Urban Agriculture DIY: Five Fantastic Ideas for Raised Garden Beds
The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Do you suffer from garden envy everytime you walk past a neighbor’s vegetable patch? If so, why not plant your own? The easiest most efficient way to do this is by building one or more raised garden beds.
A raised bed is the kind of DIY project anyone can build — even if you only have a few square feet of space to spare. This kind of garden can be planted in spring and fall or most any time of year depending on where you live. Raised garden beds make it possible to grow a surprising number of vegetables that will feed your family all season long and fall is a good time to plant winter lettuce, cold-climate vegetables, and sow seeds for early spring.
Compared to ground-level gardens, raised garden beds offer lots of other benefits, but I like them because they are a breeze to weed, water, maintain, and harvest without all of the bending and back strain typical with ground-level gardens. The best size for small urban yards is four-foot by six-foot or four-foot by eight-foot with about two to three feet on all sides for walking space. However, if you don’t have much space, you can downsize to fit your lot. Just be prepared to do some measuring and cutting to get the boards the right size.
Raised beds are also a wonderful way to get everyone gardening no matter what kind of physical limitations have you kept you from getting your hands dirty before. Plus, all of the plans I have included are affordable, okay, cheap, and none require construction skills or expensive tools and materials; you can find everything you need at a local hardware store or home center. And every plan or idea can be built in a weekend.
To get you started building, I have included links to five tried-and-true designs and plans that include detailed instructions, pictures, materials lists, and a few videos. Happy planting!
Nails? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Nails
This raised garden bed design from Rodale’s Organic is the easiest, fastest, the most attractive design I’ve ever seen. What makes this design so appealing is the raised beds affordability, the short list of tools and materials, and the simple construction.
The Pros
This plan’s list of materials is short — it calls for just four boards, some rebar, old newspaper, a hammer — no nails or screws needed — so you can relax if hitting the nail on the head is a challenge. Don’t worry about buying a saw. Yes, one is shown in the video, but it’s not listed in the materials section. Why, because you don’t need to cut the boards since 2-by-12 boards come in six-foot and eight-foot lengths. Just check with your store before you go to make sure they have the size you want in stock.
I like this design because it’s also flexible. You can quickly adjust the size without being a math whiz, boards can easily be replaced if one rots, and you can jazz up the look of your raised beds by painting them your favorite color or adding some artwork; get creative.
The How-To
Just go to Rodale’s website for the “plan” list of materials, step-by-step instructions, and a quick instructional video that shows you what to do from start to finish. Be sure to check out the alternative building materials listed at the bottom of the page; they offer other ideas you may want to consider.
A Stylish Space to Grow Your Herbs and Veggies
If you’re a design nut and just can’t imagine putting in a rustic, unfinished raised garden bed, there are stylish, architectural alternatives that let you express your inner designer. Just keep in mind you have to have the building skills to create an attractive finished product.
The Pros
The architectural design of this raised garden bed from HGTV is created by stacking square boxes, so they form beautifully, tiered geometric shapes that pop in the garden. This design lets you plant a variety of herbs, edible flowers, and colorful vegetables at different heights and creates deliciously lovely natural work of art.
The How-To
The HGTV site includes a list of materials, a how-to guide, and a video to help you visualize the process. Once again, simplicity and a short list of supplies make this a quick project anyone can do in a weekend.
Epic Plans from Epic Gardening
Finding free plans for all sorts of garden structures can be time-consuming, so I’ve done the work for you, and one of my favorite sources for all kinds of plans, gardening advice, and great products is the Epic Gardening site founded by Kevin Espiritu.
The Pros
The Epic Gardening site has collected more than 50 raised bed garden plans from sites across the internet. The list includes kid-sized raised beds on legs to waist-high elevated beds for people with mobility issues, multi-level standing gardens that make the most of a tiny space, vertical tiered gardens that produce volumes and are easy to maintain, and raised gardens with greenhouse covers for cold weather gardening.
The How-To
I love the sheer number and variety on the site, and one of my favorite designs included on the site comes from Bonnie Plants. This design is a higher-than-usual raised bed with built-in benches that let you lean comfortably to plant and weed and have a place to sit with a drink as you dream about next year’s planting. The site includes a helpful video tutorial, detailed building tips, materials list, and instructions, and a printable building guide.
Elevate Your Gardening and Save Your Back with These Plans
Living in the city can be a challenge for gardeners because all sorts of wildlife make a meal out of our flower and vegetable gardens. Birds, squirrels, raccoons, dogs, moles, mice, rats, deer (yes, even in Washington, D.C. we have deer problems), rabbits, and other fauna can do irreparable damage to your lovely vegetable patch. And if you have a bad back, bad knees, or some other mobility issue, ground-level gardens just aren’t feasible — but you can avoid a lot of these challenges if you build an elevated garden.
The Pros
Elevated gardens can help keep out ground-level furry pests and, but you may also want to consider providing overhead protection. Tall, nimble, or airborne critters like deer, squirrels, and birds would never be put off by an elevated garden but will find it hard to break through bird netting or a fully framed cover made with chicken wire, and this can easily be incorporated into your design.
With the proper amendments to your garden area, anyone can enjoy gardening, just take a look at the comprehensive raised bed site called Building Raised Beds for guidance. This website lets anyone say “Goodbye” to the tiring bending and back strain that’s typical when planting, weeding and harvesting crops and it’s also a terrific resource for detailed instructions on building raised beds for people using walkers and wheelchairs.
To help you build a raised garden I’ve chosen two designs I like (and will be incorporating into my garden in some form).
The How-To
The first design from Rodale Organic Life is sturdy, easy to build, and uses materials that are readily available. If you have space and ambition, you can construct multiples of this elevated garden, and it makes for a stunning landscape. Their site includes all the information you need to buy materials, provides detailed drawings, and easy-to-understand instructions.
The second design, from Instructables, is one of my favorites because it can be styled and decorated (i.e., using paint or stain along with decorative legs and moldings) to resemble beautiful cabinetry for the outdoors. The site includes detailed pictures and step-by-step instructions and a complete materials list. Depending on your needs you can plant flowers below this raised bed or add a shelf or two for storage, the design is flexible enough to modify the plan to accommodate your creativity.
Resources
If you are interested in learning more about gardening or want to become a Master Gardener here are some invaluable resources.
National
In Washington, D.C. Area
DC Dept. of Parks and Recreation-Urban Garden Education Program
DC Gardens-Public Gardens and Gardening the DC Area
Master Gardener Program-Training and Certification at University of the District of Columbia