How To Avoid 5 Common Mistakes And Build The Best Raised Garden Beds
Want to know how to build the best raised beds for your vegetables? Learn how to avoid these 5 mistakes that gardeners are making with raised garden beds.
Thinking about building your own raised garden beds? But worried you’re going to waste time and money if you don’t build them right or fill them with the wrong soil?
Or maybe you’ve built some in the past that just didn’t work out.
Raised garden beds are preferable to simply creating a bed in the ground for the following reasons:
- better drainage
- easier access
- control over quality of the soil
- warms up faster
- more aesthetically pleasing if made from the right materials
So what do you have to keep in mind when designing and building a raised garden bed or two?
Are there some mistakes you might make that you will regret later?
Keep reading to learn how avoid those mistakes in the first place.
Using pressure-treated lumber
This is a bit of a controversial topic. The manufacturers of pressure-treated (PT) lumber want you to think that today’s PT lumber is safe, even for raised garden beds that grow edibles. They say that the chemicals in the lumber are locked in and don’t leach out even in very wet soil.
However do you really want to take a chance with your family’s health? It just takes one family member who has a repressed immune system or a young child to fall sick. There are so many other alternatives that in my opinion using PT lumber for raised garden beds that will grow food crops just isn’t worth the risk.
I would still use PT lumber for fence posts and other posts that will be set in concrete in the ground. And PT lumber should be used for deck framing as it is stronger than cedar or redwood. However you need to make sure that any edible plants are planted at least a few feet away.
So what are the alternatives?
I wrote an article on The Best Lumber To Use In The Garden which lists all of the pros and cons of common lumber you could use outdoors. Then you can chose the lumber that meets your needs and budget.
Building with concrete
Concrete is relatively permanent. That’s why some gardeners think that it is the perfect material to use for a raised garden bed. After all there is nothing to rot away so these beds will last a long time.
However that reason alone makes this not a good idea. While you hope that your raised beds will never need to be moved or changed, there is a possibility that your needs change and you do decide to move a bed or change the orientation.
With concrete you are going to have to break it up with a jackhammer and sledgehammer. Back-breaking work! And what do you do with the broken up concrete? It is not that easy to recycle or reuse.
Modular raised garden beds made out of wood, bricks, cinder blocks or stone are easier to break up and you can use the materials again for new raised beds in a different location or shape. Or reuse them in another project in your garden.
Concrete also can leach a lot of lime into the ground. If you have plants that prefer acidic soil, they will not do very well.
Concrete beds also require proper reinforcing and are susceptible to cracking, especially in winter if any water gets into even a hairline crack. When that water freezes it can create a larger crack. Not easy to fix either once that has happened.
In my opinion concrete also is not aesthetically pleasing unless you face it with some other material such as stucco or veneer brick or stain it (and the stains do contain chemicals that you may not want to have close to edibles).
Making them too wide
You need to be able to reach all areas of your raised bed without having to step onto the soil. Stepping onto the soil will compact it and then you have drainage and other issues.
A standard maximum width is usually 4 feet (1.2m) assuming you can reach in from both sides of the bed. If the bed is against a fence and you only have access to one side, make the maximum 2-3 feet (0.5-1m).
Use multiple beds if you need more space, separated by a pathway. The pat