How to Build a Raised Garden Bed

House
Create your beds someplace that gets at minimum five to 6 hours of day-to-day sunlight — the much more, the superior! Orient them north to south to prevent crops from shading each and every other out. Beds must be at the very least a foot extensive, nevertheless no a lot more than 4 feet across to make weeding and harvesting workable. Six to 8 ft extensive is usual and price-successful. Ten to 14 inches is an suitable peak to accommodate sturdy roots. Go away at minimum 2 or 3 ft in between beds for strolling and wheelbarrow access.

Wood
The brilliance of a plank-and-rebar layout (see over) is that every individual wall is simply replaced. Consider normally rot-resistant versions of wood, this kind of as oak, cedar, and redwood.

Soil
You want the kind which is darkish, prosperous, and loaded with microorganisms. Fill your beds with a combine of 50 to 60% fantastic-good quality topsoil and 40 to 50% effectively-aged compost. Prior to each and every new growing season, exam your soil for pH and nutrient content material. You can purchase a package at most dwelling-enhancement stores. If your exam reveals a want for extra vitamins and minerals like nitrogen and potassium, raise amounts by working in amendments such as bone food and kelp. Dress beds with an further ½ inch of compost afterwards in the expanding period to boost natural and organic matter and raise soil well being.

Vegetation
If you are constructing your beds in high summertime, it’s not far too late to plant drop crops. Sow seeds like carrots and lettuce right into the soil, or invest in midseason transplants for crops like kale and broccoli. If you’d instead wait until eventually upcoming year to plant, protect the soil in your new elevated beds with a mixture of grass clippings and shredded leaves in autumn — the materials will compost before you’re prepared to start out in spring.

Drinking water
Lifted beds have fantastic drainage, which is good for plant wellbeing, but they dry out speedily. Give your vegetation a prolonged consume in the early night, but test them once more on warm summer time afternoons. If the soil is dry, it is a serious scorcher exterior, or you live in a scorching and arid climate, drinking water yet again. A programmable drip-irrigation process (check out a starter kit from dripworks.com) is affordable and convenient, offering dependable dampness straight to plant roots. Devote in a timer component to conserve money and water.