How to build a raised garden bed?

A raised bed not only offers older people the opportunity to garden in a way that is easy on their backs but is also the ideal location for warmth-loving plants. Now is the time to start building it. Find out what you should consider here. In the following article, we get to know about How to make a raised garden bed? So please don’t skip the article from anywhere and read it carefully because it will benefit you guys.

Size and location to build a raised garden bed

If you are planning to build a raised bed, you should choose an east-west orientation for the location so that you can make the most of the sun’s rays. While the length of the bed is entirely up to your ideas, you should consider your height when deciding on the width.

It is essential that you can comfortably reach the center of the bed from both sides. You can use 130 centimeters or twice the length of your arm as a guideline. The usual height is 60 to 80 centimeters. However, you can also adapt these to your own needs. You can also “learn” a raised bed against a wall or a slope, but don’t forget that in this case, you can only work on it from one side. It should therefore be built much narrower than a free-standing raised bed.

Materials to build a raised garden bed

The most popular material for raised beds is wood. However, this should be impregnated. Otherwise, it will rot too quickly. A biologically compatible impregnation agent protects the environment and prevents unwanted substances from being deposited in the soil that the vegetables could later absorb. Woods made from larch, Robinia, and Douglas fir have proven to be particularly suitable, as these are inherently very resistant.

In addition to boards or round timber, materials such as stone or corrugated iron can also be used. Here you can be entirely inspired by your taste and financial resources.

Building to build a raised garden bed

First of all, you dig a pit in the appropriate width and depth of 20 to 30 centimeters. If these are laid out with close-meshed wire, mice and other rodents have little chance of later using the raised bed as comfortable accommodation. Depending on your unique ideas, the framework is then set up. You can protect the wood used inside by covering it with a pond liner or other foil. Then they do not come into direct contact with the earth and do not rot as quickly. In addition, in hot summers, the moisture in the raised bed does not evaporate quite as fast through the side walls.

Filling

The inner workings of a raised bed are primarily made up of different layers. These are 25 to 40 centimeters thick. At the very bottom, you start with coarse branches and shrub pruning. This achieves good ventilation and thus better rotting of the following layers. The crude material is followed by a mix of leaves, healthy green waste, and fine shrub pruning. This should be condensed a little by stepping firmly.

If you create your raised bed on a previously not cultivated area, you can also work in the dug grass sods in this layer. These are reversed, i.e., laid out with the green facing down. However, you should make sure that there is no couch grass underneath. The successive layers follow coarse compost, garden soil, and a mix of fine compost and garden soil.

Planting and care

Immediately after construction, the raised bed contains most of the nutrients. It is, therefore, best suited for heavy eaters such as cabbage, celery, cucumber, zucchini, leek, or tomatoes. The nutrients decrease noticeably from the third year onwards, and you should now also grow low-consumption foods such as spinach and lettuce. During the time, however, the content of the raised bed sinks a bit. This loss is made up of ripe compost. However, the content should be renewed after about six years. However, the soil still contains enough nutrients to use as a soil improver in the rest of the garden.

Because a raised bed heats up faster due to its exposed location, it naturally also dries out quickly. That is why it is vital to ensure sufficient watering, especially in hot summers.

Too much work

If building a raised bed is too much work and too strenuous for you, you can create a raised bed as an alternative. The layers are placed on top of one another in the form of an artificial hill. Here, too, the first step is to dig a pit. So that one side of the hill bed is not shaded too much.

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