Building A Raised Bed Garden From Scratch
Posted By Connie on January 30, 2011
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.
As you know, all projects need to start with a plan!
Building your first 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. Personally if you were building your first raised bed garden and you are not an experienced Do It Yourself fan I would suggest going online and looking for a package deal with all parts provided and a detailed building guidebook.
Designing a Raised Garden Bed
You need to ask yourself first is this raised bed garden going to be a standalone feature or will need to blean in with your existing garden design. In other words is it going to be one of many you are building over time or a one off project?
Construction of your Raised Garden Bed.
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.
Make sure all the joints are well done with correct supports to take teh weight of the soil and ensure all wood etc has been treated correctly. This last point is important you don’t want to harm your plants by using a wood treatment that is unsafe and could kill them.
Raised Garden Bed Soil
Normally in a established garden the soil can be drained of some of the appropriate nutrients your plants will need to be healthy and strong. A new raised garden bed means you can start afresh with the correct conditions for your plants (both vegetables and flowers). Start by talking to your local nursery experts about what you are going to need to use. I would also consider buying in bulk depening on size of your container in order to get the best price. The small bags of composting materials will work out very expensive. I would suggest you need a light soil that drains well giving a good healthy environment for your plants.
Plants for a Raised 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
A good project starts with a great idea and needs a plan. Building a raised garden isn’t rocket science, but needs to be thought out. Learning how to build a raised garden bed and gathering all your material becomes a great weekend project, so you can be on your way to a bountiful harvest!
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