Modern Raised Garden Bed Ideas. You may make as basic or sophisticated a raised bed as you like. For perennial plants to settle in and mature, a raised bed planter might be permanent.
Raised beds are no more expensive to maintain than traditional gardens once they’ve been installed, however the initial cost of getting them up will depend on how complicated you make them. There are a lot of advantages to using them.
What Are Raised Beds?
Garden plants have traditionally been grown in the soil’s surface layers. Surrounding ground that has been uncultivated and compacted over many years is commonly used to hold in place the loosened soil in these garden beds.
To hold the soil in planting sites above ground level, raised beds utilise hard, artificial barriers.
These elevated vegetable beds were once considered simply rustic garden features, but they have since earned a deserved reputation as modern garden design elements.
The purpose of the beds you select will determine their height. You may simply need to increase the depth by 10 cm where your soil is shallow.
You’ll need a minimum of 15cm soil depth to grow anything (and likely more for most plants) if there isn’t any soil, such as when raised beds are constructed on a patio.
Beds up to 0.7m high are preferred for gardeners with bad backs or who want the higher beds to double as seats in tiny gardens. Depending on how tall you are, around 0.4-0.5 meters is an ideal seat height.
Advantages of Raised Beds
The benefits of raised beds are numerous, whatever shape they take:
You can construct a raised bed of your choosing and fill it with high-quality soil and compost if you have low-quality or polluted soil on your property. This is far more simple than restoring the original soil for home-level gardening.
Building a raised bed is likely to be safe if you don’t have authorization to dig in your yard.
Raised beds can be used to revive barren concrete surfaces and transform them into gardens, without the need for destruction.
Raised beds are more difficult to protect from both wild and domestic animals than common ground-level garden beds in the majority of situations. They’re also easier to keep safe from cold weather.
Gardening in raised beds is much more convenient for your back, especially if you are tall.
By reconditioning/upcycling items like wheelbarrows and worn tires, you may be able to construct planting beds, which is a way of addressing the global waste crisis.
Try These Raised Garden Bed Ideas
Raised garden beds give you easier control over soil composition and access to your plants, among other advantages.
Yet, raised beds can be beautiful as well as functional. Using your creativity to make raised beds that fit your environment is the only true guideline for gardening with raised beds.
You may construct DIY elevated beds for a low cost, or purchase pre-made elevated bed kits.
The organised, formal design that raised bed potagers, or kitchen gardens, can bring to a setting may be seen in the example above. Years of growing success are guaranteed by simple wood frames made from rot-resistant lumber.
Intenplanting, succession planting, and square-foot gardening are all things that can be done with raised beds. Keep scrolling for more raised garden bed ideas.
MAKE CURVED RAISED GARDEN BEDS WITH STEEL
Steel is a great choice for DIY elevated garden beds because it is versatile and will develop a lovely patina with time.
You may use the leftovers to make custom elevated beds for your veggies if you purchase steel edging as part of your garden edging ideas.
Corrugated Metal
For raised garden beds, corrugated metal is a common material. The metal and wood frame contrast is striking.
Painting or staining the wood frame a hue that you like or matches your exterior design allows you to inject your own personality and style into this project.
Custom-Designed Raised Beds
It is possible to install raised bed gardens in practically any location. You may build an complete garden sitting area with a little imagination.
Peter Donegan Landscaping designed this multi-level raised bed with basic straight lines. It comes with a potting shed and lamppost, as well as a black-and-white fence.
You may use the outdoor dining area by adding a bench component, such as the one at the end of the front bed. This garden will assume a natural, rustic appearance as the plants fill in and the wood weathers.
Concrete
When building a raised garden bed, concrete is a great material to work with. You can create concrete into whatever form you want by mixing your own cement and creating a mold, and it comes in a variety of different forms.
Cinder blocks are readily available and may be used to create a raised garden bed.
Simple Cedar Garden Boxes
If you’re looking for a straightforward, uncluttered aesthetic, this might be the right one for you. Lean the garden against the fence for support. Another advantage of this design is that it prevents you from experiencing back pain.
Since the garden is elevated, you won’t have to bow as much because it’s not level. Since it is visually appealing and prevents rot, cedar is a building material.
CREATE A MINI WILDLIFE GARDEN
Why not create a mini wildlife garden using a raised garden bed? For smaller gardens that don’t have the room for a meadow or garden pond, this concept is ideal.
All you have to do is choose between a veggie and a wildlife-friendly idea bed.
Within a raised garden bed, you’ll need to utilize a garden pond liner from Amazon(opens in new tab) to avoid the wood from rotting if you decide to build a garden pond inside.
Simple raised bed with 4×4 posts
Using 4×4 posts and 2×6 boards, a basic wood-framed bed is constructed. For years of gardening, cedar and redwood are naturally rot-resistant wood choices. (Photo: Vegetable Gardener)
As you can see, the hardware cloth protects the plants from being eaten by pests like gophers.
COMBINE VEGETABLE RAISED GARDEN BEDS WITH TROPICAL PLANTS
It may come as a surprise to learn that it is feasible to mix your elevated garden beds for veggies with tropical plants, and this trend is certainly popular right now.
Tomatoes, which come from tropical jungles and will flourish alongside a banana palm in the same garden, are particularly suited for this kind of cultivation.
Roland Oehme created this gorgeous tropical-themed garden with raised beds.
Contemporary full sun backyard concrete paver raised garden bed
The naturalistic and contemporary plantings will blur the lines of formality and rigidity in this contemporary garden by using this raised bed concept. The structure will be held together year-round by the design of landscaping.
Using ornamental plants, flowers, or even vegetables or herbs, you may experiment with this type of the raised garden bed.
To get the same effect in the picture inspirations, simply choose the tree you desire in the center of the bed.
PAINT YOUR RAISED GARDEN BED FOR A MODERN LOOK
Take a wooden crate and paint it with the finest paint for wood you can locate, and this is easily the simplest elevated garden bed concept ever.
With this simple DIY, you’ll have no trouble coming up with new ideas. Use paint appropriate for the outdoors for optimum results. Make you is a song written by Matt White, and performed by Ellie Goulding.
Two Tier Garden Beds
One of the themes that will help your garden stand out from the rest is this one. The garden has a staircase appearance due to its two-tiered design.
The ability to group plants based on their height is what makes the design so unique. For example, you might put the taller plants on the bottom layer while leaving the lower layer empty for the smaller plants.
Large contemporary backyard gravel raised garden bed
With a huge gravel garden bed, this concept reflects current gravel backyard design.
You can utilize the technique of constructing a raised garden bed on top of the truck if your yard includes more gravel and appears to be difficult to farm vegetables or plants.
All you have to do is adjust the bed size and height to suit your garden’s needs. Next, stuff the lining with compost and soil before placing it inside.
You can choose between planting veggies, flowers, or other plants that will add to the appeal of your outdoor space.
EVERGREEN STRUCTURE FOR AN ARCHITECTURAL GARDEN
In garden design, evergreen plants are undervalued. They create a green backdrop for other plants throughout the winter by providing form. Fences are also hidden, and privacy is improved.
To paint the walls and fences with color, we utilized yew (taxus baccata) and bay trees (laurus nobilis).
In the borders, we also planted box, lady fern, festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue,’ and black grass Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescens.
MAKE A STATEMENT WITH STONE
According to the team at Bradstone(opens in new tab), ‘edible gardens and outdoor living space are destined to be all the rage this year.’
Homeowners are increasingly designing distinct zones for various uses, as well as locations where home-grown produce may be kept from the elements, in split-level gardens.’
Raised beds, according to the experts, can help you embrace these important themes. All you have to do is integrate a clever bench, as seen above, and mix them with your garden wall ideas.
If you prefer an informal environment and want a drystone design for your plot, there are other more sleek options available.
The seating location will be even more of a delight to utilize if the beds are filled with fragrant rosemary or gorgeous, decorative veggies.
Old Automobile Tire Raised Bed
One of the simplest types of raised beds you can build is a used car tire raised bed.
Several will utilize them simply because they are so simple to convert into beds, despite the fact that they are popular among gardeners who are more environmentally friendly and like upcycling.
While the rest of the process is simple – you simply place a tire on the ground and fill it with dirt – this specific lesson necessitates some cutting (and tires may be difficult to carve through!). You can give it a more polished appearance by painting it.
Several people build raised beds by simply placing, painting, and filling with soil without using any tools.
Cutting one sidewall of the tire to utilize the whole top surface for planting is an additional step suggested in this particular tutorial. The unused sidewall serves as a functional tree ring.
If not covered by a light-colored cover, it might leach harmful chemicals (debatable) and overheat in the sun.
Pallet Boxes | Raised Garden Beds
Pallets may be used to make your elevated garden beds if you want a rustic option. Most hardware shops, as well as online shopping, have pallets available for free or at a low cost.
Remove the pallets from the pallet boxes and then cut them to size before you start making them.
Next, connect the boards with screws or nails. You can sand and paint the boxes before filling them with soil if you want a more polished look.
Pallet boxes have a natural appearance that matches with many design types, making them ideal for contemporary dwellings. Moreover, they are simple to construct and may be customized to meet your needs.
PICK THE OPTIMUM POSITION
A fantastic addition to any landscaping plans is raised garden beds. The best location, however, depends on what you want to cultivate.
From full sun to complete shade, each plant requires different levels of light.
Leafy greens, broad beans, carrots, and beetroot (see how to cultivate beetroot in our article) are exceptions; they will grow in a little amount of shade. You’ll need plenty of sunshine for the majority of the day for most vegetables.