Hey guys,

Came across this great site today and although i've just recently finished our raised garden - i wish i'd seen this article first.

A raised garden bed is a great idea. There are plenty of plans out there to help you make one. But why should you consider a raised garden bed, and which types, shapes and edging materials should you choose? We’ve compiled this list of the best raised garden bed plans to help you make the right choices for your organic garden.

Why Have a Raised Garden Bed?

Raised garden beds can be a great idea for a number of reasons. For example, they can:

• Allow you to quickly and easily create a new growing area on your lawn or patio.
• Make it possible to garden where there is hardstanding, or the soil quality is poor.
• Enable you to grow your own where the topsoil is thin.
• Some allow you to create a wider range of growing conditions in a smaller area.
• Create higher areas that are easier to access for those with mobility issues, or to garden without hurting your back. 

Types of Raised Garden Bed

First of all then, let’s take a look at some of the best plans for different types of raised garden bed:

Lasagna Beds

Lasagna beds offer an easy solution for making new raised beds quickly and affordably. They are a key feature of no dig gardening. Check out our no dig gardening article to find plans to help you make a lasagna bed in your garden. Basically, the method involves building up your raised bed with organic material. Over time, the material will break down and compost in place, just like the materials in a normal compost heap. This can be a cheaper and more eco-friendly method to using simply soil or compost. 

Straw Bale Gardens

Another interesting technique for making raised beds is simply using straw bales as your growing medium, topped with a small amount of compost. To find out more about creating raised garden beds from straw bales, check out our straw bale gardening guide. 

Square Foot Gardens

Square foot gardens are another type of raised bed. While raised beds of this type can come in a range of shapes and sizes, those following square foot gardening techniques will tend to make their growing areas square or rectangular, with an equal number of feet on each side. The phrase ‘square foot gardening’ was coined by Mel Bartholomew in his book of the same name, published in 1981. Generally speaking, for this method, you create raised beds that are 4ft square. These beds are then separated into sixteen one foot squares, forming a grid. Each of these squares is then planted with a different crop, the number of plants in each square depending on the size and requirements of the crop planted in each. 

see below, how to build a raised garden bed.

how to build a raised garden bed.