How To Garden in Raised Beds


Versailles Raised Bed Kit
The Versailles Raised Bed Kit

One tried-and-true gardening method is planting in raised beds. The first raised beds were what we now refer to as "mounded beds", made by piling the dirt in one row onto the adjacent row. You plant in the high row and walk and irrigate in the low row. This method prevents you from compressing the soil around your plants and damaging roots.

The mounding method has evolved into raised beds made of hard surface walls shaped like a box and filled with the soil and plants. Raised beds prevent the soil from migrating away from the roots from erosion by winds, pets, water, and tools. They help keep the soil's nutrients where they will be most available for the plants. Raised beds also make it easier to water, weed, and harvest your vegetables.

The soil in your raised beds can be augmented each year to eventually become a rich-in-compost bed that will grow anything you put into it. One proviso here is: Carrot beds should not be overly fertile, as it causes them to produce too many root hairs all along the carrot. The best medium for growing carrots is a sandy soil with a top dressing of compost. They are easier to pull out of the ground without all those roots grabbing on for dear life as you pull.

Gardening in raised beds has many advantages:

Another advantage you get when gardening in raised beds is the ability to put them in any area with a zero clearance around it. On a farm or in a large flat land garden, you will notice bare earth around the perimeter that is kept plowed or tilled to prevent weeds from traveling into the growing area. With a solid wall raised bed, no buffer zone is needed. Many raised beds are set within a lawn area to take advantage of the clear sun and make an interesting focal point for the eyes. It is very helpful to scrape off the surface and start the walls below ground level to prevent root migration into the beds.


Frame It All 8'x8'x12' Raised Bed Garden
Frame It All 8'x8'x12' Raised Bed Garden

Raised bed kits by Frame It All are the easiest and smartest way to get a raised bed that is not only attractive, it's also easier to handle than any of the other materials listed. They are made of a composite wood grain material that looks like wood, but you will never have to worry about getting splinters from them, it won't chip, split or rot, but it will weather naturally over time like wood does. They are manufactured from 60% recycled post-consumer plastic and 40% wood pulp. The joint stakes are also eco-friendly, being manufactoured from recycled ABS plastic.

Kits are eco-friendly in another way, there are no left-over pieces and parts to dispose of. You can get a complete, finished project without fussing over having enough screws, nails, or tools, have no leftover pieces to throw away, and make less noise doing it. That leaves you with more time to concentrate on the fun stuff, like what to plant in it. Conformation of your bed is the first thing to decide on, but that can be fun, too. The things you will need to complete your Frame It All kit is a phillips screwdriver, a hammer or rubber mallet and weed cloth to put under the frame to prevent weeds. You don't even have to scrape the ground first. That's what I call easy!


Raised beds can also be home-made of any durable material that is not toxic to the plants. I do not recommend railroad ties because they are chemically treated, as are some landsaping timbers. It's a shame because they do make a handsome bed, but we have plenty of other choices in materials.


Raised beds inside a portable greenhouse.
Raised beds inside a portable greenhouse.

Some common materials used in the construcion of homemade raised beds:

Once your raised beds are in place you will anxious to fill them with dirt. Before you start shoveling a bunch of soil into them, think about what material should make up your growing medium. If you shovel up a bunch of dirt from around the bed, you may be getting some weed seeds with it.

If you plan far enough in advance, you can prepare the soil by solarizing it to destroy weed seeds. Solarizing is done by covering the dirt with a heavy duty clear plastic, weighing it down along the sides so it won't blow away, and let it set for at least 2 weeks. The increase in heat when the sun hits it will cook the seeds or weeds under it.

While you are waiting for the solarization process, you can decide where to put your beds and gather other growing medium materials you want to add. Some of this will depend of what type of soil you have to put into it. If you have a clay-like soil, you will want to amend it to lighten it up with things like gypsum, sand, vermiculite, coir, peat, or compost. If you have a sandy soil, you will want to amend it with things like coir and peat (to help hold moisture), compost & vermicompost (which are the best soil conditioners available as they add the nutrients your plants will need).

If you are using your beds for flowers, you will get the best show of bloom using compost and vermicompost in the roots zones. The deeper your beds are, the more soil you will need, so using regular top soil amended with these other items will make it stretch to fill your beds. You may be surprized at how much soil they will hold. This is good as it will allow for more root growth room and will contain that much more nutrients in it. The roots will find it if it is there.


Frame It All 24" Raised Garden Bed
Frame It All 24" Raised Garden Bed

After you have the soil mixture installed in the bed, make sure it is moist throughout it's depth before you plant. Moisture has a wicking action, so it will travel to the dry areas if there are any. You want your seeds and young seedlings to stay moist to get a good head start putting down roots.

Remember to make any bed you are going to use for growing carrots deep and sandy, with only a top dressing of compost for the seedlings to start in to avoid hairy carrots.

Also, guard against cats from using your fresh made beds for litter boxes. You can lay chicken wire or any wire over the top after seeding. Put a stone on the corners so it will stay in place. Cats are curious, and will jump up to see what it's all about.

Now you can see your garden grow from a distance more easily, and harvest from the beds while preparing dinner without getting dirty. Raised beds can be used inside of greenhouses for year round gardening. You can lay out a set of raised beds so that they can be covered with a portable greenhouse, like the Weatherguard once the frosts threaten to extend your harvest. If you keep up with your succession planting, you will harvest right through to spring and have a perpetual garden. You can lift off the portable greenhouse during the hot months. Be sure to augment your raised beds with some good compost and vermicompost at least twice a year if growing year round, as the plants will deplete the nutrients eventually.