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If you’re looking for some great ideas on making raised garden beds, you’re in the right place! I’ve pulled together some of the best ideas from the interwebs for you.
But first, a little history on how I became a fan of raised garden beds.
When I became a homeowner, one of the first things I wanted to do was make a garden. I picked a spot in the backyard, dug it up, planted some seeds and waited for the bounty of homegrown veggies to appear. When I was growing up my mom had a huge garden and she made it look so easy!
But my garden wasn’t quite the success I’d pictured. The rabbits, squirrels, and birds had a party all summer long in it even though I had a fence. And my soil has a lot of clay. I tried adding various garden soil and compost mixtures to make it better but I still wasn’t making much progress.
Then a few years ago I was talking to someone I work with who’d had great luck with raised garden beds.
It was one of those lightbulb moments for me.
I could fill the raised garden beds with the exact mixture necessary for vegetables to grow! And I could have dedicated spaces for different things so it wouldn’t affect anything growing near it! And I could plant things closer together and get more bang for my buck.
I was hooked.
Recommended book on raised garden beds
If you’d like to learn more about raised garden beds and square foot gardening, here’s a book for you to check out! It’s packed with great ideas, tips, and how-tos on how to get the most from your raised garden beds.
RELATED: 7 February Gardening Tips to Get You Ready for Spring!
That first year I started out with 4 basic beds made from affordable pine boards. I may get 5 or 6 years out of them before they’ll need to be replaced.
Cedar or douglas fir are also good choices and will last slightly longer. But they’re also more expensive.
Since this was my first attempt I didn’t want to invest a bunch of money only to find out it didn’t work. When it’s time to replace them, I’ll probably upgrade my materials to something more rot-resistant.
But there are a lot of different ideas and designs for raised garden beds. I’ve curated a list of my favorite ideas from around the web. Hopefully, you’ll get inspiration and have your own lightbulb moment!
Galvanized tub raised garden bed
Image credit and inspiration from Trulysavvy.
I love this idea! While this isn’t the cheapest option available for raised garden beds, it’s certainly one of the easiest.
Galvanized water troughs, or you may see them called stock tanks, are a great option for a durable container for your garden. These are typically used for feeding or watering livestock so they are built for the outdoors and are resistant to rust. With this method, all you need to do is find a location, fill it with a mixture of garden soil and other amendments, and plant!
Your best bet for finding these is a farm and home supply like Tractor Supply Co. but if you don’t have those stores in your area and don’t want to pay to ship you can also find them on Amazon, which has free shipping for Prime Members!Raised Garden Boxes
Raised Garden Boxes
Image credit and inspiration from One Little Project.
My favorite feature of these garden boxes is the top edge around each box! I wish I would have done that and I might go back and add them to mine.
Be sure to check out this post from One Little Project for a fantastic and very thorough tutorial to create these. The material used is cedar decking which will hold up well for a good long time.
You can find cedar decking at most big box improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowe’s but don’t forget to check your local lumber yards since the quality tends to be much better.
U-Shaped Raised Garden Bed
Image credit and inspiration from Brittany Stager.
Here’s another take on a raised garden – U-shaped raised garden beds! I really like this idea too. Instead of having separate boxes you can create one bigger space with room to walk in the middle! The height of this design is also nice. It saves a lot of wear on your back and knees as you work in your garden.
You could also do some really nice landscaping and make it a focal point of your yard!
Check out the post from Brittany Stager for the full and in-depth tutorial.
Corrugated Metal Raised Beds
Image credit and inspiration from My Crazy Good Life.
These raised garden beds from My Crazy Good Life are GENIUS. They used a combination of corrugated metal and redwood to create an industrial/rustic vibe that I just love.
Check out the full post and tutorial for all the details on how to make these cool boxes.
And if you’re interested in installing drip irrigation as they did, you can get a kit from Amazon that includes everything you need to get it set up.
Brick Raised Garden Beds
Image credit and inspiration from Hunker
To prove that wood and metal aren’t your only options when building raised garden beds, here’s a tutorial courtesy of Hunker that uses brick and cement caps to create a visually pleasing garden box.
I actually attempted to do something similar with recycled bricks but had an issue with it staying together. The tips in this tutorial showed me the right way to build it so the sides don’t fall over!
You can find the full how-to here.
Hopefully, these amazing ideas gave you some motivation and inspiration to create your very own raised garden beds! There are a ton of options and materials available for you to create the raised garden of your dreams. Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying the freshest herbs and vegetables grown in your garden!
