7 Levels of Raised Bed Gardening

Agriscaping is all about having an elegant edible landscaping. There are many ways to create this, however one of the techniques is to use raised beds. When choosing which raised bed to use we can be there to help create one that is unique and beautiful. To get started, it helps to know that there are 7 levels of raised bed gardening. Let’s take a look.

1. Double Dug. This is an in ground raised bed method that is sustainable and won’t cost you anything but back breaking labor. You are basically fluffing up the soil where you are digging down two spade depths deep while fluffing the soil to create a raised bed. Your pathways between are more compact between will help channel the water.

2. Traditional. This is the typical raised bed with using blocks or wood, to raise up the garden about at seat height so it is easy to work on the garden. You will want to make sure you use materials that won’t decay too quicky or doesn’t harbors insects.

3. Square-foot. These are boxed out gardens in your raised beds. When putting these square foot gardens together, you will want to make then the width that is around 1/2 your height. This allows you to reach the center of your bed from both sides.

4. Agri-block. Solid and semi-permanent beds. It’s sort of like a Lego block bed. You can interlock the blocks to stack on the ground without using concrete or mortar. You put wooden stakes through the cells to make them a little more supported, then screwing the wood topper to screw into the stakes. We suggest filling the block cells with pea gravel so bugs don’t have place to hide. Keeping it under 24″ is ideal for these types of beds.

5. Hybrids. Taking a couple different types of raised beds and integrating them together. One of our favorites are to build block beds and allows it to spill out the side into a double dug method.

6. Hügelkultur. This is German for mound/hill culture. This age-old tradition involves creating a raised garden bed from wood and other organic matter. This type of raised bed is more than just a growing space for your garden. It builds soil fertility, conserves water, and provides a multitude of growing space with varying microclimates while also creating visual appeal for your landscape.

What type of raised bed are you interested in incorporating into your Elegant Edible Landscape? To learn more and get some amazing free guides check out Agriscaping Green Thumb Thursday at https://agriscaping.kartra.com/page/greenthumbthursday