Raised garden beds to grow your own vegetables is one of the improved ways of gardening. It is also easier for the elderly to maintain the raised garden beds as the plants can be planted and soil mixture dug at the required height so that people with back pain need not bend too much. Once the raised bed is complete then on the whole, the tough work is done.
Ways to build raised garden beds
There are many ways you can build raised garden beds, whether it is a raised vegetable garden bed or a raised flower bed. Some materials available to create a raised bed are better than others in terms of quality, strength and texture. Sometimes the beds are not raised at all but they have a small timber edging to separate the bed from the path. This method of creating raised beds does not give an advantage of depth of the soil mix in which the plants will grow.
Many reusable materials can be used to create the raised beds and this will also help the environment in recycling the unused materials. We might find brick blocks or cinder blocks around and they can be used to build the same effectively. You may also help your neighbors with their discarded materials to be used for your raised garden beds.
Some creative ideas can be used to select the materials like using old empty bottles buried to the neck in the soil as a raised bed. But you need to be careful while using them as they may break into small pieces with the possibility of them getting into the soil. Bottles are also very effectively used in Hydroponic Bottle Gardening.
Treated timber I think is the best material to be incorporated in your raised bed garden plans. Usually treated timber beds last for around five years before they need to be replaced. Also make sure to confirm that toxic chemicals are not used to treat timber as the harmful chemicals may leech into the soil and finally be absorbed by the growing vegetables in the raised bed making them unfit for consumption.
There is a type of hardwood timber called Cedar which does not need treating and can be used without any chemicals. Old discarded timber from houses can be used for this purpose if someone has refurbished their house.
Check the following video on building and constructing a raised garden bed.
