Building Raised Beds for the Market Garden
Handcrafted Wooden Raised Beds for the Posh Market Garden
I’ve always liked raised beds as they help keep the weeds at bay and add a level of order to a garden. I’ve decided to add some raised beds to our vegetable patch and use them to grow some of my flowers. We’ve not yet built out the Cut Flower section of the Market Garden so I’m still growing flowers with my veggies. I am also going to use raised beds in the soft fruit section of our garden which we are creating this year. In addition, I want to create raised beds around the Potting Shed where Andy and I will grow veggies that are intended specifically for us (veggies we enjoy eating but that weren’t as profitable for the Market Garden).
For these beds, I’m using wood scraps that were left over from constructing the exterior walls of the Potting Shed. Because they are constructed with scraps, the beds around the Potting Shed will be a variety of different sizes. To make these, I first organized the scraps into “similar-ish” sizes and divided them into sets of four. I then cut each set down so the four planks of wood were the same size. These pieces will become the walls of the raised beds and vary in length but are 1 x 6 inches in height and depth. To secure the sides and provide additional stability to the raised bed, I purchase a couple of 4 x 4 boards from Lowe’s and cut them down to 6 inches each. As I was going through our stack of scraps, I found a few other 4 x 4 pieces of wood that I can also cut down to 4 x 4 x 6 and use them as supports as well. Reusing and recycling this wood will help keep the cost of making the raised beds down, at least a wee bit. Sadly, lumber is still ridiculously expensive and I’m not seeing the cost coming down any time soon! With the 4 x 4’s cut to size it was time to assemble the beds!
When doing this, it is best to work on a level surface. The area around the Potting Shed is not level and I discovered this the hard way. That said, it is still doable, just a little more awkward in construction moves… I started out using 3-inch screws but changed over to 2 inch as the former was a bit of an over kill. To assemble, you take two of the 4 x 4 x 6 blocks and attach them to the end of a plank, once the two blocks are attached via the screws, you repeat this process again with a second plank; these are your end pieces. Next you line the third plank up to the side of the exposed 4 x 4 x 6 block; to create a clean corner and you screw it in. You repeat this step on the other side. At this point you now have three sided of your raised bed assembled and are ready to attach the last side. This is the easy part, if you are working on a level surface as you should be able to send the three sides up so the create a U shape and it should stand on its own accord. If the ground is unlevel you might have to do a bit of a balancing act. Either way, once the three sides are upright, you lay the fourth plank over the top, lining it up so you again have a clean even corner and screw it in. For added support, I use two screws one at the top and one at the bottom so each corning at the end will have a total of four screws holding each side in place. When its finished, the raised bed will include four corner blocks, four planks and 16 screws total.
Keep in mind, the smaller the bed, the easier it is to transport into place. If you are creating longer bed, you might need two people to move it or like in the case of our soft fruit section, place two next to each other end to end to create one long bed. If you want a taller bed, say one that is 12 inches in height you can stack two shorter beds or cut longer corner pieces and build your bed up that way. Like the length, the higher the bed the heavier it will be so pay attention to where you are assembling them.
If you have a critter problem, ie rabbits, mice, squirrels etc… The higher the bed the less likely they can get to your veggies. However, some of these beasties also burrow so as a precautionary measure, I am going to attach via staples a wire mesh to the bottom with a big enough mesh so that the roots can grow deep but the animals can’t get through. Fingers crossed this does the trick!
