inexpensive raised garden bed ideas

If you're one of those people who loves gardening and is interested in trying a raised garden bed, then you're probably going with an inexpensive bed that matches your budget. One thing you should know about raised beds is that, unlike underground gardens, the plants in this garden box have a longer growing season.

Benefits of Raised Garden Beds

In addition to a longer growing season, raised garden beds have many benefits that can make gardening easier and more productive. Some of the other benefits you can get from using a raised garden bed are as follows:

No additional tillage required

Unlike underground gardens, raised bed gardens do not require extreme tillage. You don't have to spend hours tending to your garden bed because it acts as a barrier to pests and weeds. Drainage is also better, and even if you place your garden bed in an outdoor area, make sure to provide your plants with enough water.

You can recycle household waste and keep the soil healthy

With traditional gardening, nutrients often seep out of the soil with each watering. This also provides a breeding ground for insects. However, with a raised garden bed, you can recycle all household waste that acts as fertilizer and attracts earthworms, which helps keep the soil healthy.

easy to build

It only requires simple construction to create a raised bed garden, you just stack the material into a box shape, then fill it with topsoil or fertilized soil and you can start growing vegetables, herbs or whatever you want. However, if you want to plant deeper soil for larger plants, you can add extra planks to increase its depth.

Optimal temperature for healthy growth of plants

Since it is above the ground, a raised bed garden will stay warm in cold temperatures because the heat is rising from the ground. In late summer, there are fewer insects as tall walls protect tender plants. There's also little or no fertilizing, since it's not necessary if you're using regular household waste.

With all these benefits in mind, there's no reason why you shouldn't try your garden bed, which will also enhance your outdoor space.

Cheap Raised Garden Bed Ideas You Can Try

One of the ways to save money for your garden to produce more crops is to incorporate a raised bed garden and choose to create a DIY raised garden bed. DIY raised garden beds give you the freedom to use any garden bed idea you can think of.

Some raised garden bed ideas you can try are as follows:

layered design

No one wants a cluttered garden. A good idea for this is to get the most out of your raised bed garden by using the top shelf as a garden bed and the bottom shelf for any garden supplies. You can also use the other shelf as another raised bed for other plants. If you like to grow vines, it's a good idea to add trellis to the top.

If you are planning to make a garden bed, this is one of the functional garden bed ideas you should consider making.

Steel Box Raised Garden Bed

One of the amazing garden bed ideas you can try is using a steel box. These are stock tubs that can create a rustic and polished look in your backyard.

Wooden Raised Garden Bed

The most typical but most popular type of raised garden is made of wood. It is the simplest type of garden box and provides a simple yet unique style to your outdoor area. What you need to do is create a wooden frame that can be square or rectangular in shape. Just put it on the ground and start filling it with soil. You can add mulch, such as straw bales, to the soil surface to keep the plants moist and less prone to drying out.

To avoid using all good soil, you can use compostable items like cardboard and branches to fill the raised bed with the required volume.

Raised Garden Made of Recycled Materials

If your location is near a railroad, you can use old ties around and use them for great projects in your DIY raised garden. If you don't like seeing these ties in your home, this is the perfect solution.

Railroad sleepers are known for their durability, which means they are not easily dodged and won't cause you damage in a short amount of time. All you need is a heavy duty saw to cut them to your preferred size. Once complete, your raised bed frame is ready to be filled with the garden soil of your choice.

Create pots for your small spaces and plants

If you don't like having a large garden, you can create a pot to grow herbs and small vegetables. You can put it in your backyard, patio or porch. Another great thing about this DIY raised garden is that you can easily move the planter indoors once winter starts. This extends the plant's growing season by several weeks.

Reuse or Recycle Large Planters

Tall pots don't have to be used solely for ornamental plants. You can also grow tomatoes that grow healthily from a deep root system. A large planter gives your tomatoes enough room to grow big and strong. Another great advantage when you're growing tomatoes or other vegetables that require deep roots is that you can pick crops more easily because you don't have to kneel on the ground.

Replacing new wood with tree stumps

If someone you know has recently chopped down a tree, you can ask them if they can use pieces of the trunk. You can take pieces of the trunk to your yard and cut the trunk into discs. You just need to stack them and create a raised bed garden outside the structure. Another idea you can try is to ask some friends to help you cut the trunk horizontally and use it as a frame for a raised garden bed. This will enhance the curb appeal of your garden as the tree trunks will give your home an eco-friendly vibe.

Repurposed Wooden Pallets

Wooden pallets are easy to find, and you're likely to find any of these on the side of the road. You can turn them into a simple, narrow, raised herb garden that you can mount on a fence or wall. Mounting it on a wall or fence provides a space-saving elevated garden idea for those who don't have a large garden.

In addition to this, you can place wooden pallets on the ground and use the spaces between the slats as dividers for the rows of plants. You can use your creativity to make endless options when gardening with this material.

Homemade Raised Garden Bed from Cinder Blocks

A cinder block DIY raised garden is one of the fun garden bed ideas you can try. If you choose to do this, you should prepare the area by clearing weeds and leveling the ground below.

Once done, you can start arranging the cinder blocks or concrete blocks according to the shape you want. Place a cinder block or concrete block side by side to your preferred width or length and seal with concrete.

Once your raised garden bed is set up, you can fill it with soil of your choice and plant anything you like. You can also choose to increase the height if you don't want to kneel while tending to your growing vegetables, herbs or flowers.

Raised Garden Beds Using Corrugated Metal

You can also use corrugated metal to make a raised bed. Corrugated metal also provides a rustic look and can withstand any environmental conditions. This is because of its galvanized surface. Their surfaces are galvanized so changing environmental conditions won't damage them. You can choose to decorate it with a wood frame (especially mahogany) at the top and bottom to make the whole loft more secure. Thanks to the sharp edges, the frame will act as a barrier, keeping you safe while also being a place to sit.

square foot garden bed

You can choose a raised pot stand for this, or you can place it on the ground. To make this raised bed, you will need to make a square garden box. You can use barbed wire as a guide when planting. Different flowers, herbs or vegetables can be grown on each foot.

This means you can grow a large crop and enjoy the growing season, seeing all plants grow healthy. You just need to choose the right plants that can benefit from each other to maximize yields.