Raised Bed Gardening: Tips & Tricks

Are you looking for different, fun, or creative ways to plant a garden in your yard? Are you worried about your "less-than-ideal" soil grounds not being able to hold up a garden for long? Well, raised bed garden might be the perfect answer for you!

A raised bed garden is an above-ground, added garden space. It can range from custom, no-rot wood boxes to simple bags of soil poked with holes to a pre-made, inexpensive kit made from recycled plastic from your local Walmart.

These easy-to-use beds meet their maximum potential when they are placed in a location with over 6 hours of sunlight per day, filled with good soil, and receive great drainage.

It doesn’t matter if you have overly wet areas or contaminated soil with weed-infested areas, these beds are detached and above ground! Their height will allow them to warm up earlier in the Spring and become easier to protect in the falling temperatures of Autumn with row covers and other coverings. Beds have proven to maintain soil health, structure, and drainage as potential threats of garden-eating insects, like slugs, will be held off and the risk of walking on or compacting with heavy tools will be decreased.

Here are some materials and tips you can use to make your perfect raised bed gardens:

Straw Bales: Make a square, rectangle or any other shape and fill it in with the soil of your choice

Raised bed garden using straw bales with thriving tomato plants in a backyard setting.
From: Cleveland.com

Baby Pools: Poke holes in the bottom to ensure excellent drainage, fill with soil, and there you go!

Urban rooftop garden with raised planters made from blue containers growing vegetables and herbs.
From: inhabitat.com

Milk Crates: Line with landscape fabric and soil. Portable and perfect!

DIY container garden with vegetables growing in burlap-lined milk crates on a patio.
From: hobbyfarms.com

Brick or blocks: Create the desired shape and height, and fill with amended soil.

Brick raised garden beds with leafy vegetables and PVC arches ready for garden netting or covers.
From: neighborhoodgardenparty.blogspot.com

Logs and branches: Use stakes to weave and stabilize branches, or use logs. You may want to line with landscape fabric if wash out is a concern.

Rustic raised garden bed made from stacked logs growing leafy greens in rich soil.
From: balconygardenweb.com

Livestock water troughs: Ensure proper drainage before filling with soil.

Modern raised garden beds made from galvanized metal troughs with vegetables growing in a backyard.
From: xlargestuff.com

Wood scraps: You can use upcycled wood, but keep in mind that only treated wood will not rot over time.

Tiered wooden raised garden bed with herbs and green plants on a deck beside a brick wall.
From: nbglandscapes.com

Before spending real money and real time, visualize your project using iScape. Get started today by downloading iScape from the App Store or Google Play Store. So simple. So powerful. iScape it!