Raised bed gardening has been growing in popularity for years, and with good reason. The basics of raised bed gardening are easy to master, improving the soil can be a lot easier, and you can create the conditions you want for the plants you’re growing. Building or installing raised beds can also be a lot easier than creating an in-ground bed, and the additional height of a raised bed garden may make gardening more accessible for folks with particular needs. With much of the US and Canada moving into gardening season, it’s time for us to take a look at the basics of raised bed gardening and how to get started. Let’s dig in!
What Are Raised Bed Gardens, Exactly?
Technically speaking, a raised bed is any garden bed that is built or constructed on top of the ground rather than using the soil below the surface. The easiest way to make a raised bed garden is to create a flat-topped mound of garden soil of the desired size and plant in it. This approach is simple but it has some obvious potential issues, like the soil washing away in the rain. Most raised beds have a frame or edging made of dimensional lumber, logs, rocks or bricks, or breathable garden fabric. As long as the material in question is safe for the soil, you can use just about anything to make the sides or frame of a raised bed. Most raised beds are 6-8 inches/15-20cm deep, though you can make them deeper/higher if you’d like. Users with mobility limitations may find that a deeper bed—with the top of the bed’s soil higher off the ground—makes accessibility easier. This is one of the great strengths of raised bed gardening, it can make gardening more accessible for people and places who can’t make use of a more traditional in-ground bed.
Building a Raised Bed Garden
Building a raised bed garden can be as simple as making a flat-topped mount of soil and planting in that! But again this can have issues with erosion so a more sustainable kind of raised bed construction might be a better choice. There are some good pre-made options out there, including those made of garden fabric rather than wood or masonry. You can use whatever you’d like, but we recommend using environmentally safe solutions and in particular we want to warn you that you should not use treated lumber for raised bed gardening! Treated lumber, including pressure-treated lumber and rail ties, contain many chemicals that are dangerous for your plants, your soil, and the environment as a whole.
Choosing a location for a raised bed garden is actually a bit easier than situating an in-ground bed. If the location is otherwise safe and accessible and gets the right amount of sun, you can probably put a raised bed in. You can line the bottom of your beds with garden fabric, landscaping plastic, or a similar material if there are concerns about soil quality on site—to be on the safe side we encourage you to have the ground soil tested even if you’re using a raised bed in that location. You never know what you’ll find and it’s best to be cautious. Remember: it’s difficult to move most raised beds after they’ve been put in place, so do choose wisely!
Once the bed is constructed/located where you want it, it’s time to fill it with soil. This is the great advantage of raised gardening—you can make the soil you need depending on the plants you want to grow. When in doubt, a good all-purpose potting mix is a decent default choice. However you can make your own soil with topsoil and compost or via the sandwich/lasagna method as we’ve discussed in previous blogs.
After filling your raised beds with soil, we recommend letting it settle a bit before planting. Gravity is a universal constant and soil settles, compacts, and occasionally needs loosening in raised beds and containers just as it does in the ground. Checking your raised bed soil for compaction every now and then is a good idea for the health of your plants and the longevity of the soil in that bed.
Raised beds tend to drain well, and we keep bringing this up because while this does allow you to locate a raised bed in a place with inadequate drainage for an in-ground garden, it does mean that the soil may be prone to drying out a bit faster. Keeping an eye on your raised beds and giving them extra water on hot days may help keep your plants in the best possible condition during the warmer parts of the season.
What Can You Plant in a Raised Bed Garden?
The short answer is: nearly anything you want! It might be unusual to see trees or large shrubs in a raised bed, but other than those extremes you can plant veggies, ornamental, flowers, or even small shrubs and bushes in a raised bed if the bed is big enough. You’re limited only by your climate zone and your imagination, which makes raised bed gardening especially fun for those of us who like to experiment with different kinds of plants and different kinds of soil.
Raised Bed Gardening is For Everyone
It’s true—raised beds are so popular because they make gardening accessible to folks who may not have access to an in-ground garden space. Raised beds can go on patios, in smaller yards, on gravel or paved surfaces (be cautious in hot climates—the can overheat when the sun gets going), and myriad other locations where in-ground gardening isn’t an option. We hope this article helps you understand how raised beds work, how you can use raised beds in your garden, and why you might choose to do so. If you have questions, reach out and we’ll do what we can to help. Gardzen is all about community and we love to hear from you!
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