12 Ideas for Building and Caring for Garden Beds – GWC Mag

A garden is so much more than just digging a hole in the ground and putting a seed or plant in it. Though, this simple act can achieve some success, giving a little more thought to the process means bigger, better, and much healthier plants and soil.

There are garden beds designed for small spaces, for those who can’t get around so well, and for times when the purse strings are tight.

There are garden beds for when the soil you have is poor or when you have amazing access to great resources like grass clipping, kitchen scraps, and cardboard.

Whatever your situation is, check out this list of OGP articles that give you great advice on building the best garden beds in all the shapes and sizes you can imagine.

1. Double Reach Row Garden Beds

Conventionally, garden rows are narrow things, at the most a foot wide, and in between each one, there lies a trough, which helps to keep crop roots from getting waterlogged. Read the package of just about any crop seed, and it’ll likely tell us that well-draining soil is the ideal growing medium. The conventional row seems to get this done, and while that’s great, many would say there is a much better way. For those looking to grow more food in the same amount of space, to get the same drainage benefit of rowed gardens, double-reach rows might be the answer. In addition to providing the benefits of rowed gardens — tidy, organized, accessible, and good drainage — they also help with space-saving, companion planting, and other useful gardening techniques. Read on to learn more about a Double-Reach Row and Why It’s Better Than a Conventional Garden Row.

2. Instant Garden Beds

While growing a garden is a great way to spend free time, both in that it provides healthy food and is good for the planet, sometimes it’s a project that seems a bit too daunting. There’s all of that tilling and prepping of the soil and the maintenance of weeding. Many people feel they theoretically want to grow some of their food, but all that comes with it prevents them from trying. However, with the right techniques, it’s not such a difficult thing to do. Permaculturalists work to make gardens low maintenance. They work to build soil rather than till it. They strive to prevent weeds rather than pull them. And, they adapt to whatever spaces — balconies, patios, suburban lawns, or huge fields — are available for cultivating. If you are interested, learn How to Make Instant Garden Beds the Permaculture Way.

3. Sunken Garden Beds

Sunken beds may just fill in the missing cultivation-based evolutionary link for some gardens, such as those in arid, sandy climates like the desert. While raised beds promote better drainage, sunken beds are designed to maximize water collection and store the water until it can be absorbed by the soil. While raised beds lift the plants to the sun all day long, sunken beds provide a little shelter from the swelter. While raised beds are thawing out faster in frigid climates, sunken beds are keeping things cooler in the heat. If you think you need a sunken garden bed, read on to learn How to Create a Sunken Garden Bed When Raised Beds Don’t Make Sense for Your Environment.

4. Hugelkulture Garden Beds

A hugelkultur is a super fertile garden hill. It begins with large circumference wood, such as tree trunks, rotten fire logs, or large limbs, which will form the long-standing, steadily degrading interior of the mound. Encasing these are smaller branches and twigs, all together forming a large tunnel of wooden biomass. Nitrogen-rich elements — fresh grass clippings, kitchen waste, manure, compost — and leaf litter fill the cracks between pieces of wood, and these components act as a catalyst for quicker decomposition of the woody materials. This gets a good coating of quality soil, and from within, the materials slowly break down, feeding the crops atop them for years to come. Read on to learn more about The Art of Making a Hugelkultur Garden Bed for Years of Fertility.

5. Raised Garden Beds

Raised beds have become more and more popular as the grow your own food movement gathers numbers. They are simple to make, easy to tend, and offer several advantages over tilling the ground. These types of garden beds are great for urban and suburban gardening. They can be constructed atop concrete, making them ideal for abandoned lots and rooftop gardens, or when done on the ground, they don’t require tilling the earth, which unleashes weed seeds and destroys soil microorganisms. They also have neat, maintained appearance to keep neighbors appeased. Have a look at these 5 Methods for Making Raised Garden Beds.

6. No-Till Garden Beds

One way of growing food is to till the land, the way many of us think of gardening. The old images of horse and plow come to mind, or on bad days, the new methods brought to us by tractors, chemicals, and fossil fuels. All of the ground is torn up and then pushed into neat little rows. The general idea, whatever the image, is to create loose soil for young roots, as well as provide good drainage. It’s this very laborious task that has given us the toiling of the soil concept of farming.  But, it needn’t be this way, which is why no-till beds are all the rage in permaculture circles. That’s right, it is possible to make a garden – a very productive garden at that – without ripping up the ground and piling it into boring little rows. Here are 5 No-Till Garden Beds Loved by Permaculturalists All Around the World for you to try in your own backyard.

7. Best Materials for Garden Beds

Raised beds are a great way to grow gardens, particularly in climates with plenty of rain. (In dry climates, where water is at a premium, it can be better to use sunken beds, which will capture water when it does come.) By design, raised beds help to ensure that the soil will drain adequately so that those plants won’t get waterlogged, leading to root rot. Even better, high-quality soil can just be added to the bed, so there is no need to have naturally great soil in the garden space. However, many people make the mistake of using questionable materials to create their raised beds, so let’s look at some of these materials and easy alternatives that are safer. Read on to learn about the Toxic Materials You Shouldn’t Use for Building Raised Beds For Your Garden (With Better Alternatives).

8. Squarefoot Garden Beds

Square-foot gardening (SFG) is a method of growing a variety of vegetables in a way that means you can have a variety of produce whilst maximizing the space you have in your garden. It was first thought of in the 1970s and has since become a popular way of having a manageable garden. The square-foot spaces are usually mapped out into raised beds making them ideal for those with limited garden bed space. If you have a place in your yard that you think would benefit from some square-foot gardening, take a look at A Guide to Square-Foot Gardening and have a go for yourself.

9. Lasagna Garden Beds

A lasagna garden, also known as a sheet mulch garden, is a no-dig method for making a raised bed garden that enriches fertility, improves drainage, and preserves soil life. All of these things then go into helping us grow those aforementioned ingredients for making actual lasagnas. The beautiful thing here is that we are talking about no preservatives, no added chemicals, and lots of repurposed organic matter that would otherwise be further overcrowding our landfills. The Start-to-Finish Guide for Making a Lasagna Garden will get you started.

1o. Herb Spiral Garden Beds

The spiral idea came from permaculture and seemed so sensible, here’s why. Plant things like herbs close to the kitchen, so you’ll use them. The area just outside your door should be filled with things — herbs, lettuce, and salad fixings — that readily go into meals and can be harvested daily. You’re more likely to pick them rain or shine, and you’ll be more inclined to add an herbal kick to any meal. As well, using the spiral design creates different microclimates. By constructing a raised bed in a spiral shape, plants are afforded different climates to grow in and allow herbs that might otherwise not do well in such proximity a chance to be friends. If this sounds like a good idea, check out this guide on How to Make a Herb “Spiral” in Your Garden and Change Your Relationship with Food.

11. Straw Bale Garden Beds

The benefits of growing gardens in straw bales are many. Not only does it not require soil, but also not having soil means soil-borne diseases are no longer a problem. Weeds, which usually come from dormant seeds exposed in soil, are an issue no more. The bales themselves are composting as the garden grows, providing both nutrients and a favorable temperature for roots. Inexpensive, readily available straw bales can also be arranged to fit into whatever space there is (on the lawn, driveway, or balcony). They can then be harvested without bending and composted at the end of the season for an added product. Read on to learn How to Plant a Food Garden On Top of Straw Bales.

12. Vertical Garden Beds

Vertical gardening is a great way to gain larger harvests in smaller spaces. Thirty years ago people might have seen a few square yards of garden as almost not worth the bother, but these days people are learning to stack their veggies, to take advantage of the fence, the wall, the posts, and even ceilings as valuable space for the opportunistic home food producer. What once could be grown in a tiny space is being doubled, tripled, quadrupled…what comes after quadrupled…by utilizing more than just the ground. Nowadays it’s all about cultivating on railing, dangling produce from rooftops, and creating multi-leveled gardens. Inspired? Take a look at these 5 Designs for Growing Veggies Vertically.

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