Building a raised garden bed from scratch can be hard work but also rewarding as you start to see it coming together and growing over the next few months. I always think in wonder about the pleasure of seeing a young plant grow from a seed and then develop into a mature plant creating seeds of it’s own.
All worthwhile projects however need to start with a good plan of what it is going to be like when completed. Failing to plan is planning to fail
How to get started on building a raised garden bed.
Raised garden beds whether they are to be filled with vegetables and herbs or even flowers can be made using a framed structure or large plant pots. If you are not buying a ready made package or kit I would suggest that some knowledge of building construction is necessary.
Raised Garden Bed Design
Determine where you want the raised beds to go, if you want to incorporate the raised garden bed into the landscape or have it as a stand alone garden.
Raised Garden Bed Construction
By this time you should have marked off the raised bed garden space in your garden for the raised bed and worked out whether you are going to put a plastic barrier sheet over the old soil or work directly into the existing ground soil. We will be going into the advantages and disavantages of each method in a seperate article.
You are now ready to start constructing your main garden frame. You will need to be using wood that has been treated correctly for use with plants. If the wood was treated with inappropriate chemicals they could kill your plants and/or even piosion the vegetables you will be growing.
Using the Right Soil for a Raised Bed Garden
A new raised garden bed gives you the ideal conditions for raising healthy plants. Choose the right soil for your plants talk to your local garden nursery about what plants you are looking to grow and what nutrients they need. Look for something that will be loose and light to give good drainage if you want a healthy garden bed.
Spend time looking at seed catalogues – this is part of the fun of gardening after all – adn choose plants that will complement each other. I grow lots of vegetables in my raised beds and one thing I continually watch for is planting too many of one one variety. After all if my family can’t eat them all they could go to waste. Given the wide variety of seeds now readily available you can afford to experiment with new ideas