Raised Garden Bed & why you need one!
Raised Garden Bed – The Benefits
Raised Garden Bed also known as garden boxes are a great way of growing sections of vegetables and flowers.
Not only will they keep ground level garden weeds away but prevents soil becoming compact.
Being raised and with a barrier of wood, your soil is protected against being washed away during heavy rain.
You’ll find that being higher up the soil will be fractionally warmer allowing you to plant things earlier.
Obviously being higher off the ground will reduce the back strain that us gardeners suffer from time to time. Simply sit on the edge if you need to prune, plant or organise your plants.
Raised Garden Bed or Garden Planter?!
So what’s the difference, quite basically a planter has a bottom. A raised bed you’d line with a landscaping fabric or weed control membrane to allow for drainage directly into the ground. This also give you opportunity to plant deep rooting plants.
How To Build a Raised Garden Bed
It’s relatively easy to build your own raised garden with a bit of knowhow and savvy.
You can buy pre-made / flat packed raised garden beds, but we feel when you’ve created one from scratch there’s a certain amount of pride!
Wood to use?
Cedar wood is the best for garden use as it’s naturally rot resistant.
Popular woods: Western Red Cedar, Vermont White Cedar, Port Oxford Cedar and Juniper.
Alternative choices are something such as Redwood which is also rot-resistant.
How High?
Basically as high as you’d like. But obviously you’ll need to fill most of it with a soil, so be aware.
Tools and Materials
- 2 x 6 or 2 x 4 Wood Boards
- Coated deck scews
- Cross supports: Aluminium
- Tools: Saw, Set Square, Level, Mallet, Screwdriver, Hacksaw and Drill
- Landscape Fabric or Weed Control Membrane
For full assembly instructions there are many fantastic blogs and youtube videos providing step by step construction of a Raisin Garden Bed.