How to Form Raised Beds That Won't Erode

A raised bed is an ideal way to grow vegetables and other plants, particularly in a small space. Because you can continually add new organic material to the bed, without needing to till it in or dig up the ground, it requires less maintenance than a traditional garden. In addition, raised beds are usually easy to keep free of weeds. Raised beds that are created by mounding soil can erode, however, beds made with lumber or concrete blocks will hold in the soil.

Shovel
Tarp or gravel
Lumber or concrete blocks
Lag bolts or nails
Top soil
Compost

Instructions

- 1
  Find a location for your raised beds and level it out with a shovel, if necessary. If you need to build your bed into a slope, for example, you must use your shovel to cut away some of the soil so that the sides of the bed all sit evenly.
- 2
  Determine how long, wide and deep you want each bed to be. A good sized bed for a yard is 3 or 4 feet wide, between 6 and 10 feet long, and about 2 feet deep. You can adjust these parameters according to your own needs.
- 3
  Lay a tarp or a layer of pea gravel down over the area where the raised bed is to be constructed in order to prevent soil from eroding out of the bed when it rains.
- 4
  Construct your bed by laying your selected, untreated lumber pieces on top of each other and securing them with lag bolts. If you choose to use 4X4's, for example, you must build them up and secure them together until they are the height you desire. If you are using concrete blocks without mortar, you can simply stack them, alternating seams, until they are the height you want. Another type of raised bed can be constructed by nailing 2X6's together in a box shape and laying it on the ground.
- 5
  Fill your beds with top soil and compost until it is about an inch from the top of your bed.

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