Beginner Gardening: How do raised beds stay in place without a border, 1 by NYGrower

NYGrower wrote:
Hi...

Let me say you can do this and get it complicated or you can do it simple....

Simple... Throw down what ever you want to raise the sides and hope they do not push over. If you use wood put down the wood, fill behind and walk away...LOL... Neither will last long. BTW Landscapping timbers will rot as any wood will, and will collect bugs.

So if you want a nice raised bed I have done, and seen the type where one uses wood, brick, stone or a manufactured type of "retaining wall". They are all nice. Some cost more then others, some will last longer and cause you less work then others. (I'm for not work after the job is done type of raised bed, so stone is great.)

If you use PT and it is a veg. garden you are raising, there may be seepage into the ground of the chemicals. I use untreated wood, but then I do a backfill of rock and raise the wood in a bed of rock to keep the wood's life a little longer.

Anyway when using wood, mostly I have seen where one takes a 2x4 or 2x6 or 2x8 or what have you, and nails or screws the ends together or to a support beam in the corners. The lumber is usually "heavy" enough to keep the dirt from pushing the wood out. If not one puts in another support bean as at the corners, in the middle and nails or screws.

These corner boards can be longer then the boards holding back the dirt, which are then driven into the ground.

The picture I made shows the corner board a bit above the other boards, but it can be level with the other boards, or even higher to perhaps support a solar light, or high enough to nail netting to or something to support vines etc..

When using stone, like blue stone, the stone needs to be large enough to hold back the dirt, the same with brick. In each case one needs to put in a stone or brick at the opposite run as the rest of the materials to steady the wall.

Hope this helps.

Nancy