you are trying to extend your growing season. A cover can help protect raised beds from frost early in the season. Plastic is not the best choice for covering beds and plants. Plastic sheets can actually collect colder air near the plants. Using a frost cloth, blanket or cotton sheet is a better alternative.

Frequently Asked Questions

Raised beds offer many benefits, providing a flexible growing zone tailored to specific plants. More unique raised garden bed ideas can also add architectural appeal to a yard, enabling you to make the most of a small space.

There are many clever inexpensive raised garden bed ideas. However, working out how to fill a raised garden bed cheaply – or for free – requires some forethought.

Even a small raised bed needs a lot of fill material. While you can purchase bags of soil at big box stores and nurseries, the large amount required means this is rarely the most economical solution.

Cheap soil for raised beds may be sourced in a variety of ways. Much of the soil can be made for free through layering and composting.

In this article, we delve into the best ways to fill raised beds on a budget.

The Right Type of Soil for Raised Beds

Selecting the right raised bed garden soil is crucial, as the plants' roots will be restricted to the confines of the bed. In general, most plants will thrive in well-draining, loose soil.

Unless you are blessed with excellent soil on your property, utilizing garden soil can lead to compaction, lack of nutrients, and poor percolation.

Often, making your own mixture will lead to better nutrient retention, root health, and overall plant performance.

A diverse variety of media will provide just the right amount of plant needs. The exact mixture will depend on which plants will be grown in the raised bed.

There are four main types of soil: sandy, clay, silt, and loam. Loamy soil is a combination of the other three types and is an ideal planting medium for many plants.

If succulents or other water-wise plants will be grown, loose, gritty soil is preferable.

How Much Soil Do You Need?

Before you source soil to fill your raised beds, work out how much you need by performing a soil volume calculation. This will help to minimize costs by avoiding over-ordering.

You will need to know the size of your raised bed in feet, and the required raised bed soil depth in inches.

Soil in bulk is usually sold in cubic yards. One cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet (0.8 cubic meters). Alternatively, soil can be purchased in bags. A 40lb bag will cover 0.75 cubic feet.

To work out how many cubic feet of soil you require, multiply the raised bed width (ft) x length (ft) x depth (in), then divide the figure by 12 (the number of inches in a foot).

For example, a raised bed measures 4 feet wide and 6 feet long, and you want to fill it with 8 inches of soil. So, you would calculate 4 x 6 x 8 = 192. Divide by 12 to get 16 cubic feet, which equals 0.6 cubic yards.

Alternatively, use an online soil calculator to do the math for you.

Should You Source Free Soil?

It is possible to source soil for free if you can find someone giving it away locally. This often happens at construction sites. You may spot listings in the classifieds or online sharing sites.

However, the quality of the soil may be suspect. It could contain building rubble, invasive weed seeds or roots, or even be contaminated with chemicals.

Unless you know the source to be reputable, sourcing free soil may prove too much of a risk.

Buying Soil in Bulk

Another way to fill a raised garden bed cheaply is to buy soil in bulk. On average, bulk materials are cheaper than bagged soil. This is the best option if you want to fill a large surface area and plant it up quickly.

Always use a reputable supplier and be wary of delivery fees that could make the soil more expensive.

Any soil that is acquired can be amended if necessary. To improve garden soil, first assess the soil type then add a corresponding type to loosen, add nutrients, or enhance composition. For example, compost to sand; sand to clay.

Other additives might be leaf litter, peat moss, rice hulls, coconut coir, and composted bark.

Making Your Own Soil

Making your own raised bed soil is by far the most inexpensive method of filling raised beds. However, it will take some time before the bed is ready for planting.

A lasagne box garden is almost free to make. It takes months to have usable soil, but it can be done in situ, meaning the finished product will be right where you want it.

Inside the raised bed, layer brown and green materials. These provide a mixture of carbon and nitrogen. The brown layers need to be twice as thick as the green materials.

In some cases, brown materials may be in short supply, but newspaper or cardboard are excellent carbon sources. Dry leaves, peat, eggshells, small pieces of twig, and hay are other brown options.

Green materials include kitchen scraps, compost, coffee grounds, and grass clippings.

After a few months, the area is ready to plant. Additional amendments such as manure, worm castings, or fertilizer will greatly enhance the bed before planting.

Halve The Cost With a Hugelkultur Base

Take inspiration from the Hugelkultur system and layer woody material and other organic material in the bottom half of your raised bed, and then fill the top half with soil. This traditional Eastern European gardening method results in bigger, more productive crops.

Over time, the matter in the lower layers will break down to create a rich, moist but free-draining growing base.

In the base of your raised bed, fill the hole with logs, twigs, and branches, and add some brown material, leaves, grass clippings, as well as organic matter such as well-rotted manure and homemade compost. Give these a thorough watering.

If you want to plant your bed immediately, avoid adding too much green material or kitchen scraps, as you are not looking to make a compost heap that will heat up.

Fill the top half of the raised bed with new soil, mixed with any amendments as required. Give it another thorough watering.

Plant up your bed, and as the new plants establish the lower matter will begin to break down to accommodate the roots as they develop.

There are a lot of benefits to growing plants in raised beds: better soil, good drainage, and ease of use, to name a few. While many people immediately associate good raised garden bed ideas with growing vegetables, they are also ideal for many flowers. The best raised flower bed ideas will be compatible with their unique growing conditions and flourish with their confined growth and soil requirements.

Most plants grow well in a raised bed – just keep in mind that raised beds generally drain well. So you might have less joy with flowering plants that need consistently moist soil, or even standing water. To take the hassle out of picking floral displays with real staying power, try these seven plant ideas for a raised flower bed.

Choosing the Best Plants for Your Raised Flower Bed Ideas

When looking through backyard raised flower bed ideas, strike a balance between flowers you like and those that will grow well in the conditions you can provide. There is no sense growing a beautiful plant you love if it wont thrive in your local conditions.

It's also a good idea to choose a variety of bloom times. Select and mix plants that flower in spring, summer and into fall, to enjoy blooms throughout the entire growing season. Consider choosing plants that are good for cut flowers, so you can enjoy them indoors, too. These seven ideas for raised flower beds will help provide months of color and interest.

1. Zinnias

Zinnias (Zinnia elegans) are cheerful annuals that grow well in USDA zones 2-11. They come in a bold range of colors and bloom from June through the first frost of fall. It’s quite easy to grow zinnias in a raised bed as long as you can support them as they grow. They also make good cut flowers for arrangements. Good zinnia cultivars for raised beds include Uproar Rose, Sunbow Mix and Zindarella.

2. Dahlias

Another excellent choice for raised bed cut flowers is the showy dahlia (Dahlia spp.). This Mexico native is hardy in USDA zones 8 through 10. In colder zones, you can dig up the tubers to store them over winter. Enjoy colorful dahlia blooms from July through September. You can choose from many different varieties of dahlia, so choose the varieties that work best in your bed.

3. Peonies

Peony (Paeonia lactiflora) is a striking, large-bloomed perennial flower which is hardy in USDA zones 3-8. With the right peony care, these flowers will do extremely well in a raised bed positioned in full sun or partial shade. Peonies bloom in mid-spring for a brief but memorable display. Some of the most striking types of peonies include Sarah Bernhardt, Coral Sunset and Bowl of Cream.

4. Coral Bells

Coral bells (Heuchera sanguinea) thrive in the well-drained soil of raised beds. Anyone growing coral bells will find they also tolerate a certain measure of shade. They bloom in summer and are hardy perennials in USDA zones 4 through 9. Coral bells have pretty flowers, but they are also appreciated for their striking foliage in a range of tones and hues. Try Electric Plum, Lemon Love or Caramel.

5. Hostas

Hosta (Hosta spp.) is a favorite perennial of many gardeners, thanks to its resilient nature and capacity for dynamic foliage. You can grow hosta readily in shady or partially shaded raised beds. You can find numerous types of hosta plants in different sizes and colors. Their delicate, bell-shaped flowers bloom in mid to late summer.

6. Cornflowers

Anyone growing bachelor buttons, also known as cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus), will quickly fall in love with their distinctive deep blue color. They are ideal for mixing with other flower types in a raised bed. This pretty annual grows in USDA zones 2-11 and blooms from spring to mid-summer. It tolerates drought well, so if you don't always water your raised bed, it will still flourish.

7. Mexican Sunflowers

The Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) is a pretty, bright orange annual that does well in drier soils. This means they are ideal for raised beds that drain quickly. Mexican sunflowers need full sun and will provide you with flowers from July through September. There are not many cultivars, but you will often find mixed selections in shades of orange, yellow and red.

Frequently Asked Questions

A drip irrigation system is a great way to water raised beds. A drip system for raised beds gets water to the plant’s roots while keeping it off the leaves. An added bonus is you can grow more plants with less water.

Benefits of Drip Irrigation for Raised Beds

Drip irrigation involves a slow application of water to a plant's root area through individual water release mechanisms called emitters. This allows for a very focused application of water. No water is splashed on the foliage and, since the water is delivered under the soil, little is lost to evaporation. And watering so deeply encourages the roots to grow down. In addition, weeds growing between plants are deprived of water and die.

Choosing a Drip Irrigation System for Raised Beds

All drip irrigation systems have five different components:

• A water filter
• A pressure reducer
• A pressure gauge
• A header pipe
• Drip lines

The two primary types are a rigid drip system and a flexible T-tape system. The former is more expensive but lasts longer, while flexible drip tape, also called T-tape, is cheaper, but it’s only good for a season or two.

If you are just getting started with drip irrigation, consider buying a complete system from a supply company. They will sell you one based on how many containers you want to irrigate. As an alternative, retrofit your current raised beds with drip irrigation, using elbows and pipe and putting the drip lines at ground level.

Keep your maximum water pressure in mind. An irrigation drip system can not deliver more water than the supply and pressure permit. Also, be sure to design the system with your plants in mind.

How to Install Drip Irrigation in Raised Beds

Raised beds can also be retrofitted to use drip irrigation. It is just a matter of using elbows and various lengths of pipe to allow the drip lines to be at ground level between the beds.

Winterizing a Raised Bed Drip Irrigation System

If your winters get cold, you’ll need to winterize your irrigation system. If the temperatures are very cold, the water in the components of the system will freeze. Water expands and can split the tubes.

Drain the water out of the system through the mainline ends and the ends of the T-Tape. Then replace the line ends to keep dirt from getting in. Store the filter indoors. Flush the system when you start up again in the spring.

Creating raised garden beds with a trellis is a popular project with gardeners this year. Among the many benefits of having raised bed in the garden, maximizing space is frequently a priority. Having less garden space makes it important to make full use of what we have. A trellis in or part of a raised bed allows you to grow vertically as well as horizontally, effectively doubling your growing area. A trellis in a raised bed can be situated off to the side or centered. It may be made from a multitude of materials and can be small or large depending on space. You can even create planter boxes with a built-in trellis if space is at a premium.

Benefits of a Raised Garden Bed With Trellis

The benefits of raised beds are numerous. They’re more accessible, they warm soil earlier resulting in earlier harvests, they prevent soil compaction, have better drainage, fewer weeds, and provide more growing space per square foot than an average veggie garden, especially if you use a trellis.

So, how does a trellis help expand growing space in a raised bed? By encouraging plants to grow vertically. This lets you grow vining crops like peas, beans, squash, melons, cucumbers and indeterminate types of tomatoes, all of which would otherwise take up precious growing space in the bed.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to choosing a material for your trellis. It may be as free standing as using a tomato cage or some stakes and twine or more expensive using galvanized fencing, rebar, wood, chicken wire, or plastics like PVC piping.

Raised Bed Trellis Ideas

Before you jump into building a trellis for your raised bed, you need to make some decisions. First, what are you going to trellis? How heavy will this crop become? How much do you want to spend on materials? Where do you want to put this trellis? Do you want your structure long standing or just temporary? If you want it at one end, choose to build it on the north end to avoid shading nearby plants.

A trellis may be a frame-like structure sunk into the soil or a latticework cage supported by plastic or metal hoops. Frame trellises are good for sprawling crops like cucumbers while other vertical growers like beans, peas, and smaller squash varieties can clamber up a chain link fence abutting the raised bed.

Purchased or DIY tomato towers are terrific for climbing crops or use chicken wire, plastic mesh or string to create a latticework upon which the fruit can clamber. If you don't care if the structure is permanent, net mesh or string is easiest to disassemble at the end of the season by just snipping a few select strings.

Tips For Raised Bed Trellises

Remember you will always want to stabilize your trellis from winds and the weight of your produce. This may mean pounding metal or wood stakes deeply into the ground. Ideally, you will need a 6-foot (1.8 m) stake to support a 5-foot (1.5 m) trellis. If anything, overestimate the weight to determine the support your trellis will need. It isn’t pretty in the middle of the growing season when your gargantuan tomato takes the trellis down.

Use metal stakes or rebar for crops that are heavy or produce thick vines. You should have 5-6 feet (1.5-1.8 m) between each stake or at least 3 (.9 m) between wider trellises. Divide the width of the trellis by half and place a stake in the center.

If you have existing or will be making smaller planter boxes, all you may need is an abutting support like a fence or balcony railing and sturdy twine, but keep in mind this would be for lighter-weight vines and fruit. Another way to use planter boxes is to abut them against the house, garage, or outbuilding and then build a trellis up the structure using wire, wood or twine to allow crops like beans or snap peas to climb up.

Your trellis may resemble a couple of ladders or a rounded structure made of PVC piping. A great metal mesh to use is called “remesh.” It is a more affordable option compared to a slightly more expensive hog or cattle panel trellis, but still sturdy. It is made of steel and not galvanized however, so it will eventually get that rustic, rusty look, which I think actually plays beautifully into the feel of a garden.

You can use all kinds of materials to create an effective raised bed in the garden, but many people prefer wood. Wood is easy to use and is a natural option appropriate for organic gardening. However, it breaks down readily and may need replacing every few years.

Other options include synthetic lumber, metal, rocks, and concrete blocks. When choosing a material, consider factors like cost, ease of use, durability, and any chemicals that might leach into the soil. If you choose to go with wood, you still have many options and things to consider.

Does Bed Type Matter When Choosing the Best Wood for Raised Garden Beds?

Pine is the most readily available, inexpensive, and easy-to-work-with lumber for making raised beds. The only real downside is that it decays readily and needs to be replaced regularly. If you’re willing to replace it as needed, pine is appropriate for use with any type of raised bed.

Most types of wood are fine for anything you grow in a bed. You might want to take extra precautions when choosing raised bed materials for a vegetable or other edibles, simply because any chemicals might leach into the soil and get into the plants. To give you an idea of the issue, the USDA’s organic certification guidelines do not allow pressure-treated wood to come into contact with plants grown for food.

What Is the Best Wood for Raised Bed Gardening by Region?

Pine is an adequate wood to use anywhere, but consider using sturdier woods in hot, humid, or rainy regions. Pine will deteriorate more rapidly in these environments. Other types of wood will also decay eventually, but usually much more slowly.

You can try hardwoods, like oak, but they might not last much longer than pine and are more expensive. Redwood, cedar, and cypress offer natural resistance to pests and rot. However, they can be expensive and difficult to find.

Also, consider where the wood is coming from when choosing a material for raised beds. For example, West Coast cedar is a sturdy option, but if you live in the eastern U.S., it can be expensive. It’s also not the most sustainable option.

Which Types of Wood Should Not Be Used

The best material for raised garden beds is affordable, easy to work with, and sustainable. However, you should avoid treated wood. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned lumber treated with chromated copper arsenate in 2003. You are unlikely to come across any scrap wood now that is old enough to have been treated with this harmful substance.

Modern treated wood is safer but still not allowed for use in organic food production. The best wood for making raised garden beds is not treated with these substances, but whether you want to use them in your own garden is a personal choice. Current treatments are safer but can still leach into the soil and be taken up by plants. One option when using treated wood is to place plastic lining in the bed to prevent contact between the wood and the soil.

Scavenging for scrap wood is a great way to save money, but avoid railroad ties and old telephone poles. These were treated with older, more toxic chemicals, including creosote.

What Is the Best Lumber for Raised Garden Beds That Will Last?

Cedar, redwood, black locust, and cypress are the longest-lasting woods that resist rot and pests. Cedar raised beds have the most resistance, but they all offer superior lifespans compared to pine and most hardwoods.

How to Protect Woods to Make Them Last Longer

The best wood sealer for raised garden beds is an oil-based stain. Another option is to wrap the lumber with heavy-duty garden plastic or line the bed with plastic. If you line the bed, be sure you make drainage holes.

Frequently Asked Questions

There are many good reasons to grow plants in raised garden beds. One of the most important is that they offer better drainage than most standard beds. The elevated design minimizes pooling water and the ability to control soil quality and content means you can create the perfect blend for good drainage. Although raised garden bed drainage is naturally good, certain steps can improve it even more.

Why Do Raised Garden Beds Need Drainage?

Wherever you grow plants, they need good drainage. The exceptions to this, of course, are plants that grow in marshes or water. Most plants need soil that drains well. Standing water around roots suffocates them by not allowing them access to oxygen. Soggy soil and standing water also put plants at risk for rot and disease.

Raised bed garden drainage is already an improvement on a standard bed in the ground. You can still improve it even more with the right choices. This is important because even with elevation and a good soil mix for raised beds, drainage may not be good enough.

How to Boost Drainage for a Raised Garden Bed

There are several things you can do during the construction and planting of your raised beds to maximize drainage:

1. Choose the Right Location

Before you even begin, choose the best spot for raised beds. Avoid low areas of your garden, which tend to collect water. Watch what happens after a big rain to find areas that tend to drain well and don’t have standing water. Balance the need for drainage with a location that gets enough sunlight.

2. Make the Perfect Soil Mix

Next, build good soil. Soil is one of the factors that has the biggest impact on drainage. You can buy bags of good quality garden soil or potting mix to use for your raised beds. Or, if you have extra soil in your garden, you can add materials to it for a good blend. Mix compost into the soil and add something that boosts drainage, like perlite, vermiculite, or peat moss.

3. Add Layers

Using just an excellent soil mix will provide your bed with good drainage, but adding layers can improve it even more. Place some loose organic material in the bottom of your bed. This could be twigs and leaves, wood chips, or even lawn clippings. This fills up some of the space and allows for more drainage at the bottom.

Layer some high quality compost on top of the loose organic material. Finally, add about 12 inches (30 cm) of your perfect soil blend on the top.

4. Cut Drainage Holes

If you feel like your beds are not draining enough, even with layers of organic material and good soil, you make holes in the sides of the bed. Drill or cut holes or vertical slits that allow extra water to drain out of the sides of the bed.

5. Create a Slope

When constructing your raised bed, include a slight slope to allow water to drain from the bed. The slant can be from one end to the other or from the center of the bed outward. Aim for a slope of 2%. This is about one-quarter of an inch (0.6 cm) drop per foot (30 cm) of distance.

6. Maintain Your Raised Beds

Once you have created raised beds with excellent drainage, you can focus on maintenance. Aerate the soil once in a while to allow more oxygen to get to roots and to prevent compaction, which can reduce drainage.

Wooden beds are a popular choice, but they decay over time. If you don't want to replace the wooden boards with new ones, consider a pre

Raised garden beds are incredibly popular for a variety of reasons. Often the only question is what type of material to use for your raised beds. There are numerous options available from treated wood metal to plastic to cinder block, and the list goes on. Each option has its share of up and downsides.

One obvious material choice is metal, and it's gaining a lot of popularity, particularly with our staff here. What are the pros and cons of metal raised beds? For instance, are galvanized raised beds a better option than other types of metal? How about using old metal that may leach into the soil?

Here's everything I’ve unearthed about the various types of metal planter boxes or beds and their pros and cons.

Benefits of Raised Garden Beds

As I age, yes, it’s happening, I realize how important accessibility is becoming... especially in my garden. Raised garden beds help me access my plots with less difficulty, making everything from planting to watering to harvesting easier on my body.

Accessibility isn’t the only benefit of raised beds, however. Raised beds also warm faster than in-ground garden beds, meaning you can plant and harvest earlier. You can easily control the type of soil without digging up half the yard, which means you get the correct pH and nutrients for your crops right there at your fingertips.

Different Types of Metal Garden Beds

As mentioned, raised garden beds can be made out of all sorts of materials, each with their own pros and cons. Metal happens to be a long-lasting material that has definitive aesthetic appeal in the garden.

I live in the city, but literally a 5-minute drive out the landscape is rural - dotted with farmhouses, barns, cattle, and fields of hay and other crops. I mention this because long before they became popular, I was familiar with one of the classic metal raised beds - the cattle trough or stock tank.

Out in these rural areas, the cattle trough is used to feed and water livestock, but made its way into urban areas as a sleek raised garden bed option. Today I see them everywhere filled with flowers or used as mini veggie garden plots.

On the downside, metal beds can be heavy and in some climates get too warm for heat-sensitive plants. Low-quality metal beds may have rough or sharp edges, which can be dangerous, or leach zinc and cadmium into the surrounding soil over time.

That's why our expert staff recommends safe and sustainable metal raised garden beds from Vego. Their high-quality modular beds are made with 100% non-toxic materials that are food safe and rust-resistant. They also have reinforced safety edges that prevent injuries while gardening.

Vego's metal beds come in a variety of fun colors that will fit any landscape aesthetic. Plus, the paint they use is the only non-toxic USDA approved paint on the market.

Metal Raised Garden Bed Ideas

There are multiple reasons for choosing a metal garden bed. They last for a long time. Research indicates that they can last for 20 years - many times longer than their wooden counterparts. They're easy to maneuver into an area and set up is a breeze. They are less likely to foster pests and are low maintenance.

They are incredibly tidy and aesthetically pleasing and available in an array of shapes from oblongs to squares. Many have legs or tall sides to give them extra height, or come in a fun array of colors beyond shiny steel.

Frequently Asked Questions

There are many materials that can be used to create raised beds, but a cedar raised garden bed has several benefits over other materials. For one thing, cedar raised beds are made of a natural material that helps them blend into the landscape versus cinder blocks or bricks. You can purchase a ready-made bed or if you’re a little bit handy, create a DIY raised garden bed using cedar. If you’re interested in raised beds, keep reading to find out why a cedar-raised bed garden might be the right choice for you.

Is Cedar Good for Raised Beds?

There are many materials that can be used to create a raised bed, and these can often be reclaimed or repurposed raised garden beds , but a cedar raised bed raises the aesthetic bar a bit over pallets, cinder blocks or straw bales.

Not only is cedar an aesthetically pleasing choice for a raised bed, but it contains natural oils and tannins that make it naturally rot-resistant. This means that the bed will last longer than other types of wood, unless it is pressure treated.

How Long Will Cedar Last?

So exactly how long will cedar last as a raised bed? This depends on whether the wood has been treated or untreated. Untreated cedar can last for well over 10 years, while other untreated woods will degrade within three-five years.

By way of comparison, pressure-treated wood can last 10-40 years, depending upon the type of wood. However, chemicals are often used in the treatment process, which means there’s a possibility those chemicals can leach into the soil.

Best Types of Cedar for Raised Beds

While cedar does naturally provide rot resistance, not every part of the tree offers the same amount of protection. Make sure you are using the best parts of the cedar before you start your raised bed project. The heartwood offers the most rot resistance as compared to the sapwood.

That said, if you reckon your raised garden bed ideas will be well suited to cedar, you might be surprised to discover you have a choice. There are two main options when deciding which type of cedar to source for your DIY cedar raised garden bed – Eastern red cedar or West Coast cedar:

• Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is highly rot-resistant, but the wood is quite dense and thus difficult to work with. This type of cedar is also grown commercially and can be difficult and expensive to source.
• West Coast cedar (Thuja plicata) is much easier to find and work with. That said, it is prone to splitting if you attempt to use wood screws without pre-drilling.

The other downside to using West Coast cedar is the lack of sustainability it offers. Also, since it is sourced on the west coast, if you want to use it on the east coast, the cost skyrockets due to shipping prices. It is also less rot-resistant than Eastern red.

Building Cedar Raised Beds – Getting Started

Cedar can be expensive. To save money, look for a lumber yard that has discounted decking lumber. This will be cedar that may have holes or is cracked, but is still adequate for your raised bed and can save you tons of money. Try these tips, too:

1. Once your cedar is cut and ready for assembly, don’t forget to pre-drill holes (pilot holes) before screwing the pieces together. If you forget, the lumber may split.
2. Use metal brackets to join the pieces together. If you intend to place a cap, use a 4x4 instead of 2x2 for the corner supports.
3. Line the site of the bed with a weed barrier fabric before assembling the raised cedar bed on top.
4. You should also line the floor of the bed with cardboard, then fill in with a raised bedding medium.

Is Cedar Right For Your Raised Bed Project?

As we have explained, cedar is one of the most aesthetically pleasing woods to use for DIY raised bed projects. Its naturally occurring oils and tannins are great for ensuring a level of longevity. That said, there is still the risk of weathering if exposed to extreme temperatures – so depending on where you live, this could be an issue.

You also have to factor in the amount of space you have in your garden. Depending on the scope of your raised bed, cedar may be a step too far. For situations where cedar cannot be easily accommodated, you might prefer to try a bespoke metal raised bed option. You can purchase modular raised bed kits from Vego Garden that are sustainable, flexible, stand the test of time, and conveniently fit the shape and size of your garden.

With so many raised garden bed ideas to choose from, they offer a fabulous opportunity to get creative and design a unique landscaping feature.

There are numerous advantages of raised garden beds, not the least of which are a reduction in soil compaction, weed suppression, better drainage, and earlier soil warming – which can make for an earlier crop when growing a raised vegetable garden.

Raised beds allow us to choose the soil mixture we want, which is especially helpful in areas where the ground’s soil may be substandard for gardening. The best soil for raised garden beds depends on what you want to grow, but a good start is a mix of garden soil and compost.

Raised garden bed drainage is an important factor, so adding vermiculite to the soil will keep it well drained, while the structure itself will need to allow for the release of excess moisture.

The easiest raised garden bed ideas are made from simple wooden kits. However, these and other materials can be used for a more creative DIY design. Take inspiration from our roundup of unique ideas.

1. Invest In A Flexible Rolling Raised Bed

Give your raised bed the ability to move. Affix wheels to a raised bed and you now have the ability to move it in or out of sun, closer to the compost area for off-season cleaning, or into the greenhouse or garage for overwintering.

A rolling raised bed is perfect for small raised bed gardening. However, you will need a smooth surface such as concrete. Also, consider adding some safety options like locking wheels or padding around the corners, especially if you have little ones roaming the garden.

Installing casters on raised beds makes it easier to reposition them when seasons change. You may discover your bed isn’t close enough to a water source, or has become shaded. With wheels, you have some flexibility.

2. Use Elegant Metal Beds For A Formal Landscaping Design

Raised beds don’t have to be strictly utilitarian – they can be beautiful as well. A formal raised bed should include shrubs, perennials and annuals of varying heights and seasonal interest.

Annuals can be planted densely so they fill in their area quickly, while perennials will often grow larger year after year. These larger perennials can be pruned to contain their size or divided in successive years.

The entirety of the raised bed can consist of only flowering plants which can be laid out in a pattern for added visual interest. For a clean cohesive look, keep the material of the actual bed as natural or neutral in color as possible. A bronzed metal finish adds a rich, warm feel to the design.

3. Convert Raised Beds Into Cold Frames

A cold frame can allow you to plant earlier in the spring and extend the garden season in the fall/early winter.

You can easily convert raised beds into a cold frame by adding a transparent covering over the top of it. The cover might be made of plastic or acrylic sheeting, old windows, or moveable caterpillar tunnels.

The simplest cold frame can be just a wooden frame built on a slant to catch the sun, and covered with an old hinged window that can be easily raised up for tending your seedlings.

Turn your existing raised bed into an incubator for seeds and seedlings by covering it, or a portion of it, with clear plastic. Use your imagination.

4. Stack Raised Beds To Save Your Back

Raised beds can be as low as 24 inches (61cm) but if you want to save your back or grow crops with deeper root systems, stack your raised beds.

Some kits are designed specifically to be stacked and joined together with hardware. Other options are to simply stack square or rectangle raised bed sides atop each other and fill with soil. To be clear about this, we are simply referring to a raised bed frame that’s stacked high enough to give the bed height.

To make this a safer, more sturdy option, pound a length of rebar into the ground at each of the four corners. You might also create a tiered garden of your own design with varying heights for each planter. Again, you may want to fill it halfway with organic materials before adding soil and compost.

5. Maximize Space With Modular Metal Raised Garden Beds

Metal garden beds were often made from round or oval feeding and watering troughs, typically used by farmers. From that brilliant idea came today’s metal modular raised beds that are the perfect solution to mediocre soil situations, changing environments, and convenience.

These raised bed modules can be mixed and matched, and can even be formed as L-shaped beds, allowing you to maximize your garden space.

Our favorites come from Vego Garden. The brand's metal beds come in different shapes, heights, sizes, and colors and all materials used in building them are organic and non-toxic.

Vego beds are guaranteed to last for 20 years or longer, unlike the typical wooden framed beds that have a limited life span.

Modular metal beds can be half-filled with organic materials before you load the soil in, making them rich, cost-efficient, and easy to work in.

6. Light Up Raised Beds for Night Gardening

Shed some light on the subject by adding lighting to raised beds. Lighting is terrific in all aspects of the landscape but is especially useful around a raised bed. Now you can catch the culprit who’s digging up or nibbling on your crops and you can see to harvest at night.

If you are handy with electrical, install electrical conduits. If not, there are plenty of solar or battery-powered options.

Don’t disrupt your plants’ growth cycle by using bright or intense lighting. Soft solar lights are best. There is such a thing as “light pollution,” especially in urban areas, so leaving bright lights on all night is probably not Mother Nature’s favorite. It can throw migrating creatures off track, not to mention the tons of CO₂ that’s released as a result of excessive nighttime lighting.

7. Build a Self-Composting Keyhole Bed

Keyhole raised beds are a clever solution for dry climates and areas of low-fertile soil. They are constructed in a circular fashion, but contain a cutout section – giving a keyhole shape to the design. This cutout allows access to the center of the raised bed, which contains a composting cage.

As you cook and garden, you fill the composting cage with food scraps and yard trimmings, which slowly starts to break down. You then water the beds through the composting area, so that the water is infused with all the nutrients in the compost, which is then absorbed into the soil.

The beds are usually raised quite high, to enable water retention and allow for a good amount of compost. This also makes them ideal for growing plants with long roots, although most plants are compatible.

8. Create a Sustainable Hugelkultur Bed

Hugelkultur is a centuries-old Eastern European system for building the ultimate raised bed out of rotting logs and plant debris. Those with wooded acreage or trees that have come down due to storms already have the materials.

This simple method has several variations but the general theme is to create raised beds out of mounds of logs and branches, filled with compost, soil, and other organic material. This is as sustainable as you get.

Hugelkultur requires little in materials. Simply mark out the area where you want a raised bed – the shape can be wavy or meandering, but does not need to be geometric. Then, rototill or dig the soil within the area until it is broken up and aerated.

Remove about a foot of soil, then begin filling the area with layers of logs and branches, wood chips, smaller branches (preferably rotting), leaves, yard clippings, dug-up turf, manure, straw, and leaves. Water deeply.

Cover it all with a few inches of compost and soil, which creates a raised “berm” of sorts that will yield surprising results once it is settled and planted.

The downside to a raised bed without a frame is erosion, but the upside is its low cost, simplicity, and sustainability.

9. Build A Simple Cinder Block Bed

A really simple and low-cost option is to build a cinder block raised bed. For little money, these are easy to obtain from big box stores that cater to home improvement enthusiasts.

Cinder blocks are very sturdy and will outlast other materials. You will want to use some rebar to stabilize your raised bed and stack successive levels so the blocks are off-center. Also, place the blocks at the top of your structure so the holes are facing up, creating an additional planting space at the perimeter of your raised bed.

If you have a concern about the safety of cinder block material, be aware that long ago they were made with toxic materials, but that is no longer the case. They are perfectly safe for your raised bed.

10. Maximize Productivity In A Square Foot Vegetable Garden

Square-foot gardening is the ideal solution for small growing spaces. The concept, developed in the 1980s, is intended to maximize efficiency and crop yields by dividing the growing area into small squares. These are usually 1ft (30cm) sections – hence the name – which each accommodate an individual crop.

Each growing square will contain 1, 4, 9, or 16 plants inside, depending on the crop. For example, tomato, pepper, and zucchini plants would each require one square, while you could grow more smaller crops in one square, such as 6 lettuces, 9 beets, or 16 radishes. Larger plants, such as squash or melon, will require two grids.

In order to maximize your growing space, you should practice succession planting – growing cool-season crops in spring, followed by warm-season crops in late spring and summer.

11. Incorporate Seating Into Your Raised Bed

Building a bench seat into a raised bed is a brilliant way to maximize every inch of yard space while providing a spot to sit when tending to plants.

A seat can be added into a custom timber bed, or built with brick or stones. It's also possible to purchase kits with a bench incorporated into the design.

Ensure the height is just right for relaxing with your feet on the ground. It's a good idea to have a bit of back support on your bench to aid comfort and ensure you don't sit back on the soil.

12. Get Creative With Recycling

With a bit of imagination, almost any vessel can become a recycled raised garden bed. As long as it can hold enough soil for root growth, and does not contain toxic materials, a recycled bed can take pride of place in your yard.

Consider upcycling an old boat or wagon, a traditional bathtub or sink, old animal feeders or water troughs, hardwearing furniture, wooden pallets, and more. Even an old sandbox can be turned into a vegetable garden when the kids are finished playing with it.

Be wary of using old tires and railroad ties, however, as these often contain toxic substances that will be absorbed into the soil over time.

13. Soften The Look With Curved Raised Beds

We often think of raised beds as being rectangular, but they can be any shape you want. Indeed, a curved design is a clever way to soften hard edges and corners, and can feel less imposing in a small space.

Brick is the best material to use when building curvy shapes, and makes it feel a more permanent part of the landscaping design. However, a woven raised bed is also suitable.

14. Integrate A Calming Water Feature

Consider incorporating a water feature into your raised bed design. Here, the deck has been built to include raised beds adjoining a mini waterfall.

The walls of the raised bed have been used to cleverly conceal the pump and mechanisms for the water feature.

To keep it looking its best, the wood is oiled twice a year.

15. Get The Country Look With Woven Beds

Woven willow or hazel raised beds blend in perfectly with the country garden aesthetic. They soften the look of the beds and are made from sustainable materials.

Usually sold in kits, woven raised beds can be made by crafty gardeners using locally collected flexible rods, with hurdles used to weave around.

Due to the open structure of woven raised beds, they will require plastic lining before filling with soil.

16. Brighten Up Garden Beds With Paint

One of the easiest ways to create unique raised garden beds is to buy a standard kit, and then paint the wood a lovely color before installing.

Painted raised beds must use non-toxic modern paint so that chemicals do not leach into the soil. This means you should avoid using old painted wood that you have reclaimed from other items.

Painting the wood can also help to extend the lifespan of the raised beds.

Japan is one of those countries with centuries of culture that still cling to modern-day life. They have a practice called Shou sugi ban or Yakisugi, a non-toxic method of preserving wood. Shou sugi ban means “burnt cedar board” although several other types of wood may be used. This method of charring wood for raised beds provides a durable, long-lasting structure without adding chemicals. Shou sugi ban raised beds are attractive and provide an organic housing for all your fruits and vegetables.

What Is Shou Sugi Ban?

Shou sugi ban appears to date back to the Edo period in Japan. There are surviving structures in Japan that are centuries old and feature this wood preservation method. In the process, the wood is charred and oiled. The resulting material is resistant to pests, rot, and fire. It has an alligator skin texture and a deeply black color. In traditional preparation, 3 boards were tied into a chimney of sorts and fire was allowed to travel up the chimney, charring the wood.

Originally it was a building material of the lower class because it was inexpensive and durable. Around the 1970s, Shou sugi ban became more widely known as Yakisugi and its popularity soared anew. Today it has become a much sought-after building material.

Benefits of Shou Sugi Ban Raised Beds

A Shou sugi ban raised garden bed is long-lasting and durable, as well as relatively inexpensive. The process actually strengthens the wood and makes it impervious to rot for long periods of time. During the burning, excess moisture is drawn out of the wood and the grain seals together. The char effectively reduces and repels insect pests. It also seals the wood making it difficult for insects like termites to burrow into the structure. Burning wood for raised beds also leaves behind an attractive, modern yet rustic, finish.

How to Make Shou Sugi Ban Raised Beds

While cedar, specifically red cedar, is the traditional wood used, other woods are also suitable. Pine, oak, hemlock, and maple may also be used. Since you are burning wood for raised beds, the type of wood you use depends on your preference, budget, and aesthetic.

First, you will construct the beds in whatever dimensions you require. Wood plank, corner bracing pieces, and an optional cap piece combined with screws will accomplish this part of the job. It is probably easier to char the boards prior to assembly, but it could be done afterwards. This will be up to you. A large propane torch is the easiest way to get the char. The flame is allowed to burn just long enough to char the surface. In most cases the wood will not truly catch fire, but have water handy just in case.

Finishing Shou Sugi Ban

After charring, brush the wood with a wire brush. This will eliminate some of the excess ash, but also push the ash into cracks and crevasses, filling any gaps. Finally, seal the wood with linseed or tung oil. These are natural oils. Use a brush to apply a thick coat of oil to all surfaces of the boards. Let it soak in for 10 minutes and then use old rags to wipe any excess away. If the boards have dry spots, reapply in the same manner.

Safety Considerations

The first caution is obvious. We are working with fire. Wear appropriate clothing, eye protection, boots, and stout, fireproof gloves. Have water ready nearby. Burn the planter wood where the surface it is sitting on will not catch fire. A cement driveway or patio is ideal provided it is far enough away from any structures. Gravel spaces work as well but soak the area first in case some errant plant material is present that might catch fire.

Frequently Asked Questions

I’m Liz Baessler, the Senior Editor at Gardening Know How. I’m temporarily stepping from behind the curtain of my job to tell my readers that I have five Vego garden beds in my front yard and, hand on my heart, I absolutely love them.

Vego Garden has now made a deep dive into a new, colorful world, unveiling more exciting garden bed colors, and I cannot wait to place another order. I’m pretty sure that when I tell you how I came to love Vego’s innovative garden beds, you’ll want to make your own garden as easy and functional as mine. And, I’ll give you a sneak peek into their two new garden bed colors that will add vibrance and beauty to your garden.

Raised Bed Soil Concerns

Here’s my story. When we moved to our new older home we discovered the soil in our yard was questionable – we dug up bottles, wires and other detritus – the lot was clearly a garbage heap in bygone days. A soil test showed concerning levels of lead, as well.

When we searched online and discovered Vego Garden beds, we chose them for their durability, their capacity to be custom-shaped and their amazing colors. Maybe most importantly, they’re manufactured with a dedicated focus on sustainability. As a devoted and avid organic gardener, I knew right away that Vego’s high-quality raised beds were the obvious answer for gardening at our new forever home.

Raised Garden Bed Design

My property is a quirky shape - more scallop-shell than rectangle. It’s exposed to full sun from dawn to dusk, a blessing for growing vegetables in my northern climate. The triangular space we decided to garden has a long, gently curving side. I hoped to fill that space as efficiently as possible, and maybe even expand it if things went well. Again, the Vego beds made the most sense with our need to customize this garden space.

Sustainability at Every Step

For me, it’s so important that everything about our lives is as sustainable as possible. One of the top priorities at Vego Garden Beds is sustainability, meaning that the proprietary materials used to build the beds, the way they ship their product, and even the paint reflect their environmentally friendly point of view. There’s never any leaching out of metals or toxins, so we know our fresh homegrown vegetables will always be clean and organic. Vego offers earth-friendly add-on products like a worm composter and a water misting system. Shipping is lightweight, reducing their carbon footprint. Their eco-friendly innovations and sustainable initiatives resonate with those of us who have care and concern for the planet.

Advantages of Vego Metal Raised Garden Beds

Choosing a raised garden bed that can stand the test of time was a no-brainer for us. A bed made from wood will deteriorate in a matter of a few years. Vego beds are durable for decades, flexible and easy to assemble, but strong and durable.

We used Vego’s 3D Garden Planner to try out different configurations, placing them in a model of our space. I bought enough panels to make five oval beds of various sizes, big enough to load up with plants, but narrow enough to reach across.

Vego beds are packaged so securely that there are no bent corners or banged-up boxes like some other raised bed products. These beds are completely modular - they ship flat in a collection of edges and corners, and it’s up to you to put them together however you please.

We opted for the 17-inch tall raised beds, but Vego also has beds up to 32 inches high. This is great for accessibility, but it’s also perfect for keeping out bunnies, not to mention snails and slugs! These extra tall beds, coupled with a simple fence, kept our vegetables un-munched all summer long.

On an aesthetic note, our house is a pretty striking red color, so I wanted beds that wouldn’t clash with the house, but would also not be boring. I could not find one color that wouldn’t blend beautifully in our yard. The palate is tasteful and elegant - and check out the new colors!

The Colors!

Vego’s trendy color palette made from food-grade paint comes in a range of lovely hues that don’t compete with your beautiful garden plants and flowers. I went with an earthy olive green, which is perfect for blending in without getting lost in all the foliage. The folks at Vego Garden have recently released two exciting new colors for those who like a little more pizazz in their gardens. Check out the new sky blue and terracotta beds to show off your best flowers and veggies.

How I Installed My Vego Raised Beds

After plotting out the area in my front yard on Vego’s 3d Planner, we assembled all five beds in a couple hours, laying them out exactly where I wanted them. When empty, the bed components are light and easy to move. Three cubic yards easily filled the five beds, with plenty left over to share with the neighbors.

Once the beds were installed, all that remained was to fill them with every vegetable I love to eat. And when I say fill, I mean it. In 83 square feet of Vego bed space I grew corn, summer squash, three kinds of kale, three kinds of eggplant, five kinds of peppers, four kinds of tomatoes, beans, peas, cucumbers, basil, carrots, tomatillos, lettuce, radishes, cilantro, parsley, and marigolds. The marigolds were meant to be scattered throughout to repel pests, but for some reason they absolutely flourished and grew bigger than any marigolds I’ve seen in my life. I don't know if Vego can take the credit for this one, but I can’t rule it out, either.

Few things make me happier than wandering outside with a bowl and a pair of shears and figuring out what I’m going to cook for dinner. And from May until November I was able to do just that. Purely by coincidence, I’m writing this on the day after our first hard frost. Soon I’ll be filling up my Vego beds with garlic and oat grass, though I have some kale and carrots I’m going to try my best to overwinter. I have a hope those extra deep beds will insulate well against the cold.

I’ll check back in in the spring and let you know.

There are many ways to make a raised garden bed. The cheapest raised garden beds are created using soil mounds to form the border, but there are several other cost effective methods that work well.

DIY raised garden beds serve numerous purposes. They can enhance drainage, warm soil, provide a certain aesthetic, improve the soil in a location, ease access for the gardener, and create a more efficient growing space. Building raised garden beds cheaply is a great way to satisfy these conditions without breaking the bank.

Planning a Raised Bed

Prior to constructing it, consider the size of the bed. This includes calculating the mature size of plants that will reside in the bed or, in the case of vegetable beds, the number of plants you hope to grow at a time.

Along with those considerations, the site itself is the most important. The bed needs to be located where water is handy. Whether you install drip irrigation or plan to hand-water, proximity to a water source is key.

The bed should be in a location that will favor your plants’ sunlight requirements. On average there should be 6 to 8 hours of daily sunlight.

You will also want to look at the tools and materials you have on hand. A raised bed constructed of lumber will require a saw; often you’ll just need a hand saw, but for better cuts and structural integrity, a miter saw and power saw of some kind is best. This leads to your skill set. Do you know how to operate necessary tools and measure properly? Additional tools might be measuring tape, fasteners and a drill.

Using Material in the Land for Cheap Raised Beds

One of the easiest ways to build an elevated plot is by using what is around you. Making a lasagna garden mound, for instance, simply uses existing sod and soil, combined with newspaper or cardboard. Line out the area for the bed and flip over the existing grass so the roots are pointing upward. Lay moistened newspaper or cardboard over this and top with any available compost or soil. In just a few months, the materials will all have broken down, leaving wormy, rich soil. This doesn’t have a defined border, but the gardener can opt to erect a barrier around the mound. Even simpler, just mound soil to the height you require.

Often a property has rocks, which can also be an inexpensive way to build a raised bed border. Install good soil in the interior of the structure. Logs may also be used, although they will break down in time. Hugelkultur, or building a bed from rotting logs and plant debris, also results in a raised bed. This is a layered situation of logs and other organic material which has no specific border.

How to Build a Structured Raised Bed

Cheap raised beds may rely upon purchased, thrifted, or found materials. Cinder blocks are sturdy and tough and, as a border, they are ever lasting. Bricks are another excellent choice for making a border. A lumber lined raised bed is attractive and very traditional. However, lumber will degrade over time, making it necessary to replace the edges of the bed in several years.

Before you begin, line out the size of the bed. Spray paint, twine, or stakes all make excellent border indicators. Weed the area and if you want to, install weed barrier fabric. Then construct the frame. For a lumber frame, use fasteners that are long enough to penetrate into 2 pieces of wood.

A raised bed should be filled with rich organic soil. If necessary, amend the fill soil with compost or other organic addition. The height of a raised bed will vary depending upon its purpose. For vegetables, 8-12 inches (20-30 cm) is the minimal depth. For landscape plants and bigger vegetables, the bed will probably need to be deeper to accommodate mature roots. The bordering material may be painted or left natural, depending upon your aesthetic.

For many flower growers, raised garden beds are a valuable asset. Gardeners with small backyards or limited growing space may find raised beds to be especially helpful, allowing them to create beds where it would be otherwise impossible. This commonly includes spaces with excess concrete, such as driveways or even patios.

Raised beds can also be used in regions where growers have to contend with less than ideal soil conditions. The use of high quality potting soils, compost, and mixtures of various nutrient-rich amendments lets gardeners create viable beds that are certain to produce the desired results. Further, raised beds are valued for their ease of use, accessibility, and the overall reduction in time spent tending to routine garden maintenance tasks.

Ideas for Raised Flower Beds

Before building a raised bed flower garden, there are several options to consider. While many growers find raised beds ideal for vegetable gardens, others may be more interested in using them for growing flowers or embellishing the home landscape. It’s important to explore all the choices related to raised bed size, shape, and the materials to be used. The overall desired aesthetic of the raised bed will play an important role in its construction and in its planting.

While many styles lend themselves to a more relaxed and informal look, careful thought and planning can help landscapers to create stunning formal raised bed gardens. Professionals agree it’s best when formal flower gardens are able to effortlessly blend in with their surroundings. You can achieve this by selecting more natural, neutral-colored materials for the construction of raised beds.

Raised bed structures may also vary in depth and overall shape. Some of the most popular formal flower beds are shaped irregularly and follow the contour of the space. Also popular are those with soft rounded edges. Rectangular and L-shaped beds are also a common choice, as they can be used to visually frame homes, sidewalks, and other structures.

Planting a Formal Flower Bed

Most raised bed flower gardens are planted intensively. This allows the growing space to fill in quickly, giving the bed a lush appearance. Formal flower beds are no exception. However, gardeners will need to carefully consider the growth characteristics of each plant.

Formal flower gardens should consist of a good mixture of annuals, perennials, bushes, and/or shrubs. This allows for diversity among the planting, as well as extended multi-season interest and color.

Uniformity, symmetry and shape all play a key role in the overall appearance of the raised bed, once it has become established. By planting each species in specific numbers or patterns, you will be able to create a growing space that looks both thoughtful and cohesive. Careful pruning of larger plants to manage their size and maintain the desired shape gives a tidier appearance, and can greatly increase the curb appeal of the home.

Lighting is often incorporated into the landscape to highlight areas of interest, brighten outdoor seating areas or for safety concerns but lighting up your raised vegetable garden space is often overlooked.

There are a few reasons for raised garden bed lights and a multitude of options from simple solar lights for raised beds to installing electrical conduit lights.

Read on to learn about lights for raised beds.

Reasons to Light Up Raised Beds

Lighting a raised bed, especially a vegetable bed may be to simply add ambiance or may be for a more utilitarian purpose. Avid gardeners often find it difficult to find time to attend to their gardens either because they work late, or summer temperatures are too hot during the day.

Installing raised bed lights solves the issue of time. It allows the gardener access to the vegetable or raised flower bed after the sun has gone down without cumbersome flashlights or headlamps.

Outdoor lighting in or around a raised bed also allows the gardener to inspect for nighttime pests such as slugs or beetles or to see where the cat is hiding.

Five Types of Garden Bed Lighting

There is no one lighting solution for everyone. Your choice depends upon what your end goal is but basically there are five different lighting ideas to look at.

• Task lighting is used for the reasons above. To give the gardener more time in the garden after the sun goes down.
• Path lighting illuminates the way towards your raised beds eliminating tripping over the hose or tromping your prized dahlias.
• Down lights are attached high up in trees, fencing or structures and cast a lovely moon kissed glow on the garden below.
• Up lights brighten the garden after dark but also may be used to dramatically highlight areas of interest in the garden or details of your home. These are a great option for raised flower bed lighting near your home or other structure.
• Lastly, motion sensor lights keep the boogie man at bay or any other intruder while allowing the gardener illumination to perform nighttime tasks. They also illuminate marauding deer or other critters in a split second.

Information on Outdoor Lighting

The simplest lighting options and one great for established gardens are solar lights. With solar lights there is no need to dig up any area of the garden to lay conduit. Solar lights are also fairly inexpensive.

Depending upon your climate however, solar lights may have a short shelf life plus they have a rather dim illumination.

If you would rather spend a bit more and don’t mind tunneling through the landscape, wiring sleeves or conduit is the way to go. This option works great for homeowners who are just starting the landscaping process since there won’t be valuable plants, turf or walkways that might need to be disturbed. Preplanning is necessary to install conduit under raised beds or sidewalks.

Before installing conduit you may want to consult with a professional. You will need to call the phone number in your area to have the utility company come out and check for underground systems before you start digging. You may also need to check with your local municipality regarding property lines and whether a permit is required.

Licensed Electrician or Not?

The specifics of what you will need for lighting depends upon your choices, but most residential outdoor lighting uses a 120-volt outlet or circuit which is then converted to a 12 volt system through a transformer. This may mean hiring a licensed, bonded electrician.

Most systems can run multiple units off the same wire. Twelve-gauge double wire is standard but 10 or 8 gauge may be used due to long wire runs or too many systems.

An electrician may be needed to wire an outdoor receptacle and switch to control your new lighting system as well as establish a circuit and install fixtures.

Final Words on Raised Garden Bed Lights

An electrician is not always necessary. Big box stores and the like often sell electric lighting that can easily be installed by the homeowner it just depends on how much lighting you want, type of lights, existing power, etc.

There are lots of outdoor options out there. Do your research and/or consult with a landscape architect to get the most out of your outdoor lighting needs.

Is raised-bed gardening the right choice for you? Whether you're putting in a new veggie patch or revamping an existing garden, you may be contemplating the advantages and disadvantages of raised garden beds. Some gardeners swear by them, but raised beds are not right for everyone. 

Pros and Cons – Raised Garden Beds

Raised garden beds are often seen in community and school gardens. These can be installed in areas with poor soil or on top of pavement. Plus, it's easy to assign raised beds to individuals or classrooms. Many home gardeners have adopted this style of gardening for the benefits it provides.

Why use raised garden beds?

• Fast track to quality soil – It can take years to amend rocky or clay-based garden soil. With raised beds, there is no need to wait. Once the boxes are installed, the beds can be filled with a quality soil mix. 
• Longer growing season – Raised beds warm up quicker in the spring and drain faster. This means planting earlier for a longer growing season.
• Less soil compaction – With no foot traffic to compress the soil, compaction is kept to a minimum. This provides a looser growing medium for root veggies and makes it easier to prepare the soil for planting.
• Less equipment – There is no need for a rototiller or tractor. The soil in raised beds can be worked up with a hand cultivator or spade. 
• Improved garden accessibility – Planting, maintaining and harvesting a raised bed garden requires less bending and kneeling on the ground. Plus, the height or width of the boxes can be adjusted to accommodate the needs of the gardener.
• Aesthetics – Raised beds can be an attractive garden feature in the backyard. They lend a neat and orderly design that is ideal for small spaces. Plus, raised beds make it easy to maximize vegetable yields by implementing interplanting, succession and vertical gardening methods.

Disadvantages of Raised Beds

• Cost – Raised-bed gardening requires an initial investment to build boxes and fill them with quality soil. Additionally, boxes constructed of wood have a limited lifespan. Pine generally lasts 4 to 5 years, while boxes constructed with hardwood can last up to 20 years.
• Harder to prepare – Raised beds require manual labor to prepare the soil for planting, while a rototiller or tractor can be used to work up an in-ground garden. 
• Permanent construction – Raised bed boxes are a more permanent backyard feature than an in-ground garden. In order to return the area to lawn, the boxes would need to be dismantled and the soil leveled or removed.
• Require more frequent irrigation – Raised beds dry out quicker, especially in full sun locations. Garden veggies will require more frequent watering and gardeners may need to invest in an irrigation system.
• Increased disease pressure – Rotating crops is more difficult with a raised bed system. This can result in losses from disease elements and invertebrate pests.

Now that you know the raised garden bed pros and cons, you can decide if this gardening style is right for you.

Upcycled raised garden beds perform multiple functions. They are an excellent way of using items that would otherwise be thrown away. But they also raise gardening tasks up to the gardener, reducing back strain and assisting persons with disabilities.

Repurposing by building recycled raised beds is only limited by one's imagination. Many common items make perfect recycled garden beds that will add whimsy and charm to the landscape. 

Recycled Raised Bed Ideas

When spring cleaning time comes around, we often find items that are not used. Consider using some of these for recycled raised bed ideas. Even an old bucket can make a perfect mini, recycled plastic raised garden bed.

Sources for materials might also include construction sites, grocery stores, transport companies, and other areas where excess items go unused. 

Pretty much anything that can hold enough soil for root growth may be used to make a planter or raised bed. An old wagon, a bathtub, old washtub, bricks, concrete blocks, water troughs, stones, door panels, pallets, unused dressers, and much more, can be turned into functional and interesting planting spaces.

Many gardeners use old tires, but be careful since these contain toxic substances which will leach into soil.

Railroad ties are another material to watch for, especially if using them to make a vegetable bed.

Natural materials, such as a hollowed out stump, are generally safer for planting than manmade items. 

Considerations for Recycled Raised Beds

As mentioned, soil depth is important, but so are several other key characteristics. Plants need plenty of drainage so roots don't get rotten. Drill several holes in the container.

If using a metal or other heat-conducting item, make sure your plants can take the heat. Ensure your soil mixture is correct for the variety of plants. 

When selecting an item for a raised bed, determine if it will be a long term or short term site. Many items will break down and aren't suitable for long term gardening goals.

It is a good idea to line any wood or basket type material with weed barrier fabric to slow break down and plug any side holes.

Whatever vessel or material you’ve selected, place it in its site before filling with soil or amending the existing soil if it is bottomless. 

Basic Recycled Raised Beds with Pallets

Wood pallets are durable and a dime a dozen. Once you have acquired your pallets they need to be screwed together to form a raised barrier. Use good outdoor wood screws.

It may be a good idea to run strips of wood vertically at each joint site to reinforce the structure. Around the inside, staple fabric such as weed barrier or shade cloth to contain the soil.

Amend the base soil as needed with compost or other amendments and then back fill up to the level you require.

That is all there is to it. You may opt to paint the wood pallets or leave them natural. These raised beds will last for years and sections are easy to replace if necessary.

Whether you want to plant hostas, vegetables, or ornamentals, garden bed plans must consider location. Planning your raised garden bed properly enhances plant growth and ensures each variety gets the light, moisture, and mature space it needs. Considering where to position raised beds can also reduce pest issues, nutrient deficiencies, and ease your workload.

Plants have very specific requirements, depending upon the variety. Placing plants in sites where they do not receive enough light, for instance, can limit growth and productivity. Similarly, putting plants where the soil is too soggy -- or too dry -- will affect overall health. A raised bed layout needs to take into consideration all plant factors. These can be found on the seed packet or plant tag. 

Where to Position Raised Beds

The best place to put a raised garden bed relies on a host of factors. 

• sunlight
• soil porosity
• soil texture
• soil nutrient levels
• soil pH
• wind exposure
• moisture availability
• previous pest issues
• distance from home
• proximity to trees
• microclimates

Evaluating a site prior to planning your raised garden bed will help prevent future issues that can throw off plant health, or simply make tending the bed arduous. Sketching out a plan is a good start, as is noting the amount of sunlight throughout the day. 

Tips on Garden Bed Plans

Once you have taken into consideration all the factors, there are some situations that you can mitigate. Soil health is a big concern, but fairly easy to amend. Low nutrient soils benefit from organic materials or slow release fertilizers. Those that don't drain well will percolate better if gritty material is worked in prior to planting. Soil pH may be adjusted with either lime or sulfur. A soil test will tell you which needs to be added to either sweeten or acidify soil. Target soil pH levels are between 6.0 and 7.0. If the raised bed layout will be far from a water source, install drip lines to moisten each plant. 

Planning Your Raised Garden Bed

After identifying the best place to put a raised garden bed, it is time to build. Many gardeners simply mound soil as a quick raised bed, but over time it will usually erode, and moisture applied topically can roll off the bed. Bordering the bed somehow keeps the soil inside the site and helps water retention. Borders don't have to be fancy. Items like old bricks or cement blocks, wood, rocks, or logs are easily available and inexpensive. A galvanized steel container, or even a rubber tote, will make quick raised beds if you drill holes in the bottom for drainage. Plastic crates are another material that can be fashioned into raised beds. They even have enough drainage areas already in their design. After you have built your bed, get growing! 

A cold frame is great way to extend the growing season in a vegetable garden. It lets the sun in and traps heat, so you can grow more for longer. To convert summer beds to winter gardens, you can make an easy cold frame for raised beds you already have in the yard. 

Why Turn Raised Bed into Cold Frames

A cold frame uses insulation and radiation from the sun to create a warmer climate in the garden. This allows you to grow plants earlier in the spring, start seeds outside earlier, and grow longer in the fall or winter. 

How much you can extend the growing season depends on your climate and zone, and also on the insulating properties of the cold frame. Even if you only get an extra month of growing time, a cold frame can give you additional harvests. 

Using a raised bed to make a cold frame is an efficient and easy way to get seasonal extension. You could start from scratch building a cold frame, but if you have raised beds, all you really need to do is put a transparent cover on it. 

How to Build a Cold Frame over a Raised Bed

A DIY cold frame raised bed is easy to make with the right materials. You can use plastic sheeting, acrylic, or glass. Use found materials and objects or construct a lid with new lumber. 

If you make your own wood frame with glass or acrylic, add hinges on one side. This allows you easier access to the bed. It will open like a door. You can then remove the hinges in the spring and convert it back to an open raised bed. 

Here are some ideas for simple cold frame covers for raised beds: 

• Find salvaged windows in their frames. Set these over your raised bed to trap heat and let in light. 
• You can make the same simple structure using acrylic panels or even plastic sheets weighed down with stones around the edges of the bed. 
• Create a tent over your raised bed using salvaged wood and a plastic sheet. 
• Build a plastic sheet tunnel over the bed with concrete rebar mesh. 
• Farmers use caterpillar tunnels as movable green houses. You can use one of these if you have a large bed or look for a small caterpillar that fits over your beds. 

Keep in mind that the temperature inside a cold frame can actually get too hot on sunny and warmer days. You may need to crack it open during the day and seal it up again at night if frost is likely.

Raised beds are growing in popularity for a variety of reasons. While growing directly in your own soil may be more cost-effective, many gardeners feel that starting a raised bed garden may bena better choice. This is especially true in regions with poor soil fertility, or for gardeners who want to limit the seasonal chores related to weeding and plant maintenance in the garden

Learning more about this type of growing, specifically raised beds on casters, can help gardeners to better decide if this option is right for them.

Raised Bed On Wheels DIY

Raised bed gardening refers to growing flowers and/or vegetables in small garden boxes filled with soil. In general, these types of beds are considered to be easier to care for and more convenient for gardeners.

Traditional raised beds gardens were built in a permanent location. However, newer more portable raised garden beds have gained popularity in recent years.

Raised beds with wheels can be easily moved to different locations in the garden during the growing season. They can be moved into storage when winter arrives and can be easily used to move frost sensitive plants into a more sheltered location.

How to Build Raised Garden Bed on Wheels

For many urban dwellers, access to soil has always been a problem. A raised bed on wheels DIY projects may be a good solution.

A raised bed on casters is ideal for gardening in areas which are otherwise composed of concrete, such as driveways and patios.

Raised beds filled with plants further add to the beauty and appeal of these miniature green spaces around the home landscape.

Several different plans for creating moveable raised garden bed on wheels are available online, but most present the same overall concept.

A small raised bed planting box is constructed out of wood and attached to a strong, sturdy wheeled base.

Most sources suggest building shallow boxes as an easy solution for growing leafy greens and other shallow-root plants.

Before beginning construction of a portable raised garden bed, it’s important to consider design elements such as stability and weight when it’s filled with soil to ensure your safety and welfare during use.

The height and size of portable raised garden beds can vary greatly, depending upon the accessibility needs of the gardener. With this in mind, always consider potential safety options such as wheel locking mechanisms and/or added padding around corners or hardware.

Let’s clear this one up right away: stacking garden beds don’t stack on top of each other like bunkbeds. That would make it impossible for the lower beds to get enough sunlight. Instead, it’s the sides of the garden bed that stack, allowing you to create a bed as shallow or as deep as the plants require. 

If you’ve never heard of stacked garden beds, read on. We’ll give you the ins and outs of stackable raised beds as well as stack garden planters.

Stacking Garden Beds

Raised beds are extremely helpful when your own garden soil isn’t particularly fertile or is difficult to work. By adding a raised bed on top, you can save yourself the trouble of digging down so far in the bed, and give your crops a top layer of rich, well-draining soil.

Many vegetables and most annual flowers grow very nicely in 12 to 18 inches (30 to 48 cm) or so of soil. Think radishes, lettuce, chives and poppies for example. If you work the earth down to 10 inches (25 cm.) and put an 8-inch (30 cm.) raised bed on top, you’ll have a happy garden. 

Stackable Raised Bed

But other garden crops need more soil for their roots. Root vegetables can need up to 24 inches (61 cm.) of soil, while perennial plants like artichokes and asparagus, as well as tomatoes, bush beans and vining crops like pumpkins can send their roots down to 36 inches (.91 m.). 

In the past, changing from shallow-rooted crops to deeper-rooted crops required a total change of garden beds. You would have to remove the 8-inch (30 cm.) raised beds altogether and replace them with beds with taller walls.

With stacked garden beds, all you have to do is stack on another section of wall or two, then add more soil. Clever stacking joints permit stakes to slide into the joints below, allowing upward construction.

Stack Garden Planters

Stackable raised beds are extremely attractive, constructed of wood that slips together with a joint and pin assembly. That means it’s fast to get them up and you don’t need screws or nails. Each layer of the bed is 8 inches (30 cm.) tall, but you can add a second and even a third layer, depending on your needs.

One way to use these is in an arrangement of stack garden planters in different sizes and shapes. You can create a tiered garden that could be a handsome garden focal point with appropriate veggies or flowers in each planter. 

Raised beds in gardens are lively additions to your landscape when they overflow with the reds, blues, purples and yellows of summer flowers. But those with crops can be less colorful and, in winter, the garden may look solemn or even desolate. 

It’s then you may wonder: Can I paint raised beds? If you paint a raised garden bed, that color helps enliven the space the year round. But there can be issues with painted raised beds. Read on for the whole scoop.

Can You Paint Raised Beds?

You expect a yes or no answer when you ask: “can I paint raised beds?” But there are a lot more considerations than you might think. Let’s start with the old, painted wood scenario. You have come across some old wood that used to be part of a fence or a house and it’s a pleasant shade of blue, romantically faded.

The answer here is a clear no. While you would have to do testing to find out, the odds are that the old paint contains lead or other toxins that your organic crops will not appreciate. And older treated wood, even unpainted, can contain arsenic compounds. 

You could take extraordinary measures, like lining the wood with plastic, but plastic isn’t that great for plants either. We give this one a thumbs down.

Paint a Raised Garden Bed

Perhaps using old, painted wood is not your plan here. If you are asking about whether you can paint a raised garden bed made recently of new, naked wood, the answer is an emphatic yes as long as the wood has not been treated with chemicals. 

In fact, your wood is likely to rot in the moist soil if you don’t treat it at all. If you pick your paint carefully, you can paint a raised garden bed using nontoxic exterior paint. Look at your hardware store for paint made specifically for garden use. It adds color and gives the wood the needed protection. 

Painted Raised Bed Alternatives

If making painted raised beds in your garden seems like too much work, there are many alternatives. Some wood like cedar or redwood is naturally rot-resistant, so you can make your raised beds from this wood and leave them completely untreated.

Alternatively, consider using other, non-toxic materials to make raised beds. Get the traditional look with stone beds or red bricks. Or make the backyard rustic by using logs, interwoven branches or even bamboo.

If you have a small garden space, you can still grow plenty of plants. You just need a plan. A tiny raised bed is a great way to maximize space while also giving you better control of soil composition, drainage, and even soil temperature.

The beauty of a small raised bed design is its versatility. Building a small raised bed is fairly easy, but if you are challenged by carpentry, there are numerous varieties to purchase. 

A small raised garden bed can be used anywhere. On a lanai, on the grass, even on concrete. But how small can a raised bed be? It depends upon the amount of space you have to devote to plants. A raised flower trough can still hold plenty of blooms with some herbs added in to the fun.

If your goal is to raise food for yourself, even a tiny raised bed of 2 x 4 feet (0.6 x 1.2 m.) will provide plenty of fresh produce. 

Small Raised Bed Design

The first thing to consider is the amount of space you have for the project. Once you have dimensions, you can build the bed yourself. It can be on a stand, or simply raise up the soil with borders. These borders can be anything; large rocks, bricks, a wood framework, cement blocks, and other items.

Consider the area carefully with an eye to the plants you wish to grow. For food crops you will need at least 6-8 hours of full sunlight for success. You will also need a water source. Carting out watering cans is one option, but ideally a drip system or something similar will be easier and more beneficial. 

Next, turn your attention to soil. For the best results, amend the soil with plenty of organic matter, and make sure the soil will drain well by making it loose and adding drainage holes in standing beds. 

How Small Can a Raised Bed Be? 

Gardeners who only have a small patio or balcony will want to take into consideration useable space. Balcony owners will also need to consider weight load, as a raised bed filled with soil is quite heavy.

If you are size-challenged, there is good news. You can utilize dwarf species, grow vertically, and practice succession and inter-planting. Succession planting will ensure a constant supply of crops, while inter-planting increases diversity.

When building a small raised bed, you can utilize any available space. The shape doesn't have to be a square or rectangle, either. You can squeeze in a triangle or any other configuration that makes the most use of space. 

Small Raised Garden Tips

Choose plants that will fit the season. Lettuces, many cole crops, spring peas and beans, are all great for fall or spring.

During the hotter part of the year, choose small tomato plants, peppers, herbs like basil and cilantro, even cucumbers.

Items that trail can be grown up small trellises or other vertical structures.

For items that mature quickly, start more seed before the crop matures. This will ensure a consistent supply of produce.

Practice the cut-and-come-again method. This works great on lettuces and other greens. Cut off leaves and allow the plant to produce more.

With a few adjustments and good planning. your small space raised bed can produce plenty of fresh food.

Raised garden beds offer a variety of benefits: they’re easy to water, they’re generally weed-free, and if your joints get stiff, raised beds make gardening a lot more fun.

If you live in an apartment, you may think a raised bed is out of the question, but with a little ingenuity, creating a raised apartment garden is very possible. Read on for balcony raised bed ideas and tips.

Raised Garden Beds for Balconies

Attractive raised garden beds are readily available and easy to put together. However, it’s not difficult to create your own raised bed on a balcony. Generally, a simple wooden box is the easiest way to go. 

The depth of the box depends on what you want to grow, but with a depth of 8 inches (20 cm.), you can grow vegetables like radishes, chard, lettuce, spinach, green onions, and most herbs. A depth of 12 inches (30 cm.) is enough for most flowers and vegetables, including root veggies like carrots, turnips, or beets. 

Don’t build a raised bed on a balcony until you’re sure the balcony is sturdy enough to hold a box filled with damp potting soil and plants. If you’re renting, talk to the building manager or landlord before you begin.

You can construct a raised bed on a balcony with repurposed wood, but consider what the wood was used for previously. For instance, wooden pallets treated with chemicals are probably okay for flowers, but not for growing vegetables. The same goes for wood that has been stained or painted.

You can also use rot-resistant cedar or redwood, which is attractive and long-lasting.

If a regular raised bed is too heavy, a raised bed table may be a good option. A raised bed table holds less soil and is easy to move around with rollers. 

Creating A Raised Apartment Garden

Plan your raised bed carefully. Most plants need six to eight hours of sunlight per day, although some, like spinach, chard, or salad greens, will do fine in a partial shade. Also, locate the bed where water is easily accessible.

If you don’t want to build a wooden box, creating a raised apartment garden is easy with feeding troughs, which are available at farm supply stores. Be sure to drill drainage holes in the bottom.

In general, a mixture of one-third compost and two-thirds potting mix is good for most plants. However, if you’re growing cacti or succulents, use coarse sand instead of compost 

Line your raised bed before you fill it with a planting medium. Food grade plastic is acceptable, but landscape fabric is better because it drains. 

Place the bed in its permanent location before you fill it. Unless the bed is on rollers, it’s going to be extremely difficult to move.

Consider neighbors who live below you. Your raised bed on a balcony will need some sort of mat or catchment for excess water.

A raised bed in the garden performs numerous functions. It keeps the soil warm, enhances drainage, and more. Making a raised bed for cacti also lets you amend the soil so it is perfect for these succulents. 

Cactus garden beds allow you to have a wide selection of prickly flora without worrying about foot traffic or pets entering the area. Plus, you can make one out of a variety of easy-to-find materials. 

Materials for Cactus Garden Beds

A raised bed cactus garden makes a unique focal point in the landscape. It also allows the gardener to control soil, moisture, and more since these plants are very particular about such things. You can have a huge garden and incorporate larger species like Saguaro, or a smaller, intimate garden filled with diminutive charmers. Just make sure your cacti will tolerate your zone and conditions. 

The first step for growing cacti in raised beds is to buy or make a bed. You can find kits readily but a cheaper method is to build them yourself. You can do this out of wood, stone, old brick, and other items. It is a great idea to check the free section of Craigslist or other such sites, where you might find just the right thing that someone else doesn't want. 

Found objects interject a naturalness, playfulness, and even an artsy sense of design. A wooden raised bed cactus garden should be made from treated wood in order for it to last. 

Types of Cacti in Raised Beds

If you already have cacti that you will be planting out, make sure the site you select will match their requirements for growing. If you have the bed and now need to select cacti, remember not all cacti love the sun. Tropical varieties need a bit of shade in the middle of the day. Even desert specimens can burn in noon heat. 

Next, make sure the plants will be hardy to your zone. If your winter is prone to freezes, there are some cacti that can survive, but not many. It might be best to place them out in containers and bring them in at the end of the season. 

Soil must be well-draining. It might even be wise to incorporate sand or other grit to increase porosity. You don't have to worry too much about fertility as cacti are low feeders. 

There are many plants suitable for the raised cacti bed. Some of the larger are:

• Opuntia species
• Claret Cup
• Golden Barrel
• Pipe Organ
• Mexican Fence Post 
• Prickly Pear

A raised bed for cacti may only accommodate medium to smaller species. Try:

• Mammillaria species
• Old Man Cactus
• Queen of the Night
• Hedgehog Cactus
• Beavertail Cactus

If you live in a warm region, you can probably broaden your selection much more than northern gardeners. Even cold region gardeners can build a cacti bed, just remember, some should be displayed in containers and brought indoors in autumn.

Dry, arid climates face a variety of growing challenges. The first one is obvious, dryness. Growing where there is little natural moisture, especially when combined with blazing sun, poses a problem. You can irrigate all you want but that is not waterwise and the costs could really hit your checkbook.

Wiser still might be raised bed gardening. This article will point out some of the benefits and some of the deficits.

Benefits of Raised Beds in Arid Regions

Garden articles advertise raised bed gardening. In zones with little moisture, the practice may also be helpful, especially if you have poor soil. Raised beds for hot regions can allow you to replace existing soil with fertile, well formulated soil. However, they will raise plants up to the hot sun and tend to dry out quickly. Are raised beds right for you though?

Gardening in dry climates can be done but poses a different set of issues than gardening where water is plentiful. Plants need water, so that is number one. Often, dry climate regions have rocky, gritty, infertile soil. Therefore, building a raised bed can help with this problem. Raised beds for hot regions also provide solutions to the following issues:

• Elevated beds mean less stooping over
• You can control the soil type better
• Segregates plants that tend to spread
• Increases drainage
• Perfect for small space gardens
• Attractive
• Eases weed control
• Reduces soil compaction
• Soil warms more quickly after winter

Negatives of Raised Beds in Arid Regions

If your soil lacks good texture, can't hold much moisture, and has no natural fertility, raised beds may be for you. Raised beds do require some effort and cost to build. The amount really depends upon the visual you require. Raised beds may warm quicker in spring but they also cool down faster as winter approaches, potentially cutting your growing season short.

You will have to put some work into maintaining the soil in such a closed system, as nutrients and soil condition will change after a season or two. If you use a tiller to prepare soil in spring, it is not practical in a raised bed.

The biggest downside to raised bed gardening is the amount of water used. The elevated soil will dry out much more quickly than an in-ground bed.

Tips on Gardening in Hot Climates

Now that you know the pros and cons of raised beds for your dry region, you can decide what is right for you. Some of the problems with the system can be solved. Use drip irrigation to deliver water directly to plants. Maintain soil tilth and fertility by applying a top dressing of manure, leaf litter, or compost annually.

To keep costs down in construction, reuse materials at hand such as the remains of a brick patio, cinder blocks, or old beams.

Raised beds may have a few problems but their use has more advantages than disadvantages and might be worth a try.

Raised bed gardening has become popular for many urban and suburban gardeners. These compact growing sites require no tilling, are easy to access, and convey a tidy appearance to the backyard.

Yet not all plants adapt well to growing in small spaces, which leaves gardeners wondering if growing pumpkins in a raised bed is plausible.

Raised Bed Pumpkins

Pumpkins are a type of winter squash which grow on vines that can reach 20 feet (6 m.) in length. Varieties of pumpkins range in size from those small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand to record breaking giants weighing over a ton.

When garden space is limited, which is often the case with raised bed methods, choosing an appropriately sized variety is the first step for successful pumpkin cultivation.

Miniature or pie varieties as well as those with a semi-bush or compact growth habit are good choices when using a raised garden bed for pumpkins. This information can usually be found on the seed packet, plant tag, or in the catalog description.

To get you started here are a few varieties that do well as raised bed pumpkins:

• Jack-Be-Little – With a 4 foot (1 m.) spread, this adorable miniature pumpkin makes excellent fall décor.
• Small Sugar – This heirloom pie variety has a very fine grain and stores well with only a 4 foot (1 m.) spread.
• Cherokee Bush – This classic orange variety produces 5 to 8 pound (2-4 kg.) fruit with a 4 to 5 feet (1-2 m.) spread.
• Jack of all Trades – Produces uniform orange carving pumpkins on compact vines and an almost 7 foot (2 m.) spread.
• Spirit – This semi-bush variety produces 12 inch (31 cm.) carving pumpkins and has a 10 foot (3 m.) spread.

Tips for Pumpkin Planting in Raised Beds

Once you've chosen one or more varieties of pumpkin, planting in raised beds requires forethought as to which direction the vines and fruit will grow. New growth can easily be redirected. However, established vines send out secondary roots from the base of each leaf stem. Disturbing these roots by moving older vines is not recommended.

Placing raised bed pumpkins near the planter's edge and allowing the vines to trail along the mulch between raised beds is one method. Care must be taken so the vines or developing fruit aren't damaged by foot traffic.

Additionally, allowing the vines to creep into the lawn means foregoing mowing that area until the pumpkins are harvested. Overgrown grass has the same effect as weeds. Competition for nutrients and water, reduced sunlight, and increased risk of disease make this a poor option for handling vine growth.

Conversely, trellises are an appealing method for growing pumpkins in a raised bed. The trellis must be sturdy enough to support the weight of the pumpkin vines, leaves, and fruit. Pumpkin vines will require training to get them started up the trellis but will then use their tendrils to coil around the supports. Pantyhose makes excellent pumpkin hammocks which “grow” along with the fruit.

Growing vegetables in hillside garden beds can be challenging. Steeply sloped terrain is difficult to till, plus erosion flushes soil, fertilizer, and amendments downhill.

Terracing the slope works for perennial gardens as the plant roots anchor the soil and keep everything in place, but annuals are only in the ground part of the year.

Using raised beds on sloped ground eliminates the need to till annual beds and drastically slows down the rate of erosion.

How to Build Raised Beds on Sloped Ground

Gardeners have a choice in how they construct a raised bed on a slope. They can slice into the hill, level off an area, and build the raised bed as if the ground started out level. This method is also suitable when installing pre-fab raised beds on sloped ground.

For steeply sloped yards, this can create a lot of backbreaking digging and hauling dirt. An alternative method is building a sloping raised bed frame using tapered cuts to match the angle of the terrain.

As with any project, begin with a plan. Map out where you want the hillside garden beds to go. (Leave plenty of space between the frames for walking and working.) Gather the necessary tools and materials, then follow these simple steps:

• Using wood screws, assemble a basic rectangular frame from 2 by 6 inch (5 x 15 cm.) lumber. Raised beds on sloped ground can be any length, but 8 foot (around 2 m.) beds are generally easier and cheaper to build. For easy access, raised beds are usually no more than 4 feet (1 m.) wide. 
• Set the rectangular frame on the ground where you want the finished bed to be located. Use the level and shims to raise the downhill portion of the frame so the box sits level.
• Cut legs from 2 by 4 inch (5 x 10 cm.) lumber for each corner of the box. (The length of each leg is dictated by the grade.)
• Gently tap the legs into the soil and screw to the frame, making sure to keep the hillside garden beds level. Longer boxes may require additional legs in the middle for support. Attach additional 2 by 6 inch (5 x 15 cm.) boards above or below the original frame as needed. 
• When building a raised bed on a slope, there will be gaps between the lowest board and the ground. To easily fill this gap, place a 2 by 6 inch (5 x 15 cm.) board (cut to length) inside the box. From the outside of the frame, use the bottom edge of the lowest board to trace the cut line with a marker. 
• Cut along the marked line, then screw this board into place.

Repeat step 5 until all the gaps are covered. (If desired, treat the box with a non-toxic sealant to prevent the wood from decaying.) Drive stakes in front of the boxes to keep them in place during torrential rainstorms and prevent bowing once the hillside garden beds are filled with soil.

Deciding between raised beds vs. sunken beds really depends on your soil condition and region - and perhaps your personal preference too.

First, you need to answer the questions, "what is sunken bed and what is a raised bed" since knowing the differences between the two will also play a role in determining which is better for your circumstances.

Each has decided advantages and can help improve soil health along with some other growing conditions.

Raised Beds vs. Sunken Beds in Gardens

I've had raised beds on different properties before and love that the soil warms up early and I can sit on the edge and weed with leisure. The problem is that they dry out quickly. Lately, we have been experimenting with trenching and sunken beds.

Because our region is desert dry, the method holds and directs water, allowing us to irrigate less frequently and efficiently moves moisture to plant roots. However, each method has different benefits tied to specific regions and aren't the sole solution to gardening problems.

What is a Raised Bed?

When trying to decide whether to use raised beds vs. sunken beds, it helps to consider your zone and soil type. Raised beds are useful in regions with a temperate climate and plentiful rainfall. It is easy to add soil amendments to a raised bed to increase porosity and add nutrients. Plus, they can be built out of anything, such as old bricks or even just mounds of dirt.

One of the main differences between raised and sunken beds is that raised beds warm up more quickly in spring. They also keep plant roots warmer, leaving less chance of freezing. However, a raised bed benefits from a thick layer of mulch to keep moisture in the soil, since it will dry out faster than in-ground soil.

What is a Sunken Bed?

Sunken beds serve several purposes and are very useful where little rain occurs, good for desert-like climates or drought stricken areas. They are simply depressions in which you install plants. You can get really fancy and trench from plant to plant, forcing water to each set of roots.

Sunken gardens in sandy soil can be used to add compost and other elements to the site. Building walls around the sunken garden with organic material, captures moisture while simultaneously adding a slow release of nutrients. The hills also capture extra moisture and will add shade at certain times of the day to keep the depression from drying out.

Is a Raised or Sunken Garden Bed Better?

With all the benefits and differences between raised and sunken beds, it still may be hard to decide which is right for you. Gardeners in the rain heavy parts of the Pacific Northwest, for example, will do well with raised beds. However, southern gardeners in arid zones or where heat is high almost year around, should try sunken beds.

Any region could use either method, but sunken gardens could create a boggy mess if soil is clay, while raised beds will need daily watering if soil is sandy. So consider your annual rainfall, temperatures, and soil type before building either.

Pallet collars provide an inexpensive way to add sturdy sides when a simple pallet isn’t suitable. The hinged wooden collars, fairly new to the United States, are stackable and collapsible for efficient transport and storage of a variety of materials. Although pallet collars are generally used for shipping, they have become a hot commodity among gardeners, who use them to create pallet collar gardens and pallet raised beds. Wondering how you can make a raised bed out of pallet collars? Read on for more information.

How to Make a Pallet Garden

The first step is to get your hands on some pallet collars. Your local hardware or home improvement store may be able to provide information, or you can always do an online search for pallet collars.

Plan your DIY pallet garden in an area where the ground is flat. Keep in mind that most plants need at least a few hours of daily sunlight. Once you’ve determined the best location for your pallet collar garden, break up the soil with a spade or garden fork, then smooth it with a rake.

Put one pallet collar in place. The collars are about 7 inches (18 cm.) high, but they are easy to stack if you need a deeper garden. Line the inner walls of the pallet raised bed with plastic to preserve the wood. Staple the plastic securely in place.

You may want to place a layer of damp newspaper on the “floor” of your DIY pallet garden. This step isn’t absolutely necessary, but it will encourage friendly earthworms while discouraging growth of weeds. You can also use landscape cloth.

Fill the pallet raised bed with planting medium – usually a mixture of material such as compost, potting mix, sand, or high quality garden soil. Don’t use garden soil alone, as it will become so hard and compacted that roots may suffocate and die.

Your pallet collar garden is now ready to plant. You can also use pallet collars to create compost bins, garden walls, hot beds, cold frames, and much more.

If you’re like most gardeners, you think of raised beds as structures enclosed and raised above the ground by some sort of frame. Raised beds with no walls also exist. In fact, they’re the most common way to build raised beds on a large scale, and they’re popular on small vegetable farms. These mounded raised beds are also great for home gardens.

Advantages of Growing in Unframed Raised Beds

Unframed raised beds offer most of the same advantages as framed raised beds. These include improved drainage, a deeper volume of loosened soil for plant roots to explore, and a raised growing surface that is easier to reach without kneeling. Raised bed soil also warms up earlier in spring.

An additional advantage of unframed raised beds is that you can install them with significantly less expense and effort, which is especially important if you’re gardening on a large scale. You will also avoid the potential toxicity associated with some framing materials.

Potential Disadvantages of Growing in Unframed Raised Beds

Raised beds with no walls don’t last as long as those with walls, however. If left untended, they will eventually erode and sink back to the level of the surrounding soil. That being said, you can simply build them back up every year or two, and this presents an opportunity to work additional organic material into the soil.

Mounded raised beds also take up more space than framed raised beds that provide an equivalent growing space. That’s because you need to account for the inclines at the margins of the bed.

However, the lack of walls may allow squash and other vining plants to sprawl over the sides without being damaged, and small plants like mixed greens may be able to grow on the inclines. This can actually expand your growing area on the equivalent volume of soil.

Since there are no walls separating the walkways from the bed, weeds can spread more easily into an unframed bed. A layer of mulch on the walkway will help prevent this.

How to Make an Unframed Raised Bed

To build an unframed raised bed, mark out the area you will use for the bed. Common dimensions for an 8 inch deep (20 cm.) unframed raised bed is 48 inches (1 m.) between walkways with 36 inches (91 cm.) of flat growing space across the top. 12 inches (31 cm.) horizontally are left for the inclines.

When the soil is dry and warm enough to work, use a rototiller or a spade to loosen the soil. Simply by tilling or digging, you will reduce compaction and break up clumps, typically causing the soil surface to elevate by several inches (8 cm.).

Next, add at least 2 to 3 inches (5-8 cm.) of organic material, such as compost, to the entire area designated for the raised bed. Mix the organic material into the loosened soil using a rototiller or a spade.

As an alternative to adding material on top of the bed, you can dig down into the walkway between your raised beds. Add the soil to the beds so that you both raise the beds and lower the walkway.

After building your mounded raised beds, plant them as soon as possible to prevent erosion.

There are many reasons to create raised beds in the landscape or garden. Raised beds can be an easy remedy for poor soil conditions, such as rocky, chalky, clay, or compacted soil. They are also a solution for limited garden space or adding height and texture to flat yards.

Raised beds can help deter pests like rabbits. They can allow gardeners with physical handicaps or limitations easy access to their beds as well.

How much soil goes in a raised bed depends on the bed height, and what will be grown. Continue reading for more information on raised bed soil depth.

About Soil Depth for Raised Beds

Raised beds can be framed or unframed. Unframed raised beds are often called berms and are simply garden beds made of mounded up soil. These are most commonly created for ornamental landscape beds, not fruit or vegetable gardens.

Unframed raised bed soil depth depends on what plants will be grown, what the soil conditions under the berm are, and what the desired aesthetic effect is.

Trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses, and perennials can have root depths anywhere between 6 inches (15 cm.) to 15 feet (5 m.) or more.

Tilling the soil beneath any raised bed will loosen it up so that plant roots can reach the depths that they need for proper nutrient and water uptake.

In locations where the soil is of such poor quality that it cannot be tilled or loosened, raised beds or berms will need to be created higher, resulting in more soil needing to be brought in.

How Deep to Fill a Raised Bed

Framed raised beds are frequently used for vegetable gardening. The most common depth of raised beds is 11 inches (28 cm.) because this is the height of two 2x6 inch boards, which is commonly used to frame raised beds. Soil and compost are then filled into the raised beds to a depth just a few inches (8 cm.) below its rim.

A few flaws with this are that while many vegetable plants need a depth of 12 to 24 inches (31-61 cm.) for good root development, rabbits can still get into beds that are less than 2 feet (61 cm.) high, and a garden 11 inches (28 cm.) high still requires a lot of bending, kneeling, and squatting for the gardener.

If the soil beneath a raised bed is not suitable for plant roots, the bed should be created high enough to accommodate the plants. The following plants can have 12 to 18 inch (31-46 cm.) roots:

• Arugula
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Corn
• Chives
• Garlic
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Strawberries

Root depth from 18 to 24 inches (46-61 cm.) should be expected for:

• Beans
• Beets
• Cantaloupe
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• Kale
• Peas
• Peppers
• Squash
• Turnips
• Potatoes

Then there are those having much deeper root systems of 24 to 36 inches (61-91 cm.). These may include:

• Artichoke
• Asparagus
• Okra
• Parsnips
• Pumpkin
• Rhubarb
• Sweet potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Watermelon

Decide on the type of soil for your raised bed. Bulk soil is most often sold by the yard. To calculate how many yards are needed to fill a raised bed, measure the length, width, and depth of the bed in feet (you can convert inches to feet by dividing them by 12).

Multiply the length x width x depth. Then divide this number by 27, which is how many cubic feet are in a yard of soil. The answer is how many yards of soil you will need.

Keep in mind that you will most likely want to mix in compost or other organic matter with regular topsoil. Also, fill raised garden beds to a few inches (8 cm.) below the rim to leave room for mulch or straw.

Raised beds offer gardeners many advantages. They provide good drainage, increase your crop yield, and make it easier to use difficult sites – like roof tops or hillsides – for gardening. It takes planning and hard work to put together a good raised-bed system.

You’ll want to optimize your rewards by using the best and most appropriate raised bed soil mix. Read on for information about the best soil type for raised beds.

Raised Garden Bed Soil

What is the best soil for raised garden beds? As you might guess, the best soil type for raised beds depends entirely on what you intend to grow and won’t be the same in all situations. Some plants thrive on acidic soil, like blueberry bushes. Others prefer a soil with higher pH. This plant preference remains just as true in a raised bed situation as in a ground garden.

In addition, your regional weather may impose different requirements on the soil choice for raised beds than those who live elsewhere. For example, in a hot, dry climate, you’ll want raised garden bed soil that retains moisture, but in an area with plentiful rainfall, drainage may be more important.

A major advantage of raised beds is that you are not stuck with using the soil in the ground. You can start from scratch and build a soil type for raised beds that works in your region for the plants you intend to grow.

Amending Basic Raised Garden Bed Soil

One way to build this mix is to start with a raised bed soil mix that is half topsoil and half organic compost. Alternatively, you might make a base soil by blending equal parts coarse horticultural vermiculite, peat moss, and good quality organic compost.

Since you are mixing up your own raised garden bed soil, you have all the freedom of a cook in the kitchen. Add any amendment to the basic soil mix that suits your purposes. One recommended addition to consider is an organic, slow-release, balanced fertilizer.

Don’t stop there. If you plan to grow plants that prefer acidic soil, you can add sulfur. For plants that prefer alkaline soil, add dolomite or wood ashes. To improve drainage, mix in gypsum, shredded bark, or woodchips.

Essentially, create the ideal soil for the plants you intend to grow. This will also be the best raised soil mix you can possibly use.

Are you planning on making a raised bed? There are a lot of options when it comes to the material used to build a raised bed border. Wood is a common choice. Bricks and stones are good options, too. But if you want something cheap and attractive that’s not going to go anywhere, you can’t do better than cinder blocks.

Keep reading to learn more about raised garden beds made from concrete blocks.

How to Make a Cinder Block Garden

Using cinder blocks for garden beds is especially nice because you can so easily pick your height. Do you want a bed close to the ground? Just do one layer. Want your plants higher and easier to reach? Go for two or three layers. If you use more than one layer, make sure to place it so that the joints between the blocks in the second layer sit over the middle of the blocks in the first layer, just like in a brick wall. This will make the bed much sturdier and less likely to fall.

Stack the blocks so the holes are facing up too. This way you can fill the holes with soil and expand your growing space.

To make the bed even stronger, push a length of rebar down through the holes on each corner. Using a sledgehammer, pound the rebar down into the ground until the top is level with the top of the cinderblocks. This should keep the bed from sliding around. One in each corner should be enough when using cinder blocks for garden beds, but you can always add more if you’re worried.

Dangers of Cinder Block Gardening

If you search online for cinder block gardening ideas, about half of the results are going to be warnings that you’ll contaminate your vegetables and poison yourself. Is there any truth in this? Just a little. The confusion stems from the name. Once upon a time cinder blocks were made of a material called “fly ash,” a byproduct of burning coal that can be harmful to your health. Cinder blocks haven’t been mass produced with fly ash in the U.S. for 50 years, though.

The cinder blocks that you buy in the store today are actually concrete blocks and totally safe. Unless you’re using antique cinder blocks, there should be no reason to worry, especially when cinder block gardening for vegetables.

When gardening becomes difficult, either through growing older or due to a disability, it may be time for a table garden design in the landscape. These easily accessible garden beds are easy to install and learning how to plant a garden on a table is simple.

What are Table Gardens?

Table gardens are the perfect solution for the gardener who can no longer bend down or over to plant and tend a garden. Table gardens are also used in adaptive and therapeutic gardens. Table garden design involves using a raised box bed and elevating it to accommodate a chair underneath. Raised garden bed tables are easy to tend and take up very little space, making them perfect for the patio or deck.

How to Build Table Garden Boxes

Raised garden bed tables are not difficult to construct and there are many plans available online on how to build table garden boxes. Free plans are also available through most Cooperative Extension Offices. Tables can be constructed in less than two hours and material costs can be as little as $50. Soil depth should be at least 6 inches (15 cm.) but can be deeper to accommodate plants with larger roots. Table beds can be customized to suit the needs of the gardener, but most beds are either square or rectangular and allow for easy reach across the table. Miniature table gardens are becoming more and more popular and are an attractive addition to any deck or patio. These small raised spaces are perfect for a few herbs, some lettuce, or decorative flowers.

How to Plant a Garden on a Table

It is best to use a lightweight, organic-rich planting medium when gardening on a table raised bed. Raised beds dry out quickly, so installation of a drip irrigation system is useful. Plants in table beds can be placed a bit closer together because the nutrients are concentrated in a small area. Seeds can be broadcast or you can use transplants. Plant vining plants along the edge where they can hang down or install a trellis to the side of the raised bed.

The key to gardening is digging, isn’t it? Don’t you have to till the earth to make way for new growth? No! This is a very common and prevailing misconception, but it’s beginning to lose traction, especially with small space gardeners.

Why are no-dig garden beds – also called no-till gardens – becoming so popular? It’s because they’re better for the environment, better for your plants, and so much easier on your back. It’s a win-win-win. Keep reading to learn about no-dig raised beds.

Can I Garden Without Tilling?

It seems everywhere you turn, you hear that you need to till your earth before planting. The prevailing wisdom is that it prevents soil compaction and spreads the nutrients of compost and last year’s decomposing plants throughout. And this wisdom prevails, because for the first year the plants do tend to grow at a faster rate.

But in exchange for that faster rate, you throw off the delicate balance of the soil and put a lot of stress on the plants.

Plants’ root systems are specialized – only the top roots are meant to absorb the nutrient-rich topsoil. The lower roots bring in minerals deep in the soil and provide an anchor against the wind. If you spread that fertile soil throughout the plant's entire root system, you're suddenly forcing the plant to take in far more nutrients than usual, and disturbing its ability to take in minerals usually found deep underground.

Exposing all the roots to rich compost may make for showy, fast growth, but it’s not what the plant has evolved for. And in the long run, it will do more harm to the plant than good.

Problems Caused by Tillage

Your plants aren't the only ones to be affected by soil tilling. Loosening the soil may improve aeration in the short term, but it also disturbs all the natural bonds holding it in place, making it much more prone to erosion.

Beneficial earthworms and nematodes are essential to healthy soil. Tilling a garden bed not only damages their environment, it can flat out kill them by chopping them up or leaving them exposed to the hot sun.

Last but not least, weeds benefit massively from tilling. Just as all that organic matter benefits your crops, it also benefits any weed that might take hold, causing them to grow bigger and stronger than ever. It also overturns weed seeds that have been lying dormant underground. The time span varies from plant to plant, but most weeds seeds can survive for years in the soil, waiting for the opportune time and conditions to sprout.

The Benefits of No-Till Gardening Methods

There’s no better growing condition for a plant than the natural, carefully balanced ecosystem of soil that’s already below your feet. Here are some of the main benefits of no-till or no-dig gardening.

Fewer weeds

We covered this above, but it bears saying again - tilling the soil not only reveals dormant weed seeds, it also gives them readily available nutrients. Weeds are fast, opportunistic growers, well-suited to the kind of environment tilling creates. When you till your garden, you're actually making an idea spot for weeds.

Less soil compaction

This one may seem counterintuitive, since you're not working a bunch of air into your soil every year. But the thing is - that air doesn't stay there forever. After tilling, the soil eventually settles, and since there's no rhyme or reason to how they're arranged, all of those individual particles will actually squish together under their own weight, leading to more compressed soil and worse drainage.

With the no-till method, all those particles hang together naturally, and are broken up slowly by earthworms and plant roots.

Less work

No-till gardening isn't just for the plants -- it also benefits you! Tilling is hard, labor-intensive work, and cutting it out of your yearly gardening routine is a real win. Also, since a no-till garden functions similarly to a natural ecosystem, it's much more self-sufficient and low-maintenance, requiring less watering, fertilizing, and weeding than a traditionally tilled garden.

How to Start a No-Till Raised Garden Bed

The foundation of a no-till garden is a healthy soil structure. Unfortunately, this doesn't exist everywhere, especially if you're building and filling new raised beds from scratch. However, it's relatively easy to create your own ecosystem of soil for your plants.

1. Get your spot ready

If your desired spot already has grass or weeds, don’t dig them up! Just mow or cut them close to the ground. Lay out the frame of your raised bed, then cover the ground inside with 4-6 sheets of wet newspaper. This will eventually kill the grass and decompose with it.

2. Add your layers

Next, cover your newspaper with alternating layers of compost, manure, and mulch until you near the top of the frame. These layers of organic material are full of nutrients, and will break down more and more over time to create a lasting, rich growing medium. You may have heard of a similar process called lasagna gardening.

3. Finish with mulch

Finish off your bed with a thick layer of mulch. This layer is essential for retaining moisture, keeping your plants' roots cool, and discouraging weeds. Shredded leaves, grass clippings, and straw (not hay!) are all excellent mulch materials, especially for vegetable gardens.

4. Plant!

The key to creating raised beds in urban settings successfully is disturbing the soil as little as possible. Simply make enough room to plant your seeds or transplants, and gently fill the material back in. You can plant in your no-dig garden beds right away, but you should avoid deep rooted vegetables, like potatoes and carrots for the first year while the soil becomes established.

5. Grow a cover crop

This step comes later, but it's also important. At the end of the growing season, sow a cover crop like barley, buckwheat, clover, winter wheat, or winter rye. These fast growing plants will fill in your otherwise fallow bed and help reduce erosion. When they die back naturally, don't remove them! They're an excellent source of organic material and nutrients.

How to Maintain a No-Till Garden

Once it's established, the best thing you can do for your no-till garden bed is leave it alone. Over time, if undisturbed, the soil in your raised bed will become a balanced, natural environment for plant growth – no digging required!

Are you looking for a vegetable garden that is easy to maintain? Consider growing your garden in raised garden boxes. Elevated raised gardens require less bending for planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting. A raised vegetable garden is also an excellent alternative for growing vegetables in difficult sites, such as hillsides. In these areas, depths can be adjusted easily to fit the slope of the hill. Depending on your individual needs, raised beds can take many forms, making them quite practical as well as beautiful.

How to Make a Homemade Raised Garden

Nearly anything that holds soil and maintains shape is the best way to build a raised garden bed. Wood, concrete, bricks, stones, or containers that are situated in tiers can all be implemented for use in a raised bed. Normally wood is the most commonly used; you should try to stay away from using any lumber which has been pressure treated; however, since the chemicals that are used to treat the wood can get into the soil and harm plants. Typically, raised garden boxes are laid out in a rectangular pattern approximately 3 feet (1 m.) in width. This layout allows all areas of the bed, including the center, to be easily accessible. The length of a raised vegetable garden mainly depends on your particular landscape needs. The depth of raised garden boxes generally requires at least 6 to 12 inches (15-30.5 cm.) for the proper root development of plants. Creating paths between the beds makes maintenance easier and looks attractive too. You can create this effect by adding a layer of plastic or other gardening fabric between each bed and covering it with a suitable mulching material, such as gravel or pebbles. The pathways should be wide enough for easy accessibility to the beds with additional room for a wheelbarrow. Generally, a width of approximately 2 to 3 feet (0.5-1 m.) is sufficient.

Raised Garden Beds - Preparation of Location

One of the most important aspects of a raised vegetable bed is the proper location. Choose a site that provides sufficient sunlight and water. When it comes to the best way to build a raised garden bed, areas that get at least five to eight hours of full sun is recommended. Try to place the beds facing north to south to take full advantage of the sun. The soil in a raised bed warms faster and dries out more quickly than soil at ground level; therefore, you will need to water your raised vegetable garden often, especially during hot, dry weather. When considering how to make a homemade raised garden, it is just as important for the plants to be in an area that is accessible to rainwater as well. When applying water to elevated raised gardens, it is often better to use soaker hoses which can be placed directly on the bed; the use of sprinklers can also be used but are more likely to spread diseases if the foliage stays excessively wet. The use of organic mulches, such as straw or hay, can also be used to help retain moisture within these vegetable gardens.

Soil for Raised Vegetable Garden

Raised garden boxes have looser soil, which is ideal for root crops, providing a more optimum soil environment for root growth. When you are ready for the preparation of soil in your beds, fill them with commercial soil or mix the existing soil with compost or manure. As beds are built up, keep adding compost to further improve its soil structure and drainage. When you begin planting crops into the beds, the taller varieties should be placed nearer north to prevent the shading of the smaller crops.

Enjoy Your Raised Garden Boxes

Elevated raised gardens are easier for you to maintain since it is accessible on all sides. Since plants are growing above the level of walkways, there is less need for bending or stooping as you care for your crops. Raised beds offer other benefits as well. They save on space and allow crops to grow closer together, resulting in more moisture for the crops and less weed growth. With raised beds, you also have the option of creating the bed as small as you like and then adding onto it as time, experience, and your individual needs permit.