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Raised bed garden styles are a smart choice for any backyard gardener. The beds offer multiple benefits, including better gopher protection and the ability to customize the heights to make gardening a more back-friendly chore.
If you are planning your summer vegetable garden, we recommend considering raised bed gardening techniques to make the most of your landscape.
In case you aren’t familiar with the concept, raised beds are built from wood, stone, repurposed materials - virtually any other solid, sturdy material that is dirt and plant-friendly as well as water-resistant. Instead of planting directly in the ground, you add the soil and soil amendments of your choice to the beds and plant your garden within the beds’ boundaries.
Before you start building - or buying - raised beds, there are a few things to think about.
Most raised beds are still pretty low to the ground, anywhere from 24-inches or so to as high as you’d like them. If you are taller, or 50+ years old, we recommend raising your raised bed garden higher than most standard beds. This minimizes strain on the lower back when weeding, harvesting, and working in the beds.
Many people like to have their beds at a height where they can comfortably sit down in a chair or on a bench as they work. Extra-raised beds are especially helpful for seniors or anyone else who benefits from an accessible garden.
We highly recommend investing in high-quality, meaning longer-lasting, materials. The money you save by purchasing cheaper wood or fasteners will be spent over and over again in repairs, wood/bed siding replacement, rot, etc.
Other considerations around materials include:
If you’re a DIYer, there are plenty of easy-to-build raised gardening plans online. Your professional landscape company may offer to construct them for you, and they or your local nursery/garden supply store probably have people they can refer you to. You can also purchase pre-built boxes in standard sizes for instant garden bed “construction”.
Portable garden beds are smaller in perimeter size so they can be easily moved to different locations using a furniture dolly. The bigger the beds, the more permanent they are because it’s too difficult to move them once they’re filled with soil. And, of course, you can also have a mix of each. Portable beds are helpful if you want to grow both summer and winter vegetables because they help you find the perfect locations for different veggies based on their sun/shade needs.
If gophers are an issue, invest in gopher wire and install it securely at the base of the beds, above the ground, to keep gophers from getting in. Garden cloth is a cheaper option but we’ve found that gophers can eventually chew/shred it over time, so we always recommend more durable gopher wire instead.
If you’d like your raised garden beds to have a stylish look or streamlined design that matches your architecture and existing landscape, the world is your oyster.
SAFETY NOTE: Make sure the materials you use are worthy of growing edible plants. Pressure-treated wood, old tires, and things like that leach noxious chemicals into the soil over time. In addition to threatening your plant life, these chemicals can make their way into the veggies and herbs you plan to eat, and that’s not good for anyone. Check with a garden or landscape design specialist to make sure you have selected sustainable, earth-friendly (and plant-friendly) materials.
Now, onto some suggestions for raised bed gardening styles:
If you’ll be using the beds alongside your patio or wall, and you want them to be more permanent, you can build them using bricks, stone, or pavers - designed to match your home or other landscape features. By laying a foundation of cement or masonry, you also create a serious pest barrier, especially if gophers, voles, and moles are an issue in your area.
Make sure to think about water drainage. And, if there’s space, you may want to consider building a wide, bench-sized edge to accommodate seating.
Sheet metal makes fantastic garden bed siding. The beds can be square, rectangular or round - and you can even get more creative than that if you’re working with a professional metalworker who can shape them to your specifications.
Metal has some benefits in the Bay Area because it optimizes available sunlight, keeping the soil warmer during the winter, spring, and cooler early summer months. Sheet metal develops a beautiful patina over time, or you can paint them the color(s) of your choice.
Do you want to optimize the harvest in your kitchen garden? You may like square foot garden beds, that divide rectangular raised gardening beds into even 1-foot by 1-foot squares. Visit squarefootgardening.org for more details on the methodology and for DIY plans you or your favorite contractor can use to get yours built this spring.
Is your backyard or garden area on the smaller side? Spiral garden beds - often constructed of stone - are a smart concept. They are popular with permaculture enthusiasts, who maximize planting square footage while minimizing earth disturbance.
The Bay Area is known for its hilly terrain, which forces sloped landowners to get creative. Raised beds are the perfect solution because they can be built to accommodate the slope while remaining leveled on top. They also help to reduce soil erosion.
Are you a renter? Want an instantaneous raised bed? Visit your local feed store and get a deal on their livestock troughs. These galvanized steel tubs are fantastic as raised beds. They can be set along the edge of a fence or your siding - and trellises can be installed behind them to support climbers. Just remember to give them an extra dose of water on hot/sunny days because the metal conducts heat that can dry the plants out sooner.
There are plenty of ways to use recycled or repurposed materials. For example, castoff cinder blocks can be used to create a circular bed or “corral” by stacking the blocks in alternating patterns. The center is filled with soil as the main bed, and the open spaces in the cinder blocks of the top row can be planted with flowers, strawberries, or other small plants. Because concrete leeches lime over time, these planters can lead to alkaline soil pH levels. So, choose plants accordingly or use your garden center’s soil sampling services to test soil each year and add acidic amendments as needed.
Are you ready to integrate raised gardening beds into your landscape? Contact the team at Bay Area Landscapes and we’ll help you design beds that are customized to your home, garden space, and needs.