What Every Gardener Ought to Know About Raised Beds

A raised bed is the type of garden made up of beds of soil raised some distance above the ground.  The beds encase the soil separating the garden space from the surrounding environment. Soil beds are intended to allow an individual to tend to plants without having to stoop to ground level but not so high that it makes proper plant care cumbersome.

A Raised garden bed offers significant advantages to the gardener owing to the nature of its design. Raised bed gardens are often used for cultivating delicate seedlings and reducing soil compaction from stepping on the soil. Raised beds also isolate your soil, preventing surrounding earth from finding its way in.  This fact allows you to better control the quality of your garden soil. Simple gardening tools can also be used to weed and perform other routine maintenance functions in your elevated garden. Actually building a raised garden is simpler than most might think.

How to Build Your Garden

Before beginning the construction of a raised bed garden, issues of space availability and building materials should be considered. The width of the bed should be about 4 ft, the height about 10 to 16 inches. As long as space is available the length can be left to the builder's discretion.

The most commonly used building material is rot resistant wood due to its natural resilience, including locally available cedar and redwood even though others work well too. Bed construction tools include a handsaw, square, level, hammer, screwdriver and drill and some simple tools for gardening like a shovel.

The basic frame is constructed by cutting out pieces of wood according to the desired length. The various ends are held together and measured with a level to ensure that they are flat. The corner posts are then fitted and the frames fastened with screws such that each corner post has two frames that are intersecting at the corner. Another row of similar sized board is added below the first and then screwed together to the corner post as was previously done.

Soil can then be poured into the bed and braces added if the beds are over 18 feet high. Braces prevent the bed from bending out by reinforcing the bed with aluminum supports screwed to the opposite sides across the bed. Stones and other unwanted material should be removed from the bed once it has been filled with fertile soil. Once the soil is added, gardening equipment can then be used to level the soil as required.

Design Idea

Raised beds can be designed in different ways that allow the aesthetic value of flowers to be enjoyed while accommodating the space available. Circular designs are versatile and can be used to shape flowerbeds situated in small spaces.

Raised beds are great for creating controlled garden environments while reducing the caretaker’s workload. Design flexibility allows them to be both practical and decorative gardening environments. A fairly easy construction process makes raised beds an ideal idea option for any gardening enthusiast.