Last week when I posted All About Raised Bed Part 1 HERE, I was thrilled to find many of you who share the enthusiasm for raised bed gardens!
Here’s Part two: 28 inspiring raised bed projects, from simple wood raised beds to many creative variations. ( Some of the helpful resources are affiliate links. Full disclosure here. )
In case you missed part 1, here it is. It covers the important basics of building a productive raised bed, such as planning, material selections, designs and soil building.
Before we jump in, I do want to share that soil building is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of a great raised bed. This book Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! talks about a great method to build soil using readily available materials, without too much hard work!
Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens ( Image: Ecofilms )
1 . Simple raised bed with 4×4 posts
A simple construction of raised bed using 4×4 posts. Cedar and redwood are naturally rot resistant, which would be great choices here. ( Vegetable Gardener )
2 . Simple raised bed with outside posts and braces.
This raised bed is made of 2×6 boards and 2×2 braces. The braces are optional supports that prevent the boards from warping or twisting.( BHG )
3. Raised bed with hoop house attachments.
A raised bed with a greenhouse tunnel on top! Love the addition of PVC pipes held upright to the inside of the bed with steel tube straps like these. A hoop house can be created using smaller diameter PVC or wires. ( Sunset)
4. Raised beds with cap.
Add 2×4 or 2×6 caps to give these raised beds an attractive look. (Source: Chris loves Julia | Popular Mechanics )
5. Stacked wood raised bed
Remember these gorgeous raised beds from Part one: All About Raised Garden Beds?
They are made from 4x6s. Below is a tutorial on how to make the from 6x6s, which is the same process.
6-10. Waist height raised bed
Building the raised bed to a counter height of 36″ will make it so much easier to garden for people who have physical discomfort such as back or knee pains.
Two really simple and nice DIY raised beds. I would increase the depth on the first one, and add weed barrier landscape fabric at the bottom to both. ( Source: 6 | 7 )
3 variations of the elevated planter box: add shelves for storage or casters for mobility. Via Addicted2Decorating, Gardeners, Ebay.
11. Stylish wood raised bed planters.
Wouldn’t this beautiful planter at Williams Sonoma make a great gift for a garden lover? If you are thinking about DIY, someone at Instructables figured out how to build these beautiful raised beds using pallets!
Here’s our favorite tool for taking apart pallets – an awesome deck wrecker!
And a detailed guide all about finding and working with pallets!
12 & 13. Raised beds with fencing and benches.
Add fencing or even a door to your raised beds to keep out deer and rabbits! You can purchase kits or make your own version. You can also add benches to a raised bed for the perfect place to sit and enjoy the garden, or set tools and snacks for the gardener! ( Bonnie )
14, 15. Tiered raised bed planters
This ladder shaped tiered planter is great for small space growing, and this stepped wood planter herb garden looks beautiful in a corner space.
16-18. Use readily available materials to build your raised bed garden
Tree logs can provide just the right height for a raised bed. Terracotta pipes become little pots and walls for a raised bed. Or build this chic raised bed with cobble stones and landscape block construction adhesive
19, 20. Galvanized metal raised bed
Corrugated metal raised bed looks so gorgeous! Just be very careful- they can be sharp on the cut edges. Use wood trim to cover the cut sharp edges when building! ( Source: Plantlust | Aristata )
21. Trough raised bed
Isn’t this stylish? Don’t forget to drill some drain holes!
22, 23. Used tires upcycled into raised beds
An used tire can become an instant raised bed garden. These painted tires are so cheerful and pretty!
24 – 26. Concrete block raised bed gardens
Concrete blocks ( aka. cinder block, CMU ) filled with soil make a sturdy border and additional planting pockets. The key is to take the time and prepare the ground to be level. ( Source: 24 | 25 | 26: source lost. If you know the original source, please let me know! )
27 & 28. Straw bale raised bed gardens
There are two ways to create raised beds with straw bales. The one above uses straw bales as a border. The method below uses straw bales as vessel and growing medium to grow a productive raised bed vegetable garden.
The pioneer of this method, Joel Karsten, wrote an excellent book – Straw Bale Gardens Complete , which gives all the details on straw bale gardening.
Straw Bale Gardens Complete Book
Below is a video on how it works.
If you have been thinking about starting a garden, I think a raised bed garden is a great way to go!
You may also like these 32 creative planters made from up-cycled objects:
And 21 DIY greenhouses with great tutorials.
Or this article on how to find, select and build with pallets!
Happy growing! xo
Leslie
I want to try these raised beds for tomoatoes, peppers, and maybe some strawberries. I’m pinning this, it’s a great tutorial. Thanks for sharing!
Luna Faulkner
I combined #6 above with a pallet (non-treated) & planted lettuce and kale between the slats. Very happy with the results! Thanks for the great inspiration.
ananda
must be so pretty too! 🙂
Amanda | Maple Alps
I can’t wait for the day we have a yard and can have a garden! Great post! These are all so amazing!
Jessica Bradshaw
I am sending this to my husband. I want an herb garden so bad!! Love these ideas. Thank you.
candy
I love all these raise bed ideas. I’m getting older and raised beds are perfect and easier for me
Angie
I LOVE these! I want to plant some raised beds so badly. I’ve been thinking a lot about doing the tire ones. They seem easiest if I can find enough old tires.
The Southern Thing
I love the idea of this! My mom just put one in her yard, so I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Maya
Those are some super cute ideas! I would love some cages on mine… dang rabbits love to snack in my garden! 🙂
chantal
These are so beautiful! They are a great way to add character to your garden/
momwithfive
Wonderful bed garden ideas. I only have a small balcony but I love gardening.
Elizabeth Edgar
Love this! I have pallets and old tires laying around in the garage. I should do this! Pinning this to save.
Jenn
These are such great ideas. I LOVE the raised beds with the benches, what a great idea!! I have 4×4 raised beds in my garden and next year they’ll need to be replaced. I have some great inspiration for some new ones. Thanks so much for sharing!
Aarika
These are so amazing! Thanks for sharing. This is one of my favorite blog posts this week. Yay! #7 is my favorite. =)
Carly @ FitLiving Eats
These are gorgeous and I have a dream of having raised beds in my backyard one day. However, I need to go to gardening school first, because I’m realizing I do not have a green thumb! Ha!
Louis
Ooooh, very high tech, love it!
Aubrey
There are some fantastic ideas in this post. The Mister and I have been talking about revamping our beds (though that will probably be in the fall); I’ll have to share a few of these ideas with him.
LZ Cathcart@ The Summery Umbrella
YES. I would like one of each please! 😉 Gorgeous list of raised bed gardens. I definitely need to invest a little bit of time in a few of them. My plants are getting too big for my pots already. Yikes!
Marny
I LOVE LOVE LOVE all these ideas. They are great ways yo save a little bit of toil on your back also! Thanks for taking the time to share.
Ann
It’s always easier when doing something with tutorial! Thanks for sharing it here! I’m trying to make some raised beds for my garden and I hope things work well for me with your guide!
judy
I like to comment on the instruction on how to build a raised bed. you should never use top soil it meant to be used to fill in hole in your lawn not raised beds you should use either garden soil or potting soil this give you vegetables ability spread their roots. I use a mixture of cow manure and garden soil, 3 parts soil to 1 part cow manure my plants love it.
pam
Wow! These ideas are so cool! Thank you for sharing! I wish I could DIY these raised bed garden as they did.
Marilyn Pryce-Rogers
Thanks for such inspiring post we will definitely be using some of these ideas for next planting season….we recently converted our planting area to raised beds and vertical gardening and what a year we’ve had! Much higher yield….here in Londo there are lots of places where you can get free pallets, we pulled them apart (mostly the husband lol) save the nails and build raise beds and much more. Thanks again!!
ananda
hi marilyn, thank you so much for sharing your pallet adventures! 🙂 your raised bed garden sounds wonderful! best wishes!
Log Splitter Picks
Raised bed with hoop house attachments, I like that. Such great ideas. Thanks for sharing with us.
Adam Scott
Hello Ananda, It’s a great list. My favorite number 5. thanks!
johnybahi
Stunning! These contemplations are so cool! Thankful to you for sharing! I wish I could DIY these raised bed garden as they did. There are some wonderful musings in this post.
faisal
This is so helpful because we just started vegetable gardening! Raised beds are our next projects because they look great and have so many benefits!
Fred
We are starting to build several raised beds in our garden. This gives us lots of good ideas. Thanks for the inspirations!
julie
Affordable, easy & efficient way to create a beautiful and productive garden! Love these raised bed ideas!