Gardening

A Beginners Guide to Starting A Raised Bed Garden

Nov 8th 2024

A raised bed garden is an excellent way to grow vegetables in limited space or areas with poor native soil. These elevated gardens offer multiple benefits over in-ground gardens. Easier accessibility, improved drainage, more control over soil, better quality yields, and aesthetics are all reasons to start a raised bed garden. You will also have to do less bending over to pull weeds, and harvesting produce is unnecessary.

If you are a beginner gardener, you might be wondering about raised gardens and how to start one. This is your complete guide to raised bed gardening. Our gardening experts cover everything from raised bed construction to filling the bed, planting in a raised bed to watering.

What is a Raised Bed Garden

A raised bed garden is a container raised a few inches to a few feet above the soil surface. In this form of gardening, the soil is elevated off the ground level where you grow plants, and the garden is enclosed. It is just a square, oval, round, or rectangle with four walls, but it usually has no bottom. A raised bed's framework can be wood, concrete, rock, metal, or other materials. It is truly up to you to choose the material of your choice.

Benefits of Starting a Raised Bed Garden

Raised bed gardening offers several benefits over in-ground gardening. Here are reasons why gardeners love this type of gardening.

Raised garden beds drain more quickly than in-ground beds.
Raised beds allow you to start planting in healthy soil rather than needing to be amended.
Soil in raised beds stays warmer than in-ground gardens, enabling you to extend the growing season in spring and fall.
Raised garden beds give roots more vertical space.
Raised bed gardening increases comfort and accessibility when tending or harvesting.
Raised garden beds are a stunning hardscaping element that adds beauty to your garden all year.
Raised garden beds offer location flexibility by allowing you to place beds anywhere in your garden or move them easily whenever you create a new garden location.
Raised gardens are less-maintenance than in-ground gardens. They are simpler to plan, maintain, and plant into, making them perfect for beginner gardeners.
With raised bed gardening, you'll have to deal with fewer weeds because the cardboard mulch at the bottom of the container suppresses weeds and prevents them from reaching the raised bed soil.

How to Choose the Right Location for a Raised Bed Garden

Finding the perfect location for your raised garden beds is key to creating a successful garden. Here are things you should consider when choosing an area.

Sunlight Exposure

Choose a location that receives six or so hours of direct sunlight daily. The sunlight must reach both sides of the bed. Ideally, place your raised beds on the south side of tall structures such as fences, garages, buildings, and sheds. If your location receives less than four hours of sunlight, consider growing salad greens, herbs, and plants that grow well in less-than-ideal sun.

Water

The second important aspect to consider is the water source. Place your garden close to the outdoor faucet or your irrigation system. The best way to water a raised bed garden is using a drip irrigation system. Plants love consistent and deep watering and drip irrigation can supply with minimal water wastage.

Aesthetics

Choose a site that blends nicely with your existing garden design. Your raised bed garden should be an extension of your home. With this thing in mind, place your garden near prominent structures or align it with existing features of your yard or home. Look for areas like a patio, deck, driveway, pool, fence, or side yard where you can add beds along pre-established lines.

How to Choose a Material for Raised Bed Garden

When choosing raised garden bed materials, we recommend durable, affordable, natural, sustainable, and beautiful ones. Choose the material carefully to save money in the long run and enjoy your raised bed gardening fully. You can use your creativity to choose materials, shapes, and textures that complement your landscape.

Here are the best raised garden bed materials that are widely used.

Wood Raised Beds

Untreated wood is preferred for vegetable gardens instead of pressure-treated. Redwood and cedar are rot-resistant and durable timber that can perform well for many years. No matter what wood you use, avoid chemically treated boards that can leach into garden soil. If you want to paint the beds, choose an eco-friendly, high-quality, and weather-resistant stain. Also, we recommend buying at least a two-inch thick board as they would be more long-lasting.

Metal Raised Beds

Metal beds are the most durable and able to last a lifetime. They add a sleek, modern touch to your landscape. The soil in metal beds warms up faster than in wood beds in spring. You can choose the color and shape of beds that coordinate with existing elements of your home. DripWorks offers a wide range of metal raised beds in various shapes and colors.

Stone or Block Raised Beds

Stones and blocks make excellent, long-lasting raised garden bed frames. They can handle any temperature, water intake, and humidity levels. You can stack stones to different heights to build tiered beds.

Ideal Raised Bed Dimensions

Raised beds are an expression of your creativity and style. You can build your raised beds to any size that suits your space or garden style. Here are the ideal length, height, and width considerations.

Ideal Raised Bed Width

A raised garden bed between 3 and 4 feet wide is good. A bed wider than 4.5 feet will make plants in the center of the bed difficult to reach.

Ideal Raised Bed Length

The length is usually determined by the available garden space. However, the recommended length for raised beds is 5 to 8 feet. If your raised bed is longer than 8 feet, the soil weight could cause it to break in corners.

Ideal Raised Bed Height

The height of the raised garden bed should be tall enough to hold the entire root ball of your plants. The minimum height is 6 inches. 10-12 inches depth is preferable.

Prepare the Ground for the Raised Bed Garden

The best location for raised garden beds is a flat, level surface with good drainage. Remove any rocks, debris, or sticks from the ground and level it. Lay the bed frames in your chosen location for your raised garden before filling them with soil. Leave enough space between raised bed frames to walk or drive a mower.

The distance between your raised beds should be even so it does not look sloppy. If your ground isn't level, the raised bed frame will not sit level with the ground and can move back and forth.

Before filling your beds with soil, take time to level the ground and dig out any high areas until the frame is sitting firmly from all sides. Remember that once you fill your raised garden bed, it is highly difficult to move it.

How to Fill the Raised Bed Garden

Start filling your raised garden bed with a layer of cardboard, newspaper, or durable landscape fabric. These work as natural weed barriers that will decompose and compost over time. The cardboard or fabric layer will help suffocate and kill the weeds but allow water to drain.

The Soil for Raised Bed Gardens

The best soil for your raised bed garden is well-draining, nutrient-rich, and moisture-rich soil. You can get pre-mixed raised bed garden soil from the local garden store.

Here's the preferred soil mixture when filling the raised bed with soil.

50% topsoil
25% compost
25% organic matter

This means it is not recommended to only use topsoil. Why? Topsoil can have heavier density, and its compaction can cause drainage issues. Additionally, topsoil lacks the nutrients necessary to grow a healthy garden, which compost can fix.

Add this soil mixture to your raised bed garden. Use a hoe or your hands to mix the soil and compost mixture. Remember to wear durable garden gloves to prevent your hands from being damaged. Mix the soil and spread it evenly across the raised garden.

How to Plant in Raised Garden Bed

Now, your raised bed garden is ready for planting. You can put plants in your raised bed garden depending on the bed size and the plant's spacing requirements. When planting in raised beds, make sure the plants are not overcrowded because crowded plants don't reach their full potential due to poor air circulation and nutrient competition.

Below are some tips to follow when planting in a raised bed garden:

Use the square foot method to divide your growing area evenly. Square-foot gardening involves dividing the raised bed into small square-foot sections. Mark every square foot with rock and then plant into each square. This technique will result in densely planted raised garden beds.
Grow plants with similar days to maturity in the same raised beds. Plant multiple crops in your raised bed throughout the growing season to make the most of your space.
To maximize your growing space, grow plants down the size of a bed and vertically using trellises, cages, and arches.
Plant vining or climbing plants near corners or edges of your beds and allow them to cascade over the bedside. Cucumbers, winter squash, and nasturtiums are all perfect choices for it. The foliage and vines spilling out the side of the bed look pretty.

Seeding

You can start your garden with seeds to try new plant varieties. Root crops, beans, cucumbers, squash, corn, and peas are among the vegetables that can be planted directly from seeds. It's best to direct-sow their seeds because they are difficult to transplant.

Transplanting

Most vegetables you want to grow can be started directly from seeds, but sometimes, it is best to start with a seedling. Transplanting reduces the time to harvest by at least a month or more. You can purchase seedlings from your local garden center.

What to Plant in Raised Garden Beds

A raised bed garden is meant to be planted intensively with your favorite plants. Choose plants you love because growing the crops you enjoy eating will make this process more fun and exciting.

You can grow any type of vegetables in raised beds. Raised beds are perfect for growing edible plants like leafy greens, root crops, herbs, and fruit. The goal of intensive planting is to grow many plants in a small space and fill each garden bed with various veggies, herbs, and flowers.

When choosing the plants for your raised bed garden:

Consider your climate and choose plants best suited for your area. Different plants grow well in different climates.
If you're a beginner gardener, choose easy-to-grow plants that require less maintenance. Some popular options include lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, radishes, green beans, and spinach.
Think about the size of your raised garden bed and choose plants that can comfortably fit in it. Look for plants that don't take up much space for smaller raised beds, like cherry tomatoes and herbs.
Go for plants that have a short growing season.

How to Water a Raised Bed Garden

Plants love deep watering, which only a drip irrigation system can provide. Raised garden bed drip irrigation systems offer the most efficient way to water your plants. This system delivers water directly to plants' roots in controlled and precise amounts.

Using a hose nozzle is an easy but time-consuming way to water a raised bed garden. When watering with a nozzle or by hand, avoid spraying foliage and keep water close to the soil level.

Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Raised Bed Garden

Beginner gardeners make some common mistakes when starting a raised bed garden. Here are those mistakes to avoid so you can create a successful garden.

Don't choose a location that doesn't receive a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight daily, or you can only grow shade-loving plants.
Avoid choosing a low-lying area with poor drainage, as it can result in water accumulation and root damage.
Not leveling the raised garden bed frame before filling it with soil is another common mistake gardeners make.
Don't make the garden bed extra wide so you can't reach the center.
Not adding layers of cardboard or landscape fabric at the bottom of the bed is also a mistake to avoid. This will allow weeds and grass to grow in the garden soil.
Avoid making the raised bed frame from pressure-treated lumber. It can leach toxins into your garden soil.

There you have- a complete guide to starting a raised bed garden. Building a raised bed garden is the easiest and fastest way for beginners to start gardening. All you need is fresh soil, building materials, and a few hours to create your raised bed garden. Making a little effort to build it will give you lots of growing space with the best soil, save you tons of weeding, and give you high-quality yields.