The idea of raised garden beds provides solutions to many common gardener problems, from sore knees to poor soil conditions. They can also create amazing features for outdoor space, adding extra height and interest when full of beautiful flowers, vegetables and even shrubs. And garden beds are also available in many styles. In this article, Savana will show you 6 raiseded garden bed ideas below to inspire you. In addition, there are a lot of practical skills and advice.
1. Select the best location
The raised garden bed is a perfect complement to any landscaping idea. However, the best place to place them depends on what you want to plant. Each plant has its own requirements for light - from sufficient sunlight to complete shadow. For most vegetables, sunlight is needed most of the day, but some crops can tolerate a little shade - try green leafy vegetables, broad beans, carrots, and beetroot.
Choose a level or slightly elevated location, rather than a low level or potentially flooded location. On the contrary, avoid excessively sheltered places or places close to walls, because beds will reduce rainwater.
If you want to build more than one raised bed, please ensure that there is enough space between each bed for you to kneel - half a meter is enough. Moreover, if you have enough space, it is a practical choice to place the greenhouse idea nearby. This way, when you are busy taking care of the bed, you can quickly and easily use your seedlings and tools.
2. Section it up
Want to introduce the raised bed into your small garden idea, or even your balcony idea? If space is very valuable, such a design is ideal.
It's also great if you're just starting to grow your own crop. Since the flowerpot is neatly divided into multiple parts, it is easy to experiment and find your favorite vegetables to plant without having to put them on the whole bed. Try using herbs, tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, or alpine strawberries to make varieties that are easy to care for and super delicious.
3. Customize your soil to meet your plant needs
One of the main advantages of the raised garden bed concept is that you can create the best combination of soil. This is especially useful when you want to plant acid loving plants such as azalea and camellia, but the soil is alkaline; For alkaline plants such as thyme and lavender, the reverse is also true.
You can fill your bed with two-thirds of multi-purpose compost and a third kind of garden soil. You should also add organics.
For the most conscientious gardener, the ideal combination of raised beds is seven portions of topsoil and three portions of organic matter, such as rotten fertilizer, and two portions of sharp sand.
4. Add a little color
For your idea of raised garden bed, you don't have to stick to traditional colors. If they are made of wood, it is easy to repaint them with the best exterior wood paint.
Choose a color to match the theme of your plot. You can choose chic gray tone or fashionable charcoal color for modern space; Beautiful soft colors of the cottage garden design; Or some bright and bold colors - such as this pink - to get a more playful feel.
5. Introducing scarecrows to stop pests
One of the main benefits of raised beds is that it is easier to protect crops from pests such as carrot flies, aphids and even birds. These creatures can eat plants and destroy your hard work without much encouragement.
If birds are your problem, the classic method is scarecrow. These are intended to prevent blackbirds and crows from eating the seeds that have just been sown. They can add charm to the idea of elevated beds, but to be truly effective, you need to move them every few days to keep the element of surprise. Adding something flashy, such as reflective tape, can also help. If the scarecrow is a bit OTT for your plot, hanging the old CD with a rope is another economical bird deterrent. If you need to know how to kill squirrels in your garden, bait owls and motion detector sprinklers can also help.
You can also use protective nets to prevent pests. Simply add a column to each corner of your raised bed idea, and then place the mesh cover on the top. Alternatively, you can choose a higher corner post when initially building the raised bed.
6. Add vertical interest through plant support
Bringing the support concept of obelisks and other climbing plants into your raised bed can open up various planting opportunities. Of course, it's easy to grow sweet peas and climbing beans, but you can also use them to grow pumpkins, tomatoes, and -- if you use something as solid as a trellis -- even melons.
It not only maximizes space for your raised bed, but also provides vertical interest. There are many smart and fashionable choices to choose from.
The types of raised garden beds
Adding raised beds to your garden is a relatively easy task, and there are many options depending on your budget and skill level.
The simplest solution is to purchase a flat pack kit in which wood or metal is cut to just the right size with pre drilled holes for assembly in place. You may need some basic tools, such as a screwdriver and hammer, to build it.
In addition to convenience, the advantage of buying a kit is that there are many designs to choose from, so you can choose the design that best suits your garden. However, this is usually a more expensive option.
If you want a smaller, less fixed bed to grow some herbs or lettuce, invest in an overhead flowerpot or a trailer with legs. You can put one of them with your garden idea, perhaps close to the kitchen, so that you can easily access your crops while cooking.
When building raised garden beds on DIY basis, the main choices are wood and masonry. Wooden elevated beds can be as simple as some scaffolding boards or boards of similar size, fixed with screws or nailed to corner posts. But the design can be carefully made according to your wishes.
Brick beds require more skills to build, so unless you plan to hire a handyman, you need to learn how to lay bricks or stones. However, this type of bed is a more lasting function, which can coordinate with the appearance of your house, and is an ideal choice for combining seats.
How to water and fee your raised garden bed
In warm weather, you need to pay attention to watering. The water in the raised garden bed should drain faster than the underground, which means the soil will dry.
Covering the soil will help keep water and increase nutrients, but if you have many beds to water, make sure you can reach them with a hose. Or, for ultimate convenience, install in the best garden sprinklers or irrigation systems. Where possible, use rainwater collected from buckets - a good complement to sustainable gardens.
You can easily feed the bed with water-soluble fertilizer when watering the bed. You usually need to do it every two weeks, but it is important to pay attention to the preferences of each plant.
Alternatively, for solutions with lower maintenance costs, slow-release fertilizers sold as pellets or granules can be used. Just fork them into the soil at the beginning of the season, and they will gradually release food each time they water.
It is also worth smearing blood, fish and bones before spring, and then smearing them again in midsummer.
What to plant in the raised garden beds
Except for the largest plants, all plants can be planted on raised garden beds, but some species benefit more than others. Here are some ideas:
Salads and other green leafy vegetables are easier to harvest from raised beds, especially those cut and replanted. These types of crops do not like to sit in soggy soil, so elevated beds are easier to provide drainage. You can even plant them in cold months - see our advice on growing lettuce in winter.
Herbs are ideal for raised beds, usually low maintenance plants. Why not dedicate the whole bed to the herb garden to provide a sensory feast for the table? Our guide on how to create a herb garden will help you get started.
Rooted vegetables such as carrots and parsnips grow well on raised beds because they ideally require rock free soil. You can also more easily use nets to protect crops from pests such as carrot flies.
Flowers used for flower arrangement such as sweet peas and dahlias can be well zoned in their respective flower beds, and you can ensure that they have the best soil conditions to maximize flowering.
Berries, such as strawberries and raspberries, can be easily picked from raised beds and protected from birds. In addition, raspberries, blueberries and cranberries like acidic soil, so if your soil is naturally alkaline, you can spread a lot of compost containing azaleas on the bed.
Onions and other crops with longer growing seasons benefit from raised beds. The reason for this is that the soil heats up faster than the ground, so you can start planting two to three weeks earlier this season.
Evergreen shrubs can generate year-round interest and structure when planted in raised beds, and can form striking architectural features.
