So you have decided to build yourself a raised bed or two to grow your own vegetables in. it is one of the better ways of gardening and something I have done for years. One of the main reasons I have built raised beds is that after you have built it then, on the whole, the hard work is done. I garden in my High Density raised beds mostly on my knees and I just use a hand trowel to dig the soil mix over. The main reason for this is that I find now that I am getting older that my back is not as strong as it used to be and I have to keep a supply of prescription painkillers in the house as I know if I do any hard gardening my back will give me a lot of pain.
What do you want to build your raised beds from? Well technically you do not need raised beds just beds between paths you walk on and can work from but it is far better to clearly define your beds with some form of edging but what exactly. I have seen them built out of all sorts of materials but some are better than others. In fact I have seen some raised beds which are not raised at all but just have a small timber border to separate the bed from the path. This is fine but it does not allow you to get the depth of the fine soil mix in the bed which is one of the main advantages.
My view is that it is often best to build them out of something you already have and I have seen bricks used to great effect as well as cinder blocks and if you have these lying around then use them. I feel we all should recycle products where we can.
I have also seen a raised bed built with empty wine bottles with the necks buried in the ground. Whilst I suppose this is a novel use for old bottles, (and fits in with my recycling ethic), I feel bottles may not be sensible. There is a danger of breaking g them and that may mean you end up with glass in your raised beds and even worse there is always the possibility of glass in your vegetables.
I think just about the best material you can use is timber to make your raised beds. Mine are made from 1 inch thick by 6 inches deep softwood timber which has been treated using a "safe" timber treatment. I only expect them to last about 5 years before they need replacing. If you buy timber which has been treated check very carefully what it has been treated with as you do not want toxic chemicals next to your growing vegetables as there is always the possibility that some plants could absorb some chemicals so just be aware of this.
The best kind of timber is a hardwood which does not need treating, something like Cedar. My brother who lives in Australia has just had his house re clad with new timber and he had used the old cladding to build his raised beds. The timber they took off was Cedar which had been imported from the US and had not been treated so was the perfect thing to build his beds with.
He now has his own High Density Garden using raised beds and for the first time in his life is growing his own vegetables. He is amazed at how well he is doing and tells me he is always referring to his copy of the e-book I gave him on how to grow things and what to do when something occasionally goes wrong as things do sometimes.
Ric Wiley is an internet writer and gardener. His website about High Density Gardening can be found at http://www.highdensitygardening.com/home.html and his latest ebook is High Density Gardening which can be found at http://www.highdensitygardening.com
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