How to Plant a Vegetable Garden in Raised Beds

Planting a garden in several raised beds is the best way to use a small space and eliminate back injuries associated with gardening. A raised vegetable garden allows a gardener to pick produce and to weed at waist height or higher, reducing the need to hunch over or get down on the ground.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Brick or stone
• Railroad ties or sawn logs
• Mortar
• Tie rods
• Enriched soil mix
• Trellis

1. Design the raised bed garden to a height that is specific to the intended gardener. Make the garden any shape, rectangular or circular, depending on the materials to use.

2. Build the walls of the raised beds with brick, stone, railroad ties, sawn logs or concrete block to at least 12 inches high. Place 2 inches of gravel under the base of any wood or concrete. Use mortar in the corners of the beds and tie rods drilled into stacked railroad ties, where necessary, for stability.

3. Make the raised beds narrow enough so you can reach the middle of the bed from both sides. The normal size for a raised bed is 4 by 4 feet or 3 by 9 feet. Make the paths between beds wide enough to allow room for a wheelbarrow to pass through.

4. Place the raised beds in an area that gets direct sunlight. Fill the beds with an enriched soil mix, free of weed seeds, to about 2 inches below the top of the bed. Add lots of organic matter to the soil mix to minimize bed shrinkage.

5. Put a narrow raised bed under the kitchen window. Add a simple trellis and plant pole beans or tomatoes to climb just outside the window.

6. Use uniform, dense spacing when planting in the vegetable bed to suppress weed germination during later months.

7. Water a raised bed vegetable garden more frequently than a standard garden.

Tips & Warnings

• Plant a raised vegetable garden bed for a grandparent or friend in a wheelchair that enjoys gardening.

• Raised beds freeze faster than the surrounding ground and heat up faster during spring thaw.

Resources

• Make a bamboo trellis
• Grow cherry tomatoes
• Choose soil amendments