How to Build a Raised Garden Bed

For many people, the first thing that comes to mind, is what is a raised garden bed? A raised garden bed is an manually elevated portion of the garden, that is used as a gardening bed to help the plants grow better. The basic objective of the bed is very simple, to help the weak plants thrive.

The procedure of making the raised garden bed is extremely simple and straight forward. Here, we shall be telling you how to build a raised garden bed in easy to follow steps along with the materials required. In order to build a raised garden bed, we would be making a small enclosure, rectangular in shape, about 1 foot in height. It is to be filled with rich soil and organic matter.

Building a Raised Garden Bed

If you are planning to build a raised garden bed, then I suggest that you follow all these steps systematically, in order to obtain very good results.

Requirements

The basic requirements to build the garden bed are as follows.

• The basic material of construction that is used to make a raised garden bed, is wood. To make the garden bed, I would suggest that you use synthetic wood or any strong brand of wood. Just make sure that the wood is durable enough, before constructing the raised garden bed. You will also need to cut the wood in the dimensions that you want. Remember that, the height of the bed should be about one foot.
• Nails and screws of uniform sizes.
• General garden tools and gardening accessories, especially hammers and screwdrivers.
• Compost and soil. It is better to have naturally made or homemade compost.
• Seeds and plant starts.
• Shovel and rakes.
• 4 anchor joints.
• Measuring Tapes.

Procedure

• Step 1: In this procedure, we are basically going to make a rectangular enclosure, hence it is necessary to have a small plan made beforehand, before you begin the actual procedure. In the stage of planning, you also need to look for a place, that has ample sunlight exposure.
• Step 2: After you are done with the planning, you can start the construction of the raised garden bed. Many professional botanists and gardeners prefer to improvise the base of the raised garden bed, by removing the grass and then spreading a small amount of gravel on the ground. After the thin layer of gravel is made, you need to make measurements and markings, according to your plan. Mark the four corners of the rectangle by taking measurements. Put in the anchor joints into the soil and fix them in properly.
• Step 3: In this step we are going to fix the wood into the anchor joints. For this step, you might need a saw to cut of the slightly excess amount of wood length, so that the entire length of wood, fits in properly into two anchor joints.
• Step 4: After you are done with fixing the planks of wood, you need to reinforce the planks with the help of small pieces of bending metal and nails.
• Step 5: This step is very important, as it involves filling the bed with the appropriate texture of soil and compost. To do this, you can evenly fill the bed with the gardening soil.
• Step 6: Mix the compost with the soil on the top and spread it evenly on the bed. Make sure that you do not fill the bed to the brim and leave a few inches of space.

Your raised garden bed is now ready and it is time to plant some plants in the bed. I would recommend that you plant vegetables and delicate plants in the bed. This type of raised garden bed requires a lot of care, so make sure that you water it properly, every day, and remove the unwanted grass and weeds from the box. Using the same procedure, you can also make a whole raised garden.

If you bear the initial set up cost, then raised garden beds require very little maintenance besides mulching of top soil to control weed growth and retention of moisture. If you plan to grow plants partially during the year, then just add manure or fresh compost to the top soil.