From tiny apartment balconies in the city to sprawling suburban backyards, raised flower beds are making their mark everywhere. With a few tools and the right resources, you can create stunning raised flower bed displays that will decorate your home with joy and color!
Read on to learn all about how to make, purchase, and maintain a happy and beautiful raised flower bed full of all your favorite blooms.
Raised Flower Beds – the DIY Option
Building a raised flower bed has become something of a rite of passage for many home gardeners! Whether you choose to go the route of wood or steel, crafting your own raised flower bed can be a fantastic learning experience that will give you a great boost of knowledge and confidence when it comes to maneuvering around all things gardening.
Another benefit to building your own raised flower beds is that this method allows you a lot more flexibility to decide on many factors that might be important to you. From size and shape to building materials and even what those materials are treated with, going the DIY route empowers you to build your raised flower beds precisely to your preferred specifications.
Materials and Tools For Building Your Own Raised Flower Bed
Materials
The four key materials for building your own raised flower bed are lumber for the siding, deck screws to hold them together, some wide-mesh hardwire cloth, and a garden bed liner sheeting for the base and sides. The sizes of these materials will differ greatly depending on the size you want your raised flower bed to be.
Tools
There are a few key tools that will help with building your own raised flower beds. These tools are a compound miter saw and blade, a drill with bits, clamps, and a sturdy tape measurer. This will help you to easily measure and then cut lumber to your specifications and to clamp the lumber and drill holes in necessary places for both attachment and drainage.
How to Build a Raised Flower Bed
The steps to build a raised flower bed will also vary depending on your size and specifications. You will need to measure the lumber–or you can purchase precut lumber such as 2 x 4 pieces at a lawn and garden center.
Begin by clamping the boards together with the corner posts on top of the wall boards, on the inside of the bed. Drill pilot holes and attach all of the posts and sides via deck screws. If you are building a raised flower bed on legs, now is the time to attach them as well.
You will then want to cut to size and install the wide-mesh hardwire cloth at the base of the raised flower bed. Then, line it with the garden bed liner sheeting also cut to size. Position the raised flower bed wherever you prefer, and you’ll be ready to add the dirt and your plants!
Raised Flower Beds – the Premade Option
Premade raised flower beds are also a fantastic option to consider. These hold a lot of appeal for many gardeners because, in addition to being much easier to assemble, using a premade raised flower bed kit also ensures you have all the accoutrements you need for a thriving flower bed.
Premade raised flower beds remove a lot of the worry about steps like drilling holes in the right places, making sure all pieces are level and even and fit together properly, having proper drainage for your flower bed, and so on.
Where to Purchase Premade Raised Flower Beds
You have lots of options to choose from when it comes to purchasing premade raised flower beds. In fact, you may have more options with premade than building your own, since you will not be limited to the same budget constraints, the tools you have on hand, or your own skillset.
One popular option for premade raised flower beds is a galvanized steel option, such as the VEVOR Galvanized Raised Garden Bed Kit. This kind of premade raised flower bed is incredibly easy to assemble. With a simple screwdriver or drill, you can have it put together completely in about five to ten minutes.
If you want to go a little craftier, or perhaps meet a certain aesthetic, premade wooden raised flower beds are also an option. Raised flower beds like the Maple99 Raised Garden Bed option typically come with everything you need. This includes prebuilt drainage holes, weatherproofed wood, a flower bed liner, and all the hardware you need for quick and easy assembly.
Must-Haves and Considerations For A Stunning Raised Flower Bed
In order to keep your raised flower bed looking lovely and healthy, there are a few items and activities to consider that will really help!
Soil Type
One of the greatest appeals of using raised flower beds is the control it gives you over the state of the soil you’re growing your flowers in. That being the case, when laying out soil in your raised flower beds, you will want to go with nutrient-dense soil mixed with good compost.
Watering Process
While it is entirely possible to simply water your raised flower beds the old-fashioned way, having a raised bed irrigation kit can be a super helpful tool. These kits are designed to help you water in an effective way that saves water through drip irrigation.
This can be especially important with the varying heights of raised beds. Especially if you are first starting out with raised flower beds, an irrigation kit can take a lot of the guesswork out of keeping your beds properly moist.
Trellising and Mesh Covers
Things like trellises can be greatly helpful if you are growing a vining flower in your raised flower bed, such as roses. Having a crosshatch trellis installed on the back of your raised garden bed frame will add a decorative as well as practical pop. Also worth considering is the added layer of privacy that such trellising can bring, depending on the size of your raised flower beds!
In addition, mesh covers are often a great help with these kinds of flower beds. While your flowers may not be as vulnerable to ground nibblers in a raised bed, unfortunately, they are just as attractive as ever to insects. And they may be even more attractive to birds at this elevated height!
To help deter unwanted visitors, a mesh cover on a wood and/or PVC pipe frame can be a very helpful addendum to your raised flower beds.
Don’t Be Afraid to Decorate
Raised flower beds often hold a lot of appeal to families who are starting little gardeners off with growing for the first time. To add extra appeal and personalization to your raised flower beds, consider painting them or carving decals into the wood ahead of time.
This can be a great method to help your flower beds match your aesthetic or to appeal to a child’s interests and likes. With this step, you can make your raised flower beds a joyful place to visit every day.
What Should I Grow in My Raised Flower Beds?
Stunning Flowers to Grow in Raised Flower Beds
Some of the most popular flowers for raised flower beds are those that will really bloom bountifully and cover a lot of areas, filling in the flower bed area with color. It’s also a great idea to start with easy-to-grow flowers until you’re comfortable with how your raised flower bed flourishes and thrives!
Some of these popular flower varieties are:
And there are many more you can try! Just about any flower variety can thrive in a raised flower bed, with the proper care and the right soil base.
Whatever your favorite flower is, try growing it in your raised flower beds and see how it thrives. You can also try using a combination of flower types and colors to evoke a beautiful cascading display in a rainbow of hues.
Delicious Veggies to Grow in Raised Flower Beds
In addition to flowers, lots of veggie varieties also grow well in raised flower beds. In fact, a raised flower bed can be a popular option in areas that experience poor soil health or difficulty with full sunlight. These raised beds can allow gardeners to have more control over the content of the soil and the positioning of their veggies.
Some vegetable varieties that do well in raised flower beds include:
Depending on the size and depth of your raised flower bed, there are lots of other veggie varieties you can try! All it takes is some creative building and planting to have a thriving vegetable garden in your raised flower beds.
Frequently Asked Questions About Raised Flower Beds
What type of lumber do I need for building my raised flower beds?
You can use lots of different kinds of wood for framing your flower bed. Cedar and redwood are very popular lumber woods for building raised flower beds since they are naturally water-resistant and long-lasting. However, this also means they’re harder to come by and more expensive.
Some woods, such as pine and fir, are much less long-lasting, though they are easier to come by. Typically, most precut lumber will work, but be sure to check the type and whether it’s been waterproofed before you use it for an outdoor flower bed.
Should I be worried about using treated wood?
A lot of lumber is treated with fungicides and pesticides to keep unwelcome pests at bay. You can minimize the risk of contamination with these materials by using a liner in your wooden flower bed and planting any vegetables several inches from the wood siding, closer to the center of the box.
If you are worried about chemicals affecting your soil, a galvanized steel flower bed may be the better route to take.
Which is better to use as a base material for a raised flower bed: wood, or steel?
There are pros and cons to each kind of raised flower bed. Wood flower beds tend to be cheaper, as wood is easier to source. They are more customizable in shape, dimensions, and overall appearance. Wood is also a fantastic insulator, making it ideal for winter or overwinter gardening.
The downside of wood is that you do run the risk of it rotting or falling victim to termites and other insects. The alternative for sealing the wood can expose flowers and garden veggies to harmful chemicals. Thus, a decade at most is what you can usually expect for a wooden flower bed.
(As a side note, raised flower beds made with cedar will often last longer. However, they will also be equal in cost or greater than galvanized steel beds).
Galvanized steel, unlike your common raised bed lumber, has a long life expectancy. It’s sturdy and will last roughly twice as long as a wooden flower bed. There is also no risk of rot thanks to the zinc coating in the steel.
However, galvanized steel flower beds do tend to be costlier upfront. They also don’t do as well with flowers or foods that require a high acid-based soil, as the acid will corrode the zinc coating and cause the steel to rust much more quickly.
Wrapping Up How to Create Stunning Raised Flower Beds
Excited to create or install some raised flower beds, and get to growing? Be sure to check out our Flowers page for all sorts of ideas on different flower varieties to grow, how to care for them, and so much more.
Want more garden content? Visit our gardening page for in-depth guides, explainer posts, and great ideas!