31 Beautiful and Practical Raised Bed Garden Designs (2024)

Gardening

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Get inspired to upgrade your garden with raised beds for every style

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  Custom-Designed Raised Beds

  

  Raised bed gardens can fit just about any space. With creativity, you can create an entire garden sitting area. This multi-level raised bedincorporated simple straight lines byPeter Donegan Landscaping. Itcomes complete with a potting shed and lamppost. Add a bench section, like the one at the end of the front bed, and you have seating for the outdoor dining area. As the plants fill in and the wood weathers, this garden will have a natural, rustic appearance.

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  Built-In Red Brick Raised Beds

  

  Red brick raised beds can enhance the design of your homestead or backyard. Whenmaking a raised bed, instead of going in-ground, place a bed where the sun or shade is the best for the plants you want to cultivate.

  Bricklaying is not for everyone. It takes a lot of patience and precision to get it right. Choose bricks that will survive well in continually wet conditions. Most red brick raised beds are built using mortar to keep the walls intact.

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  Grow Bag Raised Beds

  

  Another great advantage of raised bed gardens is that they sit well above theunderground frost line, so the soil warms up faster in the spring, and you can start planting sooner.

  The material used for your beds makes a difference here: metal holds more heat from the sun. But grow bags are a good option as they don't freeze solid, and the soil in them defrosts rather quickly. Also, it is a great way to provide the heat needed to grow Mediterranean plants likesageand lavender. Grow bags may seem too easy, but within minutes you could have a great raised bed garden.

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  Herb Spiral Garden

  

  Spiral gardens are a popular permaculture technique. They increase the amount of usable planting area without taking up more ground space in your garden. You can easily build them out of stone, brick, or wood, or simply pileup the soil.

  The unusual shape and swirl of plants make for an eye-catching focal point in your garden. Herbs are the plants of choice in this photo, but you can grow anything using the spiral design.

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  Trough Gardens

  

  One of the easiest ways to create raised bed gardens is by usinganimal feeding troughs. No assembly is required, but be sure to drill some drainage holes in the bottom before adding the soil. The metal gives the garden an industrial look and conducts heat, warming the soil in the spring.

  You can use new or used troughs, depending on availability and your desired look. Depending on what you choose to grow, the plants may need a bit of extra water during the hottest part of summer.

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  See Also

  Raised Bed Garden Design: How To Layout & Build - Garden DesignGuide to Raised Beds: Plans, Timing, Tending | Gardener's SupplyRaised-Bed Kitchen Garden Design: Four-Garden Classic • Gardenary4x8' Square Foot Garden Plans (3 Clever Raised Bed Layouts)

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  Square Foot Raised Beds

  

  Square foot gardening involves dividing the growing area into small square sections, typically 1 foot per square. The aim is to produce anintensively planted vegetable garden or a highly productive kitchen garden. This can be measured and divided with various materials, including netting.

  Using a raised bed for growing vegetables allows you to control the soil quality and prevent it from becoming compacted. Vegetable roots can grow unimpeded. The beds do not have to be very high off the ground to benefit from being in a raised bed. Even 6 to 8 inches can be enough.

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• 07 of 31

  Flower Boxes as Raised Beds

  

  Raised beds have very few limits. If you have a sturdy fence, you can attach wooden boxes as small raised beds, like window boxes, on your fence. These can look good all year long, with annuals filling in as perennials stop blooming. During the winter holidays, you can also decorate these areas with seasonal greens and decorationsas a unique decor idea.

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• 08 of 31

  Cinderblock Raised Beds

  

  There are many ways to build raised beds out of recycled materials.Concrete blocks or cinderblocks are one of the most popular. Some older cinder blocks may contain fly ash, the "cinders" that remain from burning coal. It is still debated whether this is safe to use around edible plants. You can avoid the ash issue if you get new blocks made out of concrete. The new blocks are substantially heavier than older cinder blocks but are OK for a vegetable garden.

  Be careful, though—concrete blocks leech lime. Lime can raise the soil's pH. To be safe, use plants that thrive in alkaline soil. These sturdy succulents and sedums are hardy and not too fussy about soil, so they're a good choice for these planters.

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• 09 of 31

  Hoop House Raised Bed

  

  With a little pre-planning, you can create a multi-season vegetable garden. Raised beds give you more flexibilityto control the growing conditions in your garden and make it harder for animals to get at yourvegetables. If you build a hoop house on top of a raised bed, you can be prepared for any weather, handle frost, and give yourself a headstart in the spring. This lightweight netting is sturdy enough to hold a cloth covering in case of frost.

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  Raised Bed Border

  

  Raised beds are a terrific option for yards with steep slopes. By building up the beds at their lowest sections, you can create the illusion of a level garden. Make your beds wide enough so you can still have a layered flower garden with a border of shrubs framing the back of the garden and plenty of room for perennials that will provide colors, textures, and edge-softening drapes. This garden in Italy features a succession of raised beds edged with rocks to make the most of a steep slope location.

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  Space Saving Design ideas

  

  Gardeners with limited space can often use raised beds designs creatively to make the most of what they have. This clever design puts a wooden raised bed flower box (made of reclaimed materials) on top of the trash bin storage area: sprucing up what's usually a drab spot and bringing beauty to a utilitarian functional area. The string lights and decorations add a personal touch.

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  Raised Bed Arbor

  

  Vertical gardening allows you to grow more plants without taking up more space. Using a trellis or arbor with a raised bed makes it even easier to harvest vegetables and keeps them neater than sprawling on the ground. This raised bed with zucchini plants shows that your design can be as simple as creating a basic frame by tying two dowels (or bamboo poles) together and tethering them. Other crops may benefit from stretching garden netting across the trellis structure.

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  Lasagna Garden Raised Beds

  

  Lasagna gardens are layered gardens that don't require digging, but the term has come to mean using materials other than soil beneath the topsoil layer. In this case, wooden raised beds are constructed, filled with cut wood and grass clippings, then have a layer of topsoil added. This reduces soil's heavy weight and expense if your plantings don't produce a deep root system.

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  Milk Crate Garden

  

  Repurpose milk crates and make your raised bed portable. This milk crate-raised bedis easy toset up, and you can configure it into any shape you like. If you need your plants closer to your kitchen or you want to place them in a shadier spot, pick up the crate and go. These containers already come with drainage holes. And, when you need to change the soil, you can lift the crate, dump the contents in the compost pile, and start again.

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  See Also

  6 Beautiful Layouts for Raised Bed Gardens

  Raised Bed and Container Design

  

  Maybe you have brick raised beds and want to make them feel fuller and more decorative. Placing containers below the level of the brick wall allows you to play with different levels that draw the eyes up and down and allow for an almost unlimited variety of sizes and shapes. You can even plan your planting to provide four seasons of visual interest. Containers can also be moved to change the design any time you want.

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  Pallet Garden

  

  You can make a living wall filled with plants from an upcycled packing pallet, or lay a pallet flat on the ground for a raised bed with natural partitions between the slats to keep your plant growing orderly. Pallets can often be sourced free from businesses that get shipments and don't have a carting service to take them away.

  Tip

  If you see a pallet left outside a business, chances are, it's free. But always ask before you take.

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  Repurpose an Old Table

  

  Styles change, or sometimes you want to give your room a makeover. Perhaps an old wooden kitchen table or coffee table is destined for the garbage heap. Think again about tossing it out. Turn the table legs or the entire table into your next raised bed. Grow some simple herbs, which are perfect for picking at table height. Wooden materials will degrade over time, but you can eke out a few more years before rot sets in.

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  Brick and Cobblestone Rows

  

  Wall blocks and cobblestones were good enough for the ancient Egyptians and Romans and have lasted for millennia, so think about dry-stacking stacking rows of retaining wall bricks, red bricks, or cobblestones to build a sturdy raised bed that can stand the test of time.

  You don't need mortar, but you can make the structure last longer if you use masonry adhesive to hold them together if stacking taller than four bricks (or levels) high. For more stability, build a wall with an inner and outer layer, with a thickness of two bricks or stones all the way around.

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  Furniture Redux

  

  Tables seem made for holding a raised box that you fill with dirt. But less obvious choices are old furniture pieces like dressers, a chest of drawers, media centers, beds and cribs, and bathtubs destined for the dump. Old drawers are perfect as planters for different plant species.

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  Make It a Destination

  

  Cottage gardens and well-thought-out landscaping often incorporate bench seating in select, picturesque spots. Consider integrating seating into your design when designing a raised box from scratch.

  Seating is lovely for enjoying the garden, but it also has a practical use. If you're constructing a raised bed garden box from wood, several feet tall, seating will make weeding, pruning, and other maintenance issues easier to handle.

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  Enclosed Raised Beds

  

  Deer, rabbits, and burrowing, foraging creatures can make a mess of your garden in minutes. If you're in a spot where the animal activity will destroy your garden hopes, plan to enclose your raised beds. You can start simple with 3-foot tall corner posts wrapped in chicken wire all the way around, or you can frame a proper enclosure with a door. The key is to keep the top open so birds can have a chance to forage for seeds and, in the case of hummingbirds, get nectar.

  Tip

  When enclosing a raised garden, refrain from using a fine mesh. Give pollinators like butterflies and bees a chance to reach your plants.

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  Straw Bale Garden

  

  In rural parts of the country where straw and hale bales are everywhere, resourceful gardeners have found they serve as an excellent growing medium. Herbs and flowers do well when grown in bales. Straw lasts twice as long as hay, which decomposes within a year, versus straw, which can endure for two. Straw is also lighter and less expensive, and less likely to have herbicides.

  A bale can hold 3 to 5 gallons of water. Anything beyond that amount will drain away. You don't even need soil in most cases unless you plant tiny seeds.
  

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  Planting Boxes on Wheels

  

  Raised planting boxes can be constructed to make your gardening life much easier. Design them with wheels, so you can move your plants to accommodate different light needs or move the plants closer to you. Or, if you need storage for some of your gardening supplies, build a raised bed planting box with shelves to hold your planting containers and gardening tools. You can even repurpose a wheelbarrow.

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  Reuse Culvert Pipes

  

  Culvert pipes are usually used for drainage ditches or moving stormwater. They come in 6-inch to 8-foot diameters, made of metal or plastic. Now, reimagine them as potential raised bed building materials. At the minimum, they are about 10 feet long. You can cut them to any length to make multiple rings for circular raised beds.
  

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  Make a Terracotta or PVC Pipe Garden

  

  Terracotta is porous and great for succulents and plants that prefer drier soils. One-foot lengths of terracotta or PVC pipes can be turned on their side vertically to fence in soil for a large raised bed. The interior of each pipe can also serve as a mini container for herbs or smaller border plants. Alternatively, PVC pipes also work well since they will not rot or rust but are non-porous and retain more water than terracotta.

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  Get More Out of Old Tire Retirement

  

  They may not look pretty, but old used tires can be another cool option for raised bed containers. Some people have found beautiful ways to doll them up, such as painting the exterior or stacking them into columns.
  

  Warning

  There is some debate about whether old tires are safe for growing food since they can leach toxic substances over time. The simple response is only to use them for non-edible plants to avoid any potential issues over the long haul.

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  Make Use of Logs and Sticks

  

  A beautiful, natural option for a raised planting bed is a box made from recently chopped tree logs with their bark intact. Sticks and twigs can also be woven into sheets to form one of the four sides of square or rectangular boxes, or they can be arranged in vertical groupings or stands, going all around the perimeter, to make a container.

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  Tree Stump Planter

  

  When a tree dies, most people cut it down or uproot it and remove it. Some decide to cut most of the tree and leave the stump to decompose naturally over time. It can take many years for the decay to occur; in the meantime, beautify the stump by hollowing out the center and making it a raised planter. Add some gravel and compost-enriched soil, and plant flowers or anything you want to give it renewed life.

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  Corrugated Metal Raised Bed

  

  Corrugated metal, commonly used for roofing panels, can be framed by wood to make an industrial-looking raised bed look modern and fresh. The sheets are made of steel and are safe to use in edible gardens. They are not known to leach any harmful substances. The metal is also considered reflective, so it doesn't absorb more heat or sun, keeping the temperature of the soil cooler than many other types of raised container materials.

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  Plastic Storage Containers Can Grow Too

  

  Plastic storage containers can be transformed into growing boxes like the "Earthbox." They don't look so classy, but they get the job done. The Earthbox is a plastic self-watering growing container that brilliantly controls watering, fertilizing, and all the factors that need close monitoring to produce happy plants.

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  Natural Slab Stone Means Longevity

  

  Stone doesn't degrade like wood or other materials that will eventually decompose. You don't have to be concerned with winter or rainstorms, blisteringly hot summers, or floods destroying your stone-walled raised beds. Stone adds natural beauty and lasts longer than a lifetime. It's also environmentally friendly and food-safe for growing edible plants.

This is just a handful of ideas for creative ways of making raised beds in your garden. Repurposing materials into something useful is a great feeling, and gardeners are nothing if not resourceful. Raised beds can help you make better use of your space and find new and often eye-catching ways of growing food and flowers.