Ideas and Tips for Your Raised Garden

When it comes to your own raised garden bed, not much equipment is necessary. You'll need a good, level spot, plants or seeds and enough high-quality soil and compost to fill the bed. You may create your own customized raised bed using planter wall blocks and lumber. Or you can use a raised garden bed kit.

Choosing a Garden Bed Site

Before building, choose a site that gets at least six hours of sun a day. Remember, this garden will (hopefully) be a lasting feature of your property. Raised garden beds can make your landscape look neater and more orderly. But keep the overall layout in mind, such as arranging the beds in eye-pleasing patterns. When selecting your location, account for geography. For example, in the North, orienting raised beds north to south will take advantage of the morning and afternoon sun.

Next, prepare the site for the future garden bed. You need to turn the soil in the area to give your plants enough room to put down roots. You may consider removing the existing sod. If so, you will have to dig down 8 to 12 inches to loosen the ground underlying. Finally, fill the bed with your soil and any other components.

If you don’t want to excavate, simply remove any grass or weeds from the site. You’ll need to add layers of newspaper, cardboard or landscape fabric to smother anything that might grow back. Then, you can fill the bed with soil, compost and any amendments.

Building the Garden Bed

For convenience, you can purchase a raised garden bed kit with pre-cut planter wall blocks and lumber. Typically, they come in two sizes, 4x4-foot and 4x8-foot. The lumber can be stacked for added depth. This depth is important, particularly if you’re growing root vegetables.

To construct a raised bed, rot-resistant redwood and cedar are good choices. Raised beds can also be built with pavers, bricks, stones and synthetic lumber. And if you’re growing edible plants and want to keep an organic garden? Go with untreated materials, like redwood or cedar.

Raised beds are often 3 or 4 feet wide for easy access. The length can be as long as your landscape allows, but 8 feet is standard. Making a bed that you can easily reach across reduces any strain on your back and knees. You may also want to use a stool to sit down to work with your plants. Raised beds are usually at least 12 inches deep to accommodate soil.

You must create paths alongside and between the beds. Make sure your lawnmower can safely maneuver around the raised beds and paths. Wood chips and gravel are popular low-maintenance pathway choices. Avoid walking around in the beds for any reason. Stepping on the light, loose soil compacts it, making it harder for roots to penetrate. If you must walk in the beds, use the pavers or to get around instead.

To keep weeds from growing up through the garden, line the bed’s base. Use hardware cloth and landscape fabric to ensure the roots stay within the bed. This also keeps burrowing rodents and other critters out. But don’t frame your bed with railroad ties or heavy blocks. If you move the garden, you’ll have to haul these heavy materials around again. Instead, use lighter wood or form your bed with hay or straw bales. Just remember that these materials will start to decompose after about a year. Get step-by-step directions for building a raised garden bed.

All soils are combinations of minerals, organic matter, air and water. These ingredients provide ideal conditions for plant roots to produce fuel for plants to grow. Soil's mineral component is a mixture of sand, silt and clay. The ideal soil ratio of is 40 percent each of sand and silt, and 20 percent clay. Too much sand and the soil won’t hold water. Too much clay and the soil will retain too much water, making it unworkable.

Clay is actually common in soil, especially in the South, where raised garden beds are popular. Clay contains beneficial minerals, like potassium and calcium. It also holds moisture well, which reduces watering and fertilizing needs. If you want to add clay to your garden, first do a soil test to determine if amendments, like organic compost, are necessary.

For your raised bed, choose a well-draining soil mix rich in organic matter and nutrients. Many gardeners make their own soil from a mixture of 75 percent topsoil and 25 percent screened compost. You may add peat moss and vermiculite for lightness and drainage. A slow-release fertilizer may be included to give a healthy start. For an easy solution, try pre-mixed, raised garden bed soil. It’s formulated to give your vegetables, flowers and herbs just what they need to grow.

Tip: Use the mulch calculator to figure the amount of soil and amendments you’ll need. And you can save time when you use our delivery options.

When shopping, you’ll find packaged raised bed soils formulated for successful gardening. Here are some tips for success with these soils.

Look at the peat content of the soil you purchase. And always read the package for tips on product usage. For example, some soil brands use fine wood particles in their formula. These products need to be thoroughly watered before planting. Put the soil in the garden bed. Then, thoroughly wet the mix through the bed's full depth. After planting, regular watering is sufficient.

Packaged soils have a lot of good nutrition. However, all plants will benefit from applying organic fertilizer when planting, followed by another boost six weeks into the growing season. You can direct-sow seeds in raised beds. Just stir in organic seed starter mix to give your plants the very best start.

If you can grow it in the ground, you can grow it in a raised bed. Tomatoes, peppers, corn, squash and bush beans can be planted close together, instead of a traditional garden's rows. Raised beds are also ideal for vertical gardening. you can use this approach when you trellis vining plants, like cucumbers, pole beans and snap peas. The shade from taller plants deters weed growth below.

Because a raised bed's soil is loose and friable (crumbly), root vegetables are naturals for them. Try carrots and radishes in cool weather months. You can grow tender lettuces when temperatures remain above freezing.

Direct sow seeds or transplant seedlings when temperatures are above freezing, in spring. Use a frost date calendar to determine when the best time to plant will be. Flowers do well in raised beds too. Consider a cutting garden with plants grown from seeds, like sunflowers, asters, zinnias, coreopsis and daisies.

Plant vegetables and flowers close together in a raised bed. You can plant in a triangle formation, instead of rows. This keeps down weeds and maximizes the space. When it's time to water, try installing a drip irrigation system or use a soaker hose.

Cover the soaker hose with an organic mulch, such as straw, hay, wood chips or pine bark. The mulch will suppress weeds and keep moisture in the soil. It also helps plant foliage stays dry. This is important in Florida and other states with saturated soil and frequent summer rains. Diseases, like plant rot, can spread when leaves remain wet in hot, humid weather.

Being aboveground means the soil warms sooner and dries faster, allowing early planting of cool-season crops. When the summer growing season ends, compost the remaining plants and amend the soil.

• Use row covers over cool season crops to extend the harvest across seasons.
• Cover raised beds with lightweight, clear plastic when the weather changes. It can be turned into a cold frame, supported by poles, trellises or plant cages.
• In hotter weather, remove the plastic, or fold it back to avoid heat build-up.
• It may be necessary to use shade cloth to protect crops that can’t tolerate hot afternoon sun.

Tip: Make sure the raised bed is level in all directions. If not, rainfall or the water from your garden hose can run off, rather than soaking into the ground. This run-off also carries away good soil, leaving trenches to fill in.