A Frame For Raised Bed Gardening
April 28, 2011
Raised bed gardening has several advantages. One of which is less erosion of the soil which you need to grow the plants on. There are many ideas of how to build a raised bed garden and how to maintain it. Raised bed gardening may need a frame that will hold together your garden and keep the plants from spreading around too much.
Building A Frame For Raised Bed GardeningA frame for raised bed gardening usually consists of a wooden frame that is either bolted together or nailed together. All you will need for a raised bed gardening frame are four planks of wood, preferably untreated to avoid the chemicals from getting to your vegetable plants, four smaller posts of wood to act as corners, some bolts or nails that coordinate with the thickness of your planks and some carpentry tools such as a hammer or a wood drill.
Have the planks you have chosen precut to the sizes that are ideal for building a frame for raised bed gardening. If you have the capacity and the inclination to cut the lumber yourself, make sure that you know what you are doing and have the necessary safety equipment to do so. A rectangular raised bed gardening frame is better than a square one. Make sure that the shorter sides will allow you to reach all parts of the raised bed garden when it is finished. A frame four feet wide and five to seven feet in length will be ideal. Make sure the raised bed gardening frame will fit your assigned garden spot.
On the longer lengths of wood, you can measure where you wish to drill holes for the bolts on the planks and posts. Place a post on both ends and either nail or bolt these on the pieces of lumber with longer length. Attach the shorter pieces of wood pretty much the same way as the longer pieces to make a frame. The posts will act as a support for the nails or bolts to make the frame more stable and sturdy.
It is actually better to use bolts for your raised bed gardening frame. You can loosely screw them when you are still in the process of forming the frame. These can be tightened accordingly when you are satisfied with your frame. A raised bed gardening frame will help you organize your gardening and help to reduce the pests that may crawl up to your garden.