About

Raised Bed Gardening is a free informational resource about growing vegetables and herbs in raised beds. The guides are written for home gardeners, and especially for people planning or planting a first bed who want to understand each decision and the reason behind it, in plain language.

What the site covers

• Getting started: a starting guide, how raised beds compare with planting in the ground, what frames are made of, and the common mistakes worth avoiding.
• Bed planning: where to put a bed, how much sun it needs, how wide, long and deep to make it, and how to lay out several beds and the paths between them.
• Soil: what to fill a bed with, how much soil to order, what compost does, drainage, and refreshing the soil each season.
• Vegetables: reliable crops for raised beds, with crop guides for tomatoes, lettuce and salad greens, and carrots and other root vegetables.
• Herbs: herbs grouped by what they need, laying out a herb bed, and growing basil.
• Planting and spacing: how far apart to plant, how to arrange plants inside a bed, and succession planting.
• Care: watering, mulching and crop rotation.
• Seasonal work: getting beds ready for spring and for winter.

If you are new to raised beds, begin with Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners. From there, the most useful next reads are Where to Put a Raised Bed, Raised Bed Soil Mix and Raised Bed Plant Spacing. Every guide is listed on the Guides page.

How the guides are written

Plain steps. Each guide covers one topic from start to finish: what to decide, what to do and what to check afterwards. The step-by-step guides also give a difficulty level, a rough time estimate, the best time to do the job and a list of what you need.

Figures per crop or as ranges. You will not find one spacing, one depth or one watering timetable for every plant here, because crops and varieties differ. Figures are given for a named crop or as a range, and the guides explain what moves a figure up or down so you can adjust it for your own bed.

Specifications come from named sources. Factual specifications, such as a bed width, a soil depth or a mulch thickness, are taken from university extension services and public agencies, and the source is named and linked in the article where the figure appears. Examples are the University of Maryland Extension page on growing vegetables in raised beds, the Oregon State University Extension publication on raised bed gardening and the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Where published figures differ between sources, the guides say so.

Local information takes precedence. Your local frost dates, the seed packet and the plant tag take precedence over a general figure in a guide. They describe your climate and the exact variety you are growing, which a general guide cannot do.

The illustrations are original drawings. The pictures on this site are illustrations drawn for the guides. They are not photographs of real gardens. They are there to show an idea, such as how a bed is laid out or where water should drain, and a real bed will look different in its details.

Tools, soils and other supplies are described by type and not by brand, so you can use what you already have or can find locally.

What the site is not

• No building plans or structural advice. The guides describe frame materials and bed sizes, but they do not give construction drawings or sizes for structural parts. Wet soil is heavy and pushes hard on the walls of a bed. Follow the kit maker’s instructions, and get qualified help for tall beds and for beds on decks and roofs.
• No product reviews. The site does not review, rate or rank products, and it does not publish invented reviews, ratings or testimonials.
• No personalized advice. The guides are general information. They cannot assess an individual garden, and they are not professional horticultural, construction or engineering advice.
• No guaranteed results. Plants are living things, and a crop can fail in a well-kept bed. Time estimates in the guides are approximate.

When a guide mentions a fertilizer or another product, the label on the product you bought is the instruction to follow.

Conditions vary

Climate, soil, weather and the length of the growing season differ from one place to the next, and what works in one garden may need adjusting in another. For planting dates, soil testing and questions about your own conditions, contact your local extension office. It knows your area and can answer what a general guide cannot.

Corrections and suggestions

If something in a guide is unclear, looks wrong or links to a page that no longer works, please report it through the Contact page. Mention the name of the guide and the section so the problem can be found quickly. Corrections are always welcome.