There are all kinds of reasons for planting your garden in raised beds. Maybe your soil just isn’t good enough or it’s easier on your body to plant in something just a bit higher off the ground. Whatever the reason, raised beds give you the best of both gardening worlds: container gardens and inground beds.
Raised beds combine the best of both open and contained gardens: Plants have more room to develop their root systems, but you still keep control over soil content, water and nutrients.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Like containers, these beds themselves can be a showcase and focal point of a garden. Raised beds allow you to mix your own soil or use a premixed potting formula, making them especially appropriate for areas with difficult native soil conditions such as heavy sand or clay content or areas with lots of rocks. The ability to manipulate the soil means you can easily play with non-native plants and those that require special soil conditions (like acid-loving rhododendrons). You can also experiment with dense plantings that would be difficult to achieve in an open bed, featuring wonderful combinations of color and texture.
You can build raised beds on flat plots or as terraces on slopes in whatever size and dimension your site allows. They’re often built for community gardens and retirement villages to accommodate gardeners of varying ages and abilities. Children, the elderly and folks with limited mobility, for instance, benefit from the easier access to plants, flowers and vegetables in raised beds.
This type of garden has become a fixture of many home landscapes. Part of the reason is probably because raised beds are fairly simple to build and require just basic carpentry skills and common materials and tools. The key to a successful garden is just a stable box that will hold soil and retain moisture while providing drainage. For those reasons, wood is the most popular raised-bed material, though rigid plastic components or masonry also can do the job.
Simple in concept and installation, these open-bottom frames hold rich, fertile soil above the surrounding grade. Although you can use pressure-treated lumber for durable flower beds, never use this type of wood to hold any fruit, herb or vegetable garden or for any edible species that may be consumed. To avoid potential hazard from the toxic preservative injected into the treated lumber, choose non-treated redwood, cedar or dense tropical woods that resist decay instead.
Installing a raised-bed planter is about a 6- to 8-hour project, and it can easily be done on a weekend. Follow the steps shown in the pictures and described in their captions for a great-looking raised-bed container – or two!
Materials
| QTY | Item |
| 4 |
2 x 12-in. (38x286-mm) Side boards (Dimension as required for site and project) |
| 12 |
⅜ x 3½-in. (10x90-mm) Deck screws |
| 12 |
1-in. (25-mm) Flat washers |
Building Raised Beds
Raised Bed - Step 1
Mark the outline of the bed, then level and excavate the area within the markings to a depth of 6-8 inches.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Raised Bed - Step 2
Using a power drill fitted with a quarter-inch bit, predrill three holes at each corner junction. Thread a washer onto each deck screw, position it in a drilled hole, and fasten the corners, using a socket wrench.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Raised Bed - Step 3
Fill the completed planter with amended soil. Level and rake the bed.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Raised Bed - Step 4
Water the bed thoroughly to settle and firm the imported soil now filling the planter. Plant your finished bed as you desire.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
