Building a raised garden bed is not difficult but does require a little thought and some work with a spade and fork.

When starting out learning how to vegetable garden, raised bed vegetable gardening may be something that the beginner leaves until they are certain that they wish to vegetable garden in the longer term. However raised bed vegetable gardening can be achieved quite simply by using pots and containers that are stood on a hard landscaped surface. In fact a great method is to use recycled boxes, tins or anything suitable that comes to hand as long as they are put in the right location. The vegetable garden layout is important to plan so that the vegetable plants are not shaded all day long.

If you have land available to you in your back garden or perhaps garden allotment then the deep bed method of creating a raised vegetable bed is ideal.

As with container vegetable gardening vegetable garden planning is essential for deep-bed vegetable plots before a spade or fork is put into the ground. Draw out your raised vegetable garden beds on paper, drawing in the beds in the best shape to suit your plot and also pleasing to your eye. The shape may be square, oblong or triangular but do make sure that the maximum width does not exceed four feet as this is the ideal width for a gardener to work from permanent paths at either side of the bed without having to step on the soil. Also do not be tempted to make the beds too long. Remember that you
need to walk around them to work from the other side.

When you are happy with your design mark the beds out on the ground with string and pegs or use the special ground marking spray that is stocked by good garden shops.

Now begins the hard work. Take the time and trouble to double dig the bed. As the name implies this entails digging two spits deep and incorporating well rotted manure and / or compost. Do not miss out this step. It cannot be denied that this is hard work but it only has to be done this one time and you may only be storing up trouble and even more work in the future if the work is not done now. For example, just below the soil surface you may have a “hard pan” of earth and if that is the case your plant roots will never be able to penetrate it and you will have poor resulting crops.

You will find that the above will result in your soil level now being six to nine inches higher than when you started. You can leave it at this but a neater and more practical solution is to edge the beds with wooden boards that ideally have been pressure treated with preservative. This forces the preservative deep into the timber but if this option is not open to you because of availability or expense then alternatively paint the boards yourself with a wood preservative that is recommended for garden use in close proximity
to plants.

You do not have to be a master joiner to do the woodwork. Cut pointed corner pegs (and supporting pegs for the length if the beds are long) and hammer them firmly into the ground so that the height above ground matches the height of your boards. Nail the boards to the outside of the pegs
and the job is done but remember to paint the ends of the boards with extra preservative if you have made any cuts.

The boards can be any height to suit you. Higher boards will give you the space to top up the prepared bed with good quality top soil and compost.

Once finished the raised vegetable garden beds should not be walked on otherwise you will compact the soil which defeats the object and negates all the hard work you have done. Put a plank across when doing a job that cannot be easily completed by working from either side.

As a crop is cleared from your raised bed garden replenish and revitalise the soil with good well rotted compost before replanting. Follow this regime and you will keep up the fertility of your vegetable garden bed without having to dig that plot over again.

Building a raised garden bed is well worth the effort. Raised vegetable garden beds using the deep bed system have been estimated to double and even triple crop yields compared with traditional vegetable gardening methods.