If you have a small yard and there is no suitable land for growing vegetables, but you want to have a vegetable garden, high beds will help you.
High beds have a number of advantages – they are completely isolated from unsuitable soil, it is more convenient to work with them, vegetables and fruits will ripen faster, and the yield increases. What are the advantages of high beds and how to make them with your own hands, we will consider in this article.
Experienced gardeners make high beds on unsuitable soil for growing vegetables in order to avoid numerous problems that arise in the process of growing vegetables and greens.
Why make a high bed?
Advantages of high beds
- The soil is not suitable for a garden. If the soil in the area is infertile (unsuitable for growing plants), you do not have to improve the soil in the entire garden, you can only fill a high bed with nutritious soil;
- Soil temperature. In high beds, the temperature is higher than in open ground, so you can grow exotic flowers or speed up the ripening period of garden crops;
- Care. Caring for high beds is easier (planting plants, taking care of them, harvesting), you don’t need to bend down a lot, the main weight should be given to watering;
- Planting plants. Plants in high beds are planted close to each other, because the roots of the plants grow deep, and the above-ground part in the process of growth stretches upwards and it is convenient to water and harvest them;
- Soil diseases. The drainage system, which must be done, prevents soil erosion;
- Weed control. Weeds in high beds almost do not grow because the plants are planted quite densely, the plants do not leave room for weeds.
What to make high beds from
A high bed can be built from almost any material – wood, brick, concrete, foam blocks. Still, natural materials, wood (untreated with paint or varnish) remain the most popular today. The substrate, which will be filled with a high bed, must be isolated from unsuitable soil with an agricultural cloth or a waterproof film with holes for drainage.
The size of the frame for a high bed
The best dimensions for a high bed will be 1 x 1.20 m at a height of 30-60 cm. This will allow you to easily care for all the plants planted in the bed.
You can, of course, make the beds higher, but in this case you will need more soil, fertilizers and water for irrigation.
Make the distance between the beds sufficient, depending on the purposes for which this track will be used. If you often use a wheelbarrow or lawnmower, then the distance should be at least 1 m. For a normal passage, 0.5 m is enough.
Do not fill the raised bed with soil from the garden. Instead, use fertile soil, compost or special mixtures for garden crops.
How to make a bed with your own hands
To make a reliable high bed with our own hands, we need:
- wooden boards (1.20 m wide, arbitrary length);
- beams (height of the beam = height of the bed) of appropriate sizes;
- scoop, shovel;
- hammer, screwdriver, tape measure, water scale;
- sawdust.
Sequence of works:
- In the place where the high bed will be located, remove the sod and weeds;
- Decide on the height of the bed, remember that the minimum layer of nutrient soil should be 20-30 cm;
- Draw the contours of the bed with sand;
- Check the length, width and diagonal dimensions to make sure that the proportions are respected;
- With the help of a hammer, you should adjust the boards and bars so that they become close to each other;
- With the help of a screwdriver and self-tapping screws, fasten the beams and boards together;
- To increase the height, use more boards;
- Fill the bottom of the bed with pebbles or crushed stone, or sand, or expanded clay, or lay a layer of agricultural fabric on the bottom;
- Pour and compact the prepared soil.
It is easy to make a greenhouse from such a bed.
The bed is ready!
Importantly!!! Soil on high beds dries out much faster than on beds in open ground. Therefore, you need to water high beds more often, or you can use an automatic watering system.
Such beds can be used to grow flowers that will turn into a bright corner in the yard.