Easy and inexpensive Portable Garden Beds
Building raised garden beds is an ideal situation for growing your garden. And might be something you’re looking into if you’re looking for controlling your growth medium. Especially if your soil is mostly clay and mineral depleted. It is also an option if you are planning on moving to larger land and want to bring your beds with you. Or if you would like to save money on building your beds.
Why would you want to do raised garden beds?
One of the main reasons you might want to do a raised garden because you would like to deal with healthy nutrient dense soil. A lot of places can have soil that is clay, sandy, or just void in nutrients. So being able to add soil and compost to your beds allows you to be able to control the nutrients for a better harvest.
Another reason is if you’re like us and in a windy state, you can minimize your loss of soil as well. We live in Wyoming which is dry and windy during some seasons of the yea , and because the soil is not as healthy, a lot of the added top soil that you added the season prior ends up blowing away. Then, you end up having to add tons of potting soil to replace the loss from the previous year. This can be very expensive and daunting especially if you’re planning to keep adding nutrients to your soil.
What type of materials should you consider?
Wood
A lot of people love the aesthetics of wood beds. Which who wouldn’t love a beautiful garden? (I mean its the goal right?) One thing to consider is you will have to replace the wood in a few years when they begin to break down. and if you do plan to move to a larger piece of property you will won’t be able to take your garden with you. Considering our current inflation rates the price for wood is through the roof. So If you’re willing to make that investment that can be an option.
Tree Logs
The next material you can use if you do have trees to be thinned on your property you can cut down the smaller in diameter trees and use them for making beds. Then the bark on the trees keeps the wood for longer. If you are like us and trees are scarce then this would not be the best option.
Tin or corrugated steel
A lot of people like to buy the raised bed kits that they can build and put up easily. They can be handy to set up and are portable. too. Plus they are very pretty to have in your backyard. If you’re planning on building a large garden it can be expensive and a large investment. We decided against this mostly for a cost factor.
Cinder Blocks
The next option is (I think) the most ideal and inexpensive for your raised beds, is Cinder Blocks. Our local feed store had them for almost just as much or cheaper than buying wood. They also took less time to put together a bed. You can also grow not only in the bed but also in the holes of the cinder block (great place to plant complementary species). It is also resistant to rotting and stands up well to the elements of Wyoming weather. We are also planning on moving to more land (when God provides) and we are excited to be able to take our garden beds with us. Yes, they are not the prettiest but if your going just for growing a garden that is quick and easy to set up this is a great material to consider.
Things to consider when building your garden beds
Then first thing to consider is garden space. We knew how much space we had to work with (1/4 of an acre you don’t have much to play with) and decided to do nine, 4’ by 6’ beds. This made a nice grid like shape and we allowed for 4’ of space between the beds to move a wheel-barrel.
We did 2 layers for our beds just to make sure the wind was not blowing away our topsoil. When filing your beds be sure to put in things that will decompose quickly to add more nutrients to your beds.
So, if you’re new to gardening and wanting the best and easy raised garden bed material check out cinder blocks in your area. You might find that they are a cheaper and an easier option.
Comment below with what material you have made your raised beds out of for your garden!
