We all know it: the fruit and vegetables from our own garden taste a thousand times better than from the supermarket. This makes it all the more important that your garden is always well maintained. This includes plucking weeds, mowing the lawn and picking up snails. To protect your beds a little and protect them from unpleasant animals — not mention make your garden more attractive — you can easily build an edged garden bed with our guide.
Build an edged garden bed to add structure to your garden
Do you have a garden with different beds to grow carrots, lettuce, strawberries or zucchini, for example? Then you will surely know the problem that you will eventually lose track of the large number of beds. You can avoid this by having a border on each garden bed. Such a bed border or bed boundary actually has several advantages.
On the one hand, they give your garden more structure and visually distinguish the beds from each other. On the other hand, it also protects the vegetable bed from insects, the dog or even the footsteps of your children, who may not have just seen them stepping on the bed.
To prevent this, you can enclose your bed. The bed boundary also acts as a lawn edge, so that you do not slip into the bed when mowing. You can read how you can make a bed frame yourself in our guide.
How to make a raised garden bed easily
Build an edged garden bed: choose a style
If you want to create or redesign your garden, you should consider in your planning whether you want to include the individual bed or leave it without a bed border. However, it is recommended to choose a bed limit that visually enhances your garden and gives the individual vegetable bed some protection. You can use very different materials for this border. There is no limit to your creativity here. For example, you can use wood, old roof tiles or even metal. However, when selecting materials, make sure it fits your garden. For example, if you have a very rustic garden, you should stick with it and use stone. If you like it a bit more modern, you should instead use a metal bed frame. In the following, we will present the possibilities that are available to you in general. TipIf you want to enclose your bed with stone, you should always make sure that a layer of concrete is poured underneath and on the sides. Thus, the stone cannot be moved or washed away in the rain.
Metal
Do you like it in your garden a little more modern and straightforward? Then you can also use a metal bed frame. For recommended in this case is corten steel. This is a metal compound that is very weather-resistant. So you don’t have to pay attention to regularly coating it. The otherwise unpopular rust forms dense layers here inside. In this way, the steel interior is protected from weathering in the long term. You can also use any other type of metal to frame your bed. In the DIY store or online you will find, for example, lawn edges made of metal, which are very suitable. It is quickly laid and is also ideal for surrounding the bed.
Stone
You want to include your bed and have something of it for as long as possible? Then you should resort to stone. With it, the border for the vegetable bed or the flower bed borders is particularly easy to care for and durable. You can use field stones, granite or square-shaped cat heads. These can be placed evenly next to each other, for example, like a narrow strip. If you build an edged garden bed with stone, it can be visually enhanced if you also build a garden path with stones.
Boxwood
If you don’t want to use a stone, but prefer to bring a little color into the game, you can also bet on a boxwood. This is also very suitable for a bed frame. However, it is not particularly easy to maintain, as you have to trim the small hedge regularly. Otherwise, it grows and doesn’t look nice any time soon. Furthermore, boxwood is quickly infested by pests and diseases. For this reason, think carefully about whether you really want to go for a boxwood finish.
Living enclosures
In addition to the previously mentioned materials, you can also use living bed frames. These include, for example, woods and perennials that bloom in a variety of colours, bringing a very special splash of colour to your garden. However, make sure that the plants have a compact growth and do not form runners. They should also have a dense root bale. After all, it should not be easily penetrated by the plants within the bed. If you want to protect your vegetable patch from animals such as stray cats or the like, you can resort to a thorny plant as a bed side. In this case, the boxwood-leafed barberry is well suited.
You can edge your beds with a wide variety of materials.
Decorative frames
Do you attach little importance to functionality when framing the bed, but much more to the look? There are also some possibilities for this. For example, you can use hazel or willow as a demarcation. Quickly and easily, you can weave a low fence out of the thin branches and put it on the bed. However, these materials become brittle over time and break out of each other. On the other hand, old roof tiles are more durable. You can put them in the ground for a long time or even upright and thus surround your bed very well visually.
Build an edged garden bed- how it works
You have chosen a material and want to create your own hand? Then off! For example, it is not so difficult to create a stone bed frame. We will tell you in our short guide how to proceed.
Step 1: Measure and dig everything
First, you should place the stones side by side to determine the border widthyou want. To do this, place the stones as close together as possible. If you now saw a wooden slat to the value of the determined width, you have produced a bar to help you continue your work. Now mark your entire bed frame with the bar and lift it out with a spade. Be sure to dig twice as deep as the stones are high.
Step 2: Secure the stones
When the frame is excavated, it is now time to put a layer of gravel in the shaft. This must then be compacted with a sledgehammer or a similarly heavy tool. Afterwards, a mixture of sand and cement is distributed on the gravel to create a stable basis for the stones.
Step 3: Lay the stones
If the cement has found its way into the shaft, the stones are now laid on it. Place them on the cement mixture and gently tap them with the handle of a hammer until they reach the height of the lawn edge. Once all the stones have been laid, only the joints have to be filled with the remaining cement mixture and the bed frame is ready.
Build an edged garden bed: appearance
As you can see, it is not so hard to make a bed frame yourself. With our tips, this should work very easily. However, think carefully about what material you want to use beforehand. Should the bed frame contain wood, plastic or perhaps metal? This decision is, of course, a matter of pure taste in terms of garden design. However, there are materials that are much more robust than others. For example, you should leave the fingers of boxwood. For this you are always on the right side with stone. It is also important when choosing that the lawn edge fits well into your garden. After all, it should enhance your oasis and not make it ugly. However, we have given you a few ideas in this article, so that nothing should go wrong with the bed.
Gerhardt Richter is a writer and a trainer at trade technical colleges, specializing in carpentry, plumbing, mechanics and construction.
