10 DIY Raised Beds You Can Build

Ready to get your garden growing? Here are 10 DIY raised beds that anyone can build.

Ready to get your garden growing? Here are 10 DIY raised beds that anyone can build.

Ready to get your garden growing? Here are 10 DIY raised beds that anyone can build.

Whether you’re an avid green thumb or a newbie gardener, raised beds are a lovely garden solution for growing fruits, vegetables and even ornamental plants. We’ve gathered 10 great DIY raised beds that will inspire you to bust out the seed catalogs and start measuring your yard in preparation.

The following options are easy, DIY raised beds, made from products you probably already having lying around your house, like untreated wood planks, cinder blocks, and excess logs. What they all have in common is that they’re totally doable.

Ready to be inspired?

10 Easy Raised Beds

1. Wooden Box

Get your raised bed garden up fast with this simple solution. You may even have these items hiding in the garage or shed anyway! Since this one is not sealed on the sides or bottom, you may have still have pest issues, so keep a mindful eye on your garden with this option. Be sure to choose chemical free wood, like naturally pest resistant cedar. If you’re buying new, try to find wood that’s FSC certified. Get Eat Drink Better’s step-by-step guide here.

Wooden Plank DIY Raised Bed

2. Nature’s Fence: LOGS!

You can’t get more natural than this! If you did some tree trimming around the yard last season, use some of the excess logs to make a raised garden bed. The same concern about pests apply here, so be mindful of the critters.

DIY Raised Beds from Logs

3. Cinder Blocks

Perhaps not the most natural option, cinder blocks still get the job done quickly and cheaply. You can stack the cinder blocks to make a higher sidewall to discourage critters like bunnies from eating your sprouts.

DIY Cinder Block Raised Beds

Another cheap raised bed garden solution: cinder blocks. Image from Rodale

4. Sandbags

Not the most beautiful option, but sandbags are certainly practical, especially if you live near a beach or lake with free sand. A jute or natural fiber bag might be a better choice than plastic, but choose the option that fits your budget best.

Sandbag Raised Beds

An easy and portable raised bed garden solution: sandbags! Image from Rodale

5. Make it Fancy with Wattle

Wattle is woven sticks and twigs that make a lovely edging for a raised bed garden. Buy it premade or made it your new hobby this winter. Find the tutorial for a wattle-edged raised bed garden from Rodale.

DIY Raised Bed Made from Wattle

If you have a bit more time, use wattle to make your garden bed. Image from Rodale

6. Raised Spiral

This gorgeous idea is a great way to make your garden grow.

How to Build an Herb Spiral

7. Wine Box Gardening

If you spent your winter staying warm by drinking wine, you surely have some boxes leftover, right? Make the most of them this Spring with these wine box planters. Not technically a raised bed, but basically the same concept. And it keeps your plants off the ground, reducing exposure to pests.

Wine Box Raised Beds

Wine AND gardening? Sign me up! Image from LLH Designs

8. Hay Bale Edging

Keeping it rustic with bales of hay. This is a great option, because as the hay wears down over the seasons, it can be used to enrich your compost. It does make accessing the beds a big more challenging than the other options, so grow stuff that takes awhile to grow for less-frequent harvesting (like cauliflower or broccoli) instead of quick harvest like herbs or lettuce.

Raised Beds Made from Hay Bale

A healthy garden leads to a healthy compost pile in the future. Image from HGTV/Bonnie Plants.

9. Make it Shiny with Leftover Roofing

Project Alicia made these cool (high) raised beds with some 2×4 planks and metal roofing materials. Find the tutorial for this project here at Project Alicia.

Reclaimed Roofing Garden Bed

10: Keyhole Gardening

And if you want to make the most of your raised bed, Rodale has a great solution known as a keyhole garden. As you can see in the picture below, a keyhole garden allows you to access the entire bed, and it’s a beautiful shape. Learn more about keyhole gardening (and get measurements and tutorials) here. Here’s another great keyhole gardening tutorial from Sustainablog.

Keyhole Garden

A great idea for highly usable garden beds: the keyhole garden bed design.

And if you want something a little different, check out our tips for vertical gardening!

Republished with permission from Green Living Ideas.

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