Best DIY Raised Bed Garden Ideas & Designs

Top 5 Raised Garden Bed Ideas

Choosing to grow your own food does not necessarily mean that you will be saving a lot of money.
Isn’t what you wanted to hear? Let’s continue.
Growing your own food without the proper knowledge can easily run you into hundreds of dollars when trying to create a suitable landscape garden.
If you are looking to save yourself some money and are considering how best you can keep your gardening costs down to a minimum, you are in luck. In this article, I will be showing you just how you can grow your vegetable garden by using a few of my very own raised bed gardening tips.

Building a raised garden bed is one of the more popular ways of growing your vegetables and herbs. And depending on the types of materials you use, your raised garden bed project can turn into a costly one. Nonetheless, consider yourself in good hands as there are ways you can build your raised garden bed without breaking the bank.

First, let us answer the basic question to get a look at the facts. Why do we need a raised vegetable garden design?
 
Using a raised garden bed design allows you to have better control of the soil used for your vegetable garden. You can first begin with fresh soil or a soil mixture of your choosing.
Building a raised garden bed guarantees that you will be able to keep the soil from being accidentally trampled on and compacted. Raised garden beds are also known for improving heat transfer through the soil in addition to the rate of germination.
If you hate bending as I do, you will find that the idea of a raised vegetable garden offers you the comfort of easily tending to your green without having to bend all the way over to harvest your vegetables. I have even seen pictures of raised garden beds where the garden bed was raised high enough to facilitate persons with physical disabilities who have to use wheelchairs to do their gardening.
Let us look at five of the best-raised garden bed ideas below; you can definitely find something that you can easily start off with.
Build it Yourself Using a Brick Lined Frame
If you are thinking about building your raised garden bed yourself and consider yourself to be a bit of a do-it-yourself person, consider using a raised garden bed design with concrete or brick-lined frame. Using a concrete frame although it offers a more durable option is a permanent one and cannot be redesigned after it has been completed.
 
 
One alternative to using a concrete or brick raised garden bed is by using a galvanized steel wire mesh with a geotextile fabric lining on the inside. You can use some cable ties to secure the geotextile in place. I have found that you can vary the thickness of the wire used for the mesh to determine the desired shape of the raised garden bed for a more creative effect.
 
Use Some Grow Bags
Using some grow bags for your raised garden bed provides you with a variety of options. You can easily pick up one of the highly-rated no assembly Big Bag Bed at your local gardening depot or on Amazon.com for anywhere between $20-30 depending on the size.
The advantage of using this raised garden bed design is the affordability of not having to use any setup tools or additional material. Just purchase, layout and fill with your soil or soil mixture and greens and let them grow.
Nonetheless, if you are looking for an even less expensive design, use some burlap sacks to create your raised vegetable garden bed. You can get a burlap sack for just around $1 at your local hardware store. Not only are they great for designing your raised garden bed, but they are also eco-friendly and unique.
 
Purchase a Raised Garden Bed Kit
Lately, there have been some good reviews about some of the available raised bed kits, most of which have been designed to be used without the need for any tools. One of the more popular kits is Home Depot’s Greenland Gardner Kit which can be purchased for about $29 and is easily assembled – no tools necessary. In fact, you can even expand this kit with a few extra add-ons to create a much larger and deeper space for your raised garden bed.
Log It
You can build your raised vegetable garden bed using a few straight logs about one foot in diameter to create the edges of your raised garden bed. You can also use some logs of a smaller diameter to stack the ends of your raised garden bed. You will want to avoid using very large logs by lining up shorter sections with fire-wood length logs.
Greenfingers Metal Galvanised Raised Garden Bed, 210 x 90 x 30cm, Set of 2
 

Cedar Planks and Rebar

Undoubtedly, one of the best designs for your raised vegetable garden bed is the cedar plank and rebar. This bed can be easily build using some cedar wood or even leftover lumber of almost any size just as long as the wood has not been pretreated with any chemicals.
Hold the blanks securely in place on edge using short length rebars driven into the ground, and spaced at about 2 to 3 feet apart and fill with your soil mixture.

Building a raised garden bed can be an enjoyable experience for the novice gardener who is not sure they are ready to turn their back yard into a full-blown vegetable farm. You will easily be able to create a simple design for a raised vegetable garden idea elevated towards the back adjoining your fence or even on your terrace or other paved areas.

I always recommend starting off with one or two raised garden beds and build some later. Your raised garden bed may even include using the raised vegetable garden bed to create some custom shapes using an assortment of materials for a beautiful design.
My wife and I over the years have built a number of raised vegetable garden beds and in truth, I must admit we did spend a bit of money. However, whenever you are building your raised vegetable garden, you will always want to ensure that you select the best materials that are SAFE for growing your greens.

And one such material I strongly suggest is using a cedar raised garden bed. Although you might end up spending a pretty penny setting up your raised vegetable garden bed, I assure you, in the long run, you will save a lot of money by doing the work yourself by ensuring your money is well spent on the food and enjoyment you will get from your raised garden bed design.