Raise beds have seen a huge uptick in popularity as more and more people discover the pleasures of gardening. They are not only ideal for small yards where a traditional garden would not fit, but they may also be a wonderful way for those with health or mobility challenges to enjoy gardening.
There are a few essential components to a highly productive raised bed garden. The first thing you need to consider is whether or not your raised beds are tall enough to accommodate enough soil for healthy root development. Likewise, they must have adequate drainage. The roots of plants quickly decay when they are submerged in water.
Last but not least, you must fill your bed with the proper mixture of nutrients and dirt if you want your plants to thrive. Keeping all of these in mind, the purpose of the present article is to show you how to properly fill your raised beds. And how to keep it healthy for decades!
How to Fill Your Raised Beds and Grow Like Never Before!
Choosing the Right Raised Beds
Before we get into what to plant in your raised beds, let’s talk about what makes a good raised bed.
Raised beds can be constructed from a variety of materials, including wood, brick, rock, even metal or plastic. Whether you build your own or buy a prefabricated unit, the most important thing is to give your plants plenty of room to develop.
Most flower and vegetable plants require a bed depth of ten to twelve inches. In fact, sixteen inches or more is preferable for maximum effectiveness.
Roots need at least twelve inches of space to develop properly; any less, and you’ll be limited to producing herbs. Also, the rate at which soil cools and heats depends on its thickness. Changes in temperature are especially detrimental to plants that produce edible flowers and vegetables.
Drainage
After the beds have been laid out and before they are filled, make sure they have adequate drainage. This is especially important if you want to install the beds on a hard, impermeable surface like concrete, brick, or stone.
You may improve the drainage in your beds in a number of ways. Filling the bottom few inches with gravel or stone is one of the best and easiest ways to do this. Soil can swiftly drain of excess moisture because of this.
You can also install slotted drain tile or pipes at the bottom of your mattresses. The pipes allow moisture to seep through and drain away. The water will gently seep through the bottom of the bed whether you choose the soil or gravel option.
If you’re standing on concrete or brick, though, you’ll need to drill a hole at the very bottom to let the water drain out of the gravel (or a hole for the pipe to drain out). Water will pool around plant roots if it can’t drain away from the area.
Bottom Fill
To aid drainage and encourage healthy soil development, a layer of organic matter should be added to the bottom of a new raised bed before it is filled with soil. Mulch made from shredded leaves, straw, or a mixture of the two, is a good option.
Put four to eight inches of organic material at the bed’s base for added comfort. Its height won’t be a problem because it will shrink in size when soil is added.
It provides the roots with a thin covering of organic material, which is essential for their health. For their initial stages of development, this facilitates easy growth. Additionally, it aids in the improvement of drainage. The savings on soil for filling it are icing on the cake!
The Right Soil Mix For Your Raised Beds
After laying down a layer of compost or manure, you can start potting soil. Adding plain old garden soil or top soil at this point is a common gardening mistake. These soils are great for other purposes, but they are too heavy and compact to use in a raised bed on their own.
Raised bed soil should be rich in nutrients, drain well, and be rather loose. And the best approach to make that fantastic soil is to combine equal parts of crushed top soil and compost, then add some perlite and potting soil to keep the mixture light and easy to deal with.
Your needs for pulverized top soil will determine whether you should buy it in bulk or in bags. Pulverized simply means clear of clumps and bits of soil.
Compost, if you don’t manufacture your own, can be bought in bags or in bulk. But whatever you do, don’t forget to add the compost! The strength of your soil will improve dramatically as a result.
Mixing The Ingredients
Fill the raised beds with a mixture of compost and crushed soil after first stacking them with organic matter. Stir the ingredients together as you add them.
Adding some perlite and potting soil to the compost/soil mixture helps to generate a loose and workable nutrient-rich composite.
Potting soil is a loose, nutrient-rich blend that can be used to improve the soil and compost. The perlite, on the other hand, helps to loosen the mixture and improves drainage significantly.
One part potting soil and half a part perlite should be mixed in for every five parts compost and soil. For instance, if you’re using 5 gallon buckets to fill your raised beds, you may use 5 compost buckets, 5 pulverized top soil buckets, 1 potting soil bucket, and 1/2 perlite bucket.
This blend includes only the best components.
Soil Longevity
The last thing to bear in mind is that, while you have made fantastic growing beds, they will need to be renewed each season if they are to retain their vitality and potency.
This can be accomplished by producing a fall cover crop or by adding organic matter or compost to the soil annually.
Rotating crops across raised beds is an excellent way to maintain productivity and pest control, in addition to replenishing nutrients annually. Rotate the plants you grow in your raised beds from season to season if you have more than one.
