Raised bed vegetable gardening can help you...

... overcome thin or poorly drained soil and make life easier.

Raised bed vegetable gardening starts with planning your bed layout to make best use of the space you have and your local conditions.

Choose between raised earth or board-edged beds.

Mark out the pathways and structures on site.

The choice of path is important and in all cases should enable access when the soil is wet - a key benefit of the bed system that needs planning for.

Construction of raised beds can commence when the layout is outlined on the cleared ground.

- Raised earth beds, without a border, are made by digging the bed, even adding soil from the paths, and the profile becomes raised over time.

- Raised board edged beds are made a follows;

Obtain some boards that are roughly 2-3cm thick and 10-20cm wide - depending how deep you want your raised bed. Cut them so you have two ends (bed width) and two sides (bed length) for each bed.

Nail/ screw a pointed 5cm square post at each end of the side pieces. Starting on one side, drive the posts into the soil with a hammer. Attach an end and then attach the other side, finishing with the opposite end which is attached to the two sides.

raised bed construction

Proceed in phases a few beds at a time, do not overdo it. The construction phase is worth all the effort, but does take time and energy initially.

Bed soil preparation

Carefully dig over the earth in the bed, loosening the sub-soil if it is compacted/ tight and adding a liberal amount of compost or well-rotted manure. This will probably be the only time you will dig the bed at depth.

Dig out 5-10cm of the top soil from the adjacent path(s) and add this soil to the bed, breaking it up and consolidating the soil with a fork.

Note: if your soil is in good condition not only is the process easier but you won't have to dig the bed and can just add top soil from the paths to build up depth. Do still add compost or manure.

For more information on raised bed vegetable gardening

if you are planning doing raised bed vegetable gardening

if you want to start with less effort try flat beds instead

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