If you love spending time in your garden, but don’t have a lot of space, raised garden beds are the perfect option for you! But it’s not just great for homes with limited gardening space. It’s also an excellent way to do accessible gardening to reduce strain on your back. In this blog post, we will discuss some raised garden bed ideas for your property.
What are Raised Garden Beds?
Raised garden beds are elevated gardens that sit above the natural ground level. It allows you to grow plants in soil that is higher than the ground, which is excellent if you have limited space or if you prefer accessible gardening.
The soil’s enclosure can be made from various materials, from wood to stone, metal, and even repurposed furniture. Because of this, there are many garden bed designs available to suit your preferences.
Materials Used for Raised Garden Beds
There are many different types of elevated garden beds available on the market. Here are a few of the most popular options:
Metal Raised Garden Beds
The soil in raised beds generally heats up faster in the spring since it sits above the frost line, but metal frames help retain heat. Thanks to this feature, it makes them great for Mediterranean plants. This material can also be formed into various shapes, giving you greater creative flexibility.
Wooden Raised Garden Beds
Wooden frames are attractive, and some types are naturally rot-resistant. Due to its natural beauty, gardeners often purchase raised wooden garden beds to complement the rustic theme of their gardens.
However, remember never to use pressure-treated lumber for your raised beds. Although it lasts longer than untreated wood, it can leach harmful chemicals into the soil, harming your plants over time. Choose untreated wood, like redwood and cedar, since they can last up to ten years.
Plastic Raised Garden Beds
Plastic frames are available in various colours, with some made to look like wood. They are easy to clean, recyclable, and long-lasting, with a life expectancy of up to 50 years. Plastic frames are resistant to chipping or cracking from extreme weather conditions. The downside is that this material can be expensive, heavy, and prone to bowing.
Composite Raised Garden Beds
Composite lumber is a mixture of wood and plastic made to look like natural wood. It is lightweight, easy to clean, and weather and rot-resistant. The downside is that this material gets easily damaged by wayward shovels. They can also fade or bow outward over time. Made with recycled materials, composite raised garden beds often come with hinged corner joints for easy assembly.
Designing Raised Garden Beds
The beauty of using raised garden beds is that your options are almost limitless. You can turn any material into a customised frame. So, if you think premade raised beds aren’t your thing, here are some creative garden bed ideas you can choose from.
Built-in Raised Beds
Make raised garden beds a permanent part of your hardscape by purposely including them in the landscape design. You can even build the sides wide enough to make a bench, so you have somewhere to sit while gardening, which is a welcome relief for those with back problems.
Custom-Designed Raised Beds
Premade raised beds are great, but they may not always fit your desired aesthetic. Let your creativity run wild, or hire a professional to elevate your garden design in Perth to build custom-designed raised beds that make the most of your garden space and make it shine.
Best of all, customised raised beds can help you maximise your garden space without making elements look out of place. You can also ensure that your plants get the right amount of sun and shade since professional gardeners will also consider those.
Trough Gardens
This is somewhat similar to metal raised beds without the need for assembly. Just be sure to drill some drainage holes in the bottom of the troughs before adding the soil. You can also use new or used troughs, depending on what you have and your desired look.
Since this material conducts and retains heat better, you may need to do a bit more watering on the hottest summer days, depending on the plants you choose to grow.
Flower Boxes as Raised Beds
Do you have sturdy fences? Attach wooden flower boxes as small raised beds and plant beautiful annuals to make your home stand out. Paint the flower boxes with your desired colours, or keep them looking natural for a more rustic look. In winter, you can also decorate your flower boxes with seasonal greens as a unique decor idea.
Cinderblock Raised Beds
You can use recycled concrete blocks or cinderblocks to make this. But if you are thinking of planting edible plants, avoid cinderblocks as they contain fly ash. Concrete blocks can also leach lime which raises the soil’s pH. Stay on the safe side by choosing plants that thrive in alkaline soil.
Space-Saving Designs
If you have extremely limited space, you can customise your raised beds to serve a dual purpose. For instance, the top of the raised bed can be used as a garden, and the space underneath can be transformed into a storage area for bins and gardening tools.
What are the Benefits of Building a Raised Garden Bed?
No tilling is better for the soil – Instead of tilling the soil yearly to add fertiliser and other garden boosters, raised gardens can be maintained by simply adding soil conditioners on the top few inches of soil. This reduces soil disturbance, allowing plant roots and soil organisms to do their own tilling.
No backbreaking work – It’s no secret that gardening is labour intensive, often straining your back and knees from hand weeding your garden or planting. But a raised bed can resolve debilitating joint and back problems while allowing you to still enjoy your favourite hobby.
Moreover, it’s not just for the aging gardeners. Young people with farming aspirations should also consider raised bed gardening as it eliminates potential damage to their backs. Consider it as an investment in your health.
Keep out critters without the fuss – The tall sides of your raised garden box can slow slugs down, giving you ample opportunity to stop them in their tracks. Many gardeners also swear that bordering your box with copper flashing will stop them from crawling over.
Moreover, you can stop critters from stealing root crops by covering the bottom of your plant box with hardware cloth. Protect your plants from slugs and other harmful critters that can damage your plants.
Better draining for your garden soil – Too much water can damage your plants. But with better drainage and extra breathing room, your plants will continue to grow and thrive even in the rainy season. The most efficient depth of a raised bed is eleven inches since this provides enough drainage for most crops.
Fewer weeds – Tilling doesn’t just harm the soil. It also creates more opportunities for weeds to grow since weed seeds get buried under the soil, giving them the chance to propagate. Raised bed growers can protect their beds with cardboard, mulch, or black plastic in the spring to kill the growing plants in winter.
Raised beds can be temporary – If you are a renter with extremely limited space for gardening, you can opt for raised garden beds since you can remove them when you decide to move out. You can also position them however you like to add a decorative element to the property.
Add Garden Beds to Your Landscape with Green Oasis
We can build the garden space of your dreams at Green Oasis Landscaping. Elevate your landscape with garden bed designs that can be built on almost any kind of lawn in Perth. And if you’re not sure what design suits your outdoor space best, our team will happily help you.
Our Garden Bed Designs
- Raised Beds – A raised bed ideal for cultivating flowering plants or small vegetables.
- Low-Lying Beds – A design that’s easily accessible and ideal for young gardeners.
- Container Beds – These have a bottom container, creating visible sections in your garden.
- Island Beds – These garden beds are accessible on all sides since they are not attached to a wall.
- In-Ground Beds – This design has no visible border, fitting in seamlessly into your garden.
Why Choose Us?
We consider the size of your garden space and create well-proportioned beds that fit into your overall landscape design, ensuring a balanced outdoor space that stands out. Since the foundation of your plant health is the soil, we also ensure that the soil in your garden bed can provide the nutrition your plants need. Moreover, our designs boast straight, clean borders that result in perfect alignment.
We have built high-quality, beautiful raised garden beds for businesses and homes across Perth, making us a trusted company all over the area. So if you are looking for garden specialists who can build beautiful raised garden beds in Perth to complete your landscape, choose us. Call us to know more about what we can do for you.