How to Build a Raised Bed
Creating raised beds:
Raised beds will not only give any garden a look of sophistication, there are practical benefits to having them in your garden.
Firstly, they make making your plants easier to reach and maintain. This improves your drainage capacity, particularly if you have a small garden or live in an area with a lot of rain. Raised beds can be particularly useful to plant life if you have large trees nearby that could interfere with the smaller delicate roots of nearby plants on the ground or if you have particularly rocky or hard clay soil. Whatever your reasons for building a raised bed, it will be an area to give your plants and vegetables an excellent environment to grow and thrive in.
In this blog, we will go over step by step how to create your very own raised bed at home.
What you will need:
- 4 pieces of timber
- Soil & Mulch
- Screws (approximately 3 inch screws should suffice depending on your dimensions)
- Spirit level
- Power drill or screwdriver (much slower however)
- Plants of your choice
Measure your plot & plan ahead:
When planning to create a raised bed, consider how big you want the bed to be and how high you want to raise it. How much sunlight will reach it is also important to consider, more natural sunlight going to your plants the better.
Clear & prepare the ground area:
Before you start to build your raised bed, the ground you want to build it upon should be cleared of any debris and levelled off to make the bed as level as possible. This should be done prior to building the bed, otherwise the completed bed will have to be moved after being built which can be very heavy and a task you want to avoid.
You should be fine if you have turf growing where the raised bed will be, in this case ensure that any perennial weeds are removed to prevent them from growing in your raised bed.
Source your materials & cut to size & assemble the frame:
Once you have your ideal raised bed in mind, measure up your timber and cut to size if necessary.
*Top tip, raised beds are excellent chance to recycle old timber such as old pallets you may have lying around if you have ordered from us!
Joining the timber is a fairly simple process, simply screw together to ensure that your timber resembles a rectangular bed frame. Drilling a pilot hole before the screw will help prevent any of the wood from splitting and using a counter sync drill bit will help ensure the screw does not 'stick out' and sits flush with the frame for a professional finish.
Once all 4 pieces are joined, double check that your bed is sitting level with a spirit level, If uneven, you can avoid having to disassemble any pieces by slightly digging down on one side to help ensure that the raised bed will sit level on the ground.
Fill the bed:
Now your bed is in place and built to your specification, fill with your choice of soil. A mixture of topsoil and compost will give any plants you choose to grow a fantastic environment to thrive in.
Want to get building your own raised bed? Why not check out our topsoil & compost products to get your raised bed off the ground?
