Are you looking for different, fun, or creative ways to plant a garden in your yard? Are you worried about your "less-than-ideal" soil grounds not being able to hold up a garden for long? Well, raised bed garden might be the perfect answer for you!
A raised bed garden is an above-ground, added garden space. It can range from custom, no-rot wood boxes to simple bags of soil poked with holes to a pre-made, inexpensive kit made from recycled plastic from your local Walmart.
These easy-to-use beds meet their maximum potential when they are placed in a location with over 6 hours of sunlight per day, filled with good soil, and receive great drainage.
It doesn’t matter if you have overly wet areas or contaminated soil with weed-infested areas, these beds are detached and above ground! Their height will allow them to warm up earlier in the Spring and become easier to protect in the falling temperatures of Autumn with row covers and other coverings. Beds have proven to maintain soil health, structure, and drainage as potential threats of garden-eating insects, like slugs, will be held off and the risk of walking on or compacting with heavy tools will be decreased.
Here are some materials and tips you can use to make your perfect raised bed gardens:
Straw Bales: Make a square, rectangle or any other shape and fill it in with the soil of your choice
Baby Pools: Poke holes in the bottom to ensure excellent drainage, fill with soil, and there you go!
Milk Crates: Line with landscape fabric and soil. Portable and perfect!
Brick or blocks: Create the desired shape and height, and fill with amended soil.
Logs and branches: Use stakes to weave and stabilize branches, or use logs. You may want to line with landscape fabric if wash out is a concern.
Livestock water troughs: Ensure proper drainage before filling with soil.
Wood scraps: You can use upcycled wood, but keep in mind that only treated wood will not rot over time.
You can easily use iScape to plan your raised bed garden too! Just snap a photo of the area, or use the powerful new Augmented Reality feature to see how it will look in your space. It’s easy! iScape it! Download the app here.
