I am a do it yourself kind of guy; even though I can’t cut a straight line with either a hand saw or power saw. So I am lucky I have four acres to plant in the open ground. The one drawback of not having frames is certain grasses and weeds send runners underground into the bed which then sprout up in the bed.
I use 3 1/2 foot wide beds but without a wooden or plastic frame. For those with limited space and the desire to have framed raised beds the choices are down to two. Build your own or buy them ready made.
Building your own means having some competence in planning, measuring, cutting, hammering so that your finished raised bed is level and square (not in shape but in 90 degree angles.) Below is a ten minute video giving you a primer on how to do it yourself…
For more step by step directions for building your own wooden framed raised beds, check out the blog at Skillin Greenhouses, a three greenhouse, garden center, nursery and landscape design business in Maine.
The other option is to buy a ready made and ready to assemble raised bed. One company recommended by several people that makes high quality Port Orford cedar framed beds is an Ashland, Oregon company called NaturalYards. The cedar beds are easy to assemble in over 100 different height, width and length size combinations.
Click below for a video on assembling the NaturalYards products in what could be your backyard…
NaturalYards video
Photo credit: Bev Wagar Flickr Photostream
Hydroponics Dictionary
