Creative Handcrafted Designs for DIY Raised Garden Beds
A DIY raised garden bed is an enjoyable, budget-friendly project brimming with benefits for both new and seasoned gardeners. The garden bed's popularity skyrockets as more people embrace sustainable living and backyard gardening. Nurture your favorite plants by adopting this project!
Raised garden beds are a perfect solution for gardeners who want to make the most of limited spaces while ensuring better soil drainage, simpler planting and harvesting, and additional pest and weed protection. Plus, you can utilize materials that you already have or pick up at a local hardware store.
These gardens can be used to grow a variety of plants, such as veggies, herbs, flowers, or a mix of them all, enhancing your gardening experience.
Ahead, expert growers share creative DIY garden bed ideas, as well as providing tips on cultivating them:
Marvelous 16 Raised Flower Bed Ideas to Elevate Your Garden
Lobster Trap Vertical Garden
If you seek a fun, unique vertical planter with a coastal twist, why not give lobster traps a try? Garden enthusiast Melissa Keyser, content and creative specialist at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, encourages you to explore this option. "Trust us, lobster traps are ubiquitous to Maine and create ideal containers for effortless tending and harvesting. These cages, when positioned vertically, accommodate growth for gardeners of varying abilities, enabling everyone to connect with plants," she says.
When designing your vertical garden at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, they prefer placing sun-loving plants like succulents and herbs on the south-facing side. Meanwhile, plants that thrive best in part shade, such as begonias, reside on the back side. "To ensure these vertical gardens thrive, place sun-loving plants on the south-facing side while positioning plants that thrive best in part shade on the back side," Keyser advises.
Rough Cut Hemlock Raised Bed
Wooden raised beds are a crowd-pleaser and budget-friendly choice for gardening. Mary Turner, master gardener and owner of Salt Farm Flowers, recommends using rough-cut hemlock as an affordable material that can be sourced from a local mill or lumberyard. Although hemlock isn't as rot-resistant as cedar, it's durable and can last several years.
To maintain simplicity, Turner focuses on essentials. She uses trellising materials for climbing crops, such as snap peas, pole beans, and cucumbers. Turner also recommends inserting parsley into the corners of her raised beds to fill out the space and add variety.
Wine Bottle Garden Bed
Create a sustainable and stylish raised bed using empty wine bottles that require zero digging. Gather enough bottles to form the desired shape and size, stack them evenly, and stabilize them with water before filling them with well-draining, nutrient-rich soil. "Raised beds can easily be covered to keep the pests out," says Mary Godinez, owner of Cross Keys Farm in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Use a simple lattice setup to protect your crop from deer, rabbits, and groundhogs.
Galvanized Trough Garden Bed
You can find galvanized troughs at farm, ranch, and livestock supply stores, as well as on Facebook Marketplace and local consignment shops. Emily Scott, owner of Scott Farm in Maine, advises that holes should be drilled into the bottom of the troughs to ensure proper drainage. Fill your trough with a layer of rocks, followed by a layer of manure, before adding soil on top.
Scott additionally suggests using marigolds and petunias to improve the garden's visual appeal and deter harmful pests, such as aphids and beetles.
Rock Garden Bed
A rock garden bed adds natural charm to your yard and creates an excellent space for plants to thrive. Gather rocks from your property or purchase them from a local landscaping store to build your bed in your desired shape and size. Once your rocks are set, clear the area of grass and amend the soil for easy cultivation.
Cut Flower Raised Bed
Christina Koether, a flower farmer and garden designer, constructs raised beds using untreated cedar or Douglas fir for her clients. To grow tulips in the spring, she plants the bulbs in the fall and covers the bed with straw. In the spring or early summer, she seeds the bed.
Tire Garden Bed
Turn an old car tire into an attractive garden bed by filling it with well-draining soil and your favorite flowers or vegetables. To prevent weeds, lay cardboard down beneath the soil. This movable garden bed is perfect for adding character to your outdoor space. Can't find a spare tire? Look for one at a local scrap yard or tire store.
Terraced Garden Bed
For gardeners with sloped landscapes, creating a terrace garden can transform their yards into beautiful and functional outdoor spaces. To construct a terrace garden, build retaining walls using materials such as wood, stone, or bricks, backfill behind the walls with soil, and plant your favorite shrubs, flowers, or veggies. A terraced garden bed will make it easy to walk through your garden and admire your hard work.
Bonus Tip:
Experiment with integrating decorative elements, such as painted wooden borders, trellises for climbing plants, or vertical stacked beds, to save space and add warmth to your garden. Happy gardening!
- Using an innovative approach, utilize repurposed lobster traps for a vertically-oriented container garden, recommended by Melissa Keyser, a content and creative specialist at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.
- Striving for affordability, Mary Turner, a master gardener, suggests using rough-cut hemlock to construct wooden raised beds, which are not only budget-friendly but also provide enough durability for several years.
- Transform your garden aesthetically while promoting sustainability by making a raised bed out of empty wine bottles, as suggested by Mary Godinez, owner of Cross Keys Farm in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
