There can be several reasons for building a raised garden bed. One of the most obvious is the convenience of a raised bed. Raised garden beds can be built to any height or size to suit the design of the garden, making them an obvious choice for those who may have difficulty in bending.
Building a raised garden bed can improve the overall appearance of your garden and add height and structure to your garden design. It can also be extremely helpful if your garden suffers from soil erosion. Some gardens built on a slope can be difficult to maintain, especially if you want a neat, controlled flower or vegetable bed.
Before building a raised garden bed there are several things you need to take into consideration. Firstly, the location of your raised garden bed. For vegetables in particular, they need at least 6 hours of sunshine a day to get a good harvest. The location should be away from over-hanging trees and shrubs.
Once having decided on your location, you next need to decide on the design of your raised garden bed. The use of a professional garden design company will ensure the right raised bed in the right materials, but can work out very expensive. The use of gardening magazines and pictures is useful as is gardening help and advice from garden nurseries. However, there are now many good online gardening web sites that offer advice on both planning and planting a raised garden bed. Some online sites offer free garden design software to help you design and build your raised garden bed.
Once having designed your raised garden bed, you need to select the materials you want to build it out of. Raised garden beds can be made out of a wide variety of materials from wooden sleepers to bricks or garden rocks. If you decide this is beyond your skills, you can buy ready made raised garden boxes or raised garden bed kits ready to assemble yourself. This certainly takes a lot of the work out of how to build a raised garden bed from scratch.
Preparing the area of your bed should be next. This should be level and any over-hanging branches should be clipped back to allow for light. A good working size for a raised bed is about four feet by eight feet. Obviously this can be adapted to fit the space available in your garden. Raised beds that are too large will cause problems when it comes to weeding and sowing your plants as you will not be able to reach the center. If weeds are a problem in your garden, then laying a weed barrier fabric will help cut down on them coming through into your raised garden bed.
Next you can construct your raised garden bed in your chosen materials. This must be kept level and if using a ready made kit, you should ensure it cannot move around. This can be done by hammering stakes into each corner of the raised bed, leaving about six inches above the ground. If your bed is low, leave the stakes level with the top edge of the raised bed.
Having constructed your raised garden bed, you can now fill it with soil. Adding a good quality compost will not only provide all the nutrients necessary for your plants, but will improve the structure of the soil to ensure good moisture retention. Both soil and compost can be bought from garden supply companies or online from garden nurseries. Many garden supply companies will deliver saving you the back breaking task of getting it home yourself.
The soil should be watered well and left to settle. It may be necessary to top up the soil levels once this has happened. You are now ready to plant your seeds or plants into your raised garden bed. Having the proper tools for the job is always useful. A garden hoe and garden rake are probably two that will be used most. A garden sieve will also come in handy if your soil is stony.
Whether you are using your raised garden bed for flowers and plants or vegetables, the same amount of garden design can go into it as any other part of your garden. Think vertical gardening to add height to your planting area. Many vegetables such as tomatoes and runner beans grow up canes. Planning in garden ornaments and accessories, such as garden windmills or garden obelisks for a clematis to climb up will make the most of the space in your raised garden bed.
Raised garden beds need not be limited to the back garden or yard. Building a raised garden bed for the front garden too will mean you can design your own garden back or front. Whatever you use your raised garden bed for, the convenience and design of your raised bed will undoubtedly add to your enjoyment of your garden.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.