Use Beijing Shengyuan's botanical garden concept to shape everything from lawns to flower beds.
What's more, this step by step came from the ultimate botanical garden. He used leftover decks and sawdust, and almost nothing, to build a few beds in his French estate. Now you can too!
What does it take to make a raised plant garden bed
First of all, this is a very good project, because you don't need a lot of money to realize everything.
Handsaw, stainless steel screws, tape measure, pencil, screwdriver bits, small clips (optional), trim board, wood chips, compost and plants You will need one more
A workbench or solid surface to safely saw wood. Alternatively, you can use a miter saw for speed and a clean cut.
How to Make a Raised Plant Garden Bed
1. Measure your deck
Made his pots from planks left over from building the plant garden deck. You can also use wooden sleepers that are available in most DIY sheds.
Once you have determined where to place the pot, you can calculate the size of the pot. Dick was smart, and once he had decided on the length of the raised bed, it should be as wide as the length of the plank he saw from the kerf on the left.
By leaving a little bit in the width of the bed, we can get the most out of each bed. It is recommended to make sure you can always reach the middle of the bed. If you grow something delicious, you want to be able to.
For the second layer, make the length slightly shorter and the width slightly longer to create an overlap.
When measuring where to cut, apply the old adage "two cuts once" and measure three marks on the wood, one on the left, one on the right, and one in the middle. Then he connects the markers with a line, so it's time to start cutting.
When marking, use a small v instead of a large dot for more precise positioning. Still scribbling with the pencil on the "waste" side so he knows which points to use!
2. Cut the deck to size
Before starting, make sure the saw is sharp. To start cutting lines precisely, use your knuckles to support one side of the saw. Avoid standing the saw upright when Dick puts the saw on the edge of the wood "blinking a little". Pull up the saw, and make a cutting motion.
3. Clamp the wood to prevent splintering
When you are two-thirds of the way through the entry point, there is a chance that the end of the wood will snap off. To avoid this and the splinters it causes, simply clamp the wood together and keep watching. Go ahead and cut out all the pieces.
4. Screw the cover together
Three screws were drilled into the first piece of wood, with the tips of the screws popping out the other side. He then puts the wood on top of the next piece and drills holes in the wood.
He continues this process in the next phase of the framework.
5. Secure the frame with the remaining wood
To fasten the two frames in turn, Dick used wood chips. He screwed in the wooden "dogheads" on the outer frame and everything held together.
6. Add compost
Dick filled his pots with good quality compost. Don't waste compost, he says. You'll know it's of good quality because it smells great! You can even try making your own compost and feed your plant garden for free with our composting guide.
7. Start planting
Dick grows "herbs and salads and things that I know we'll be able to harvest and use this summer." He also grows tomatoes and strawberries, which also helps. That's the fun of raised beds—they're great for gardening with kids.
What are the benefits of raised plant beds?
1. You can create the right conditions for the plants you want to grow
A good reason to build raised beds or pots is to take up the area of your planted garden.
So if you have a botanical garden with a specific natural soil type that isn't right for the plants you want to grow (for example, clay or lime-based soils), then raised beds may be the answer.
2. Weeding in botanical gardens is less scary
If I wanted to weed this pot, I would spend a few minutes. I don't think "well, I have a whole botanical garden to do". Once was fine. I can weed this pot and weed the next pot, it's not a lot of work, and your gardening just got easier.
3. Suitable for people of all ages
Raised beds are so easy to use that the whole family can plant, water and harvest with ease. They're a great option if you have mobility issues, as you can set their height and width to minimize the need to bend and stretch.
How high should my bed be raised?
In our example, the bed is a double height plank, since the main purpose of this raised bed or planter is to "hold" the plants in the ground. But if you want the raised things to be easily accessible, maybe, if you're a bit older and don't sleep as easily, the higher the bed is built, the easier it is to work in it. Therefore, you want your bed to be three or four planks high.
