Raised Flower Beds

Raised flower beds not only look beautiful, but they can solve many common garden problems such as poor soil or drainage. Whether constructed using wood, stone or another material, raised flower beds add dramatic impact and beauty to any landscape.

Provide proper fertilizer to all flowers. Learn more here.

Raised flower beds are planting areas created by raising up the soil area. After building an enclosure or wall of some sort, gardeners fill in the area with soil and compost and plant the flowers of their choice.

Raised flower beds can be made from many different materials.

• Cedar: A very popular choice, cedar wood is attractive and durable. It's available from most home and garden centers or lumber yards and can be cut using a power or manual saw. It resists rotting and weathering and looks beautiful for a long time. Cedar can be expensive, so it may not be for everyone's budget.
• Pressure treated lumber: Pressure treated lumber is pine or another wood that's coated with special chemicals, then subjected to heat or pressure. The resulting wood is stronger and more weather-resistant than untreated wood. Some people do no like the chemicals that are used in the treatment process. Newer methods do not use the same harsh chemicals that caused concerns years ago, but still many gardeners prefer to avoid pressure treated wood altogether. Although of concern in a vegetable garden, where chemicals may leach into the soil and be absorbed by the vegetables, since flowers aren't eaten, some people are fine with pressure treated lumber. Like cedar, it's readily available at most home and garden centers and lumber yards, and is easy to work with using common saws and tools.
• PVC: PVC is the latest weather-resistant material used to make raised garden beds. You've probably seen PVC or plastic compounds used to make outdoor patios and decks. Because it is made of plastic, it doesn't break down as quickly as wood, and lasts for many, many years. For the home gardener, using PVC or plastic compounds to create raised beds may be challenging. Special tools to cut and join the plastic may be needed. PVC is usually available in a limited choice of colors, so if you want a special color, you may be better of buying wood and painting it. It can also be expensive.
• Stone: For the ultimate in elegance, stone is a great choice for a raised flower garden. Bricks, blocks, decorative stones, slates and just plain old rocks picked up from your property can be arranged to form raised garden beds. Some may require mortar to hold the stones together, while others are just fine using only a stacking method. Stone blends into almost any landscape, is durable, natural, and doesn't put chemicals into the soil. While it can be expensive if purchased, some homeowners may find all the stone they need on their own property.

There are many reasons why homeowners choose to create raised garden beds for flowers. These include:

• Appearance: Placing raised beds in strategic areas of the landscape can draw the eye towards beautiful flowering plans or colorful annuals. Place raised beds at the back of the garden to draw the eye in, or in strategic locations to draw the eye away from something unsightly.
• Better soil: Many raised flower beds are adding around trees or near the foundation of homes and garages. The soil in these areas is often poor or compacted. Any construction site can leave concrete chunks, hard-packed dirt, and other problems behind. Instead of tilling the soil and amending it, building a raised bed in such an area can be easier. Just by adding soil and compost, you automatically build up a bed with fertile, well drained soil.
• Improved drainage: Some gardens are difficult because of drainage problems. If standing water rots away your plants before they have time to bloom, a raised bed can solve this problem. Improved drainage is another benefit of a raised garden.
• Flexible location: If your entire yard is shady, but you have a patch of sun on the front lawn, you may want to add a raised bed in the sunny spot so you can grow some different annuals and perennials. Conversely, although full sun throughout the yard sounds like paradise, other gardeners may want to add raised beds in shady areas to grow ferns, astilbe, impatiens and other flowers that love shade. Use raised beds to add a variety to the garden.

For more information on raised beds, see the following resources.

• Building_Plans_for_Raised_Bed_Garden
• How to build and install a raised bed from Popular Mechanics
• Build or buy a raised bed from Earth Easy.

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