How to make beds from boards: the three most successful options. Raised beds with your own hands: step by step we make beds from boards in the country How to build beds from boards

The beds on the site are made to facilitate care and increase productivity. They can be made using various materials: wood, slate, etc. Most often, wood is used as a material for arranging beds.

Advantages and disadvantages of board beds

Fences for beds made of boards not only look attractive, but also perform practical functions. A bed fenced with boards does not crumble. Wooden sides are able to hold soil while maintaining the shape and size of the bed. The fencing structure is much easier to weed. This is due to the fact that the area for weed germination is reduced. Also, framed beds are convenient in a greenhouse. If necessary, layers of soil can be filled in. The main advantages of beds made of boards:

  • there is no shedding of beds
  • minimum time for weeding
  • cheap material
  • easy installation
  • ease of use
  • long service life


The beds, fenced with boards, are dug up twice - during planting and after harvesting. The only disadvantage of such a fence is its fragility. Under the influence of various factors, the wood will begin to rot. To avoid this, use wood impregnation. It is important to choose high-quality and environmentally friendly material to protect wood.

This article has helped many gardeners stop working hard on their plots and still get a bountiful harvest.

I would never have thought that in order to get the best harvest on my plot in my entire “dacha career”, I just need to stop working on the beds and trust nature. For as long as I can remember, I spent every summer at the dacha. First at my parents' house, and then my husband and I bought our own. From early spring to late autumn, all free time was spent on planting, weeding, tying, pruning, watering, harvesting and, finally, preserving and trying to preserve the harvest until next year. And so in a circle...

Do-it-yourself beds from boards in the photo

Boards are the most acceptable and common material for fencing beds. When installed correctly, they fit tightly to the soil and do not leave any gaps. In addition, the board structure retains moisture well inside the bed, which has a beneficial effect on the growth and development of plants.

What kind of board to make beds from?

Wooden boards for beds should be made of durable material - oak or ash. Such material rarely rots, but is highly expensive. Pine fencing boards are not durable. They should be impregnated with a special substance to prevent rotting.

When making structures for garden beds, it is better to use boards made from coniferous trees. Cedar or larch would be the best material. Resin can protect against external influences.

Board beds: what size? height? thickness?

For fencing, you can use boards, slats and beams. The height of the bed can be any. You should know that if the bed is too high and wide, it will be inconvenient to work and harvest on it. The optimal height of the bed is no more than 15 cm. If the soil is not suitable for growing vegetables, then add a layer of fertile soil, which means the height in this case will increase to 30-40 cm. For work you will need the following tools:

  • Shovel
  • Level
  • Roulette
  • Self-tapping screws
  • Screwdriver


First you need to decide on the shape and size of the beds. After this, prepare the material. You can use old wooden boards, but it is first recommended to remove all nails and level the boards using a plane. Then mark the beds and cut the boards according to the measurements. For a rectangular bed 3 meters wide and 1 meter long, you will need 4 boards. Connect the sawn boards using nails. Next make the legs. To do this, nail boards of any length to the 4 corners from the inside. Nail 2 more legs in the middle of the length of the manufactured frame. In order for the legs to penetrate the soil better, they should be sharpened with an ax.

Installation of a tall wooden box for beds

You can install a wooden box in one of 2 ways: directly on the ground and without digging up the soil, or install it in depth. The next step is to prime the boards. This is necessary to protect against moisture, sunlight, fungus and insects and other pests. You can make the primer yourself or buy it ready-made in the store. If you decide to do it yourself, you will need quicklime, laundry soap and water. Pour a kilogram of lime into 2 liters of water. Take laundry soap and grate about 100 g and add hot water. Then add the soap solution to the water with lime and mix well. If you need water, be sure to top it up. Before using the prepared mixture, it must be strained.

Treatment of beds made of boards against weather conditions

After priming, treat the fence with oil paint. This way you can not only protect from adverse weather conditions, but also give an attractive appearance. After the structure is ready, fill the bed. First add drainage and then soil. Then water until the soil settles. When constructing a warm bed, its height should be at least 50 cm. You should also remember to place compost fertilizer between the soil and the drainage layer. Making a garden bed with your own hands is not difficult, the main thing is to follow the sequence of work and recommendations.

Making beds from boards with your own hands video

How to make beds from boards at the dacha in order to get not only a well-groomed, neat garden, but also practical benefits? The easiest way to arrange garden plantings with your own hands is using wooden borders.

This is what homemade beds from boards look like

Advantages and disadvantages of wooden beds


The disadvantage of wood is rapid deterioration, especially with constant contact with water and soil. However, if you treat the material with protective antiseptics, you can extend its service life by 10 years or more.

What wood to choose for boards

You can use any boards for fencing beds: slab, timber, edged material, clapboard.

Step-by-step instructions for making beds from boards


The choice depends only on how much the buyer is willing to spend on decorating the beds.
  1. Oak and ash. Highly strong and durable material with excellent rot resistance. However, they are also expensive.
  2. Larch. An excellent choice - larch has high strength and resistance to humid environments.
  3. Cedar. Coniferous wood is the best option for a wooden garden bed. Good balance between affordable cost and high quality.
  4. Pine. Pine boards are inexpensive, but do not have a long service life.
  5. Acacia. Sufficiently strong acacia boards can be used for arranging beds.

Wood processing and protection

To extend the life of a wooden bed, you should treat the boards with protective compounds:


Dimensions of board beds

Everyone chooses the shape and size of the beds according to their own taste and the space available in the greenhouse or plot. There are general recommendations for fencing sizes at which a garden bed will be most effective:

  • width from 90 to 120 cm;
  • height from 15 to 50 cm.

The length of the fence can be any, however, if it is long, it is advisable to provide the bed with additional supports. The width of the bed is the most important parameter. It is best to organize the area so that there are no more than two rows of crops in the garden bed. Firstly, with such planting, all seedlings will receive enough sunlight and air. Secondly, a bed that is too wide is difficult to care for and water.
The height of the bed is chosen arbitrarily, as long as caring for it is not difficult.

Scheme with dimensions of beds made of boards


Depending on the type of soil and type of crop, the following advice is given on the height of the fence for plants:
  1. If the soil at the dacha is fertile, the bed can be low - 15-20 cm. If the soil is rocky or unsuitable for planting - from 30 cm. Some gardeners make the height of the beds to waist level so as not to bend over when working.
  2. The height of warm compost beds should be at least 50 cm. High beds with compost will reliably protect plant roots from unexpected frosts in the spring.
  3. For early ripening crops, radishes, lettuce, and onions, it is better to use beds higher than 20 cm for their rapid ripening.
  4. If you plan to grow potatoes in the beds, their height should be at least 40 cm.

Installation of a simple box made of boards

The design of the fence for the beds is quite simple and can easily be done with your own hands. To work you will need simple equipment and materials:

Instructions for making a box for a garden bed

  • boards – 2 short ones of the same length and width, 2 long ones;
  • wooden posts made of timber, pointed on one side - 6 pieces;
  • drill and screwdriver;
  • wood screws or nails;
  • shovel;
  • hacksaw;
  • hammer;
  • roulette and level.

Work order:


A wooden garden bed of simple design is ready. You can fill it with soil and plant fruits and vegetables.

Do-it-yourself raised or raised bed

Raised beds have many advantages over traditional beds:


Raised beds, with all their undeniable advantages, also have disadvantages:

  1. You will need some basic carpentry skills and knowledge to build a raised bed with your own hands.
  2. High beds dry out faster than classic ones, so if your dacha has problems with sufficient water for irrigation, such beds can become a problem.

Do you know what innovation is, how raised beds came to our country from Canada. The land there has been cultivated in this way for many years. Such planting options can be used not only for growing vegetable crops, but also for creating original ones. Let's find out how to make beautiful and practical raised garden beds with your own hands. Photos, descriptions of technological processes and diagrams will help you with this.

Do-it-yourself raised beds at the dacha: photos of structures and main characteristics

The rate of gas exchange, soil moisture and the presence of beneficial microorganisms depend on the size and shape of the beds. All these parameters affect the quality of the soil.

With the help of raised beds you can grow a large harvest of berries, vegetables and fruits. At the same time, you can get good results even from a piece of land that is not fertile. The peculiarity of high beds is that they warm up faster than low structures.

There are several types of vertical beds. They differ not only in material, but also in functionality. Some options are made from building materials, while others are made from simple ones.

Here are the types of beds that exist:

  • trapezoidal structures;

  • multi-tiered beds;

  • structures with a triangular cross-section.

When creating isolated beds, you can take into account factors such as lighting, soil composition, and its structure. At what height such beds will be placed depends on the volume of the root system, soil characteristics and your own preferences. The minimum height is 15 cm, but to provide better insulation, you can raise them by 30-40 cm. Warm raised plantings can be higher than 50 cm, since a layer is still laid on the bottom. Narrow beds can be up to half your height.


The length can be very varied. Most often it depends on the length of the garden. If the bed is too long, then its sides need to be further strengthened. When arranging any garden bed, remember your own comfort and convenience. The best width is when you can reach the middle of the structure. The optimal value is 90-120 cm.

You can grow different crops in raised beds. It is not recommended to use plants with tall stems, as they will be inconvenient to collect fruits from. Root crops, strawberries, peppers, herbs and cucumbers are often planted on bulk structures.


For your information! Raised bed filler is particularly useful. It is made from organic ingredients. In this case, the root system is located in the fertile layer, which promotes the development and growth of plants.

Related article:

Let's find out how to make original beds and what materials they can be built from. Interesting ideas in our review will help you create a variety of designs.

Features of raised beds: pros and cons

The main advantage of raised beds is that you can accommodate a variety of vegetables and plants in a small area. Raised beds are especially popular for strawberries, aromatic herbs and cucumbers. Such designs also have other advantages:

  • bulk beds can be filled with specially prepared soil. In this case, the quality of the soil on the site is not of great importance;
  • it is possible to regulate the thickness of the soil layer for any plants;
  • raised gardens are easier to weed and dig up;
  • raised beds can be laid out anywhere, even with difficult terrain;
  • Seedlings can be planted on high embankments earlier, since the soil in them warms up faster;
  • in raised gardens the soil is looser, which promotes better gas exchange;
  • can be used for those that will hang over the edge of fences for high beds;
  • Depending on the material, you can create not only practical, but also beautiful designs. Some options can become a design masterpiece for your garden;
  • high beds with sides are practically not susceptible to attack by weeds, and are also well protected from mold and fungi;
  • Installing beds is not a complicated procedure; they can also be easily dismantled. The planting location can be easily changed;
  • inside such structures you can create a convenient one;
  • the soil on raised beds is protected from freezing as much as possible. During early frosts, you can cover this planting with polyethylene;
  • the construction of high plantings is protected from erosion during rainstorms.

Such designs also have certain disadvantages, but there are not many of them. First of all, fertilizing with mineral fertilizers will be required. It is also important to monitor the mole cricket invasion.

For your information! Before you start work, treat the wood parts with an antiseptic and special impregnations. This will prevent rotting processes and protect materials from destruction.

Creating vertical beds with your own hands: photo options

You can also create warm raised beds or vertical structures. They are popular because of their appearance and saving of usable space. In addition, this is an excellent solution for protecting crops from various pests. Vertical structures are great for growing flowers, strawberries and herbs. You can not only make such structures from available raw materials, but even purchase ready-made options. You can see how to make warm structures in the video:


Why you should buy a vertical bed for strawberries: prices

You can see different design options for vertical beds, but their most important advantage is their miniature dimensions. Such structures can be built from any materials, even from plastic bottles.

Vertical products do not require special care. They are at the optimal height to be handled comfortably.


You can see how to make a raised structure for strawberries in the video: To increase the rigidity of the pyramidal bed, you need to install an additional post as a supporting element. In this case, the boards are mounted on a horizontal surface and attached to each other. A rail is installed in the base. The resulting side is fixed vertically, and then the second and third sides are attached to it. After installing the frame system, the length of the slats is measured. They are placed at intervals of 25-30 cm. To make the shelf raised, its ends should be cut at an angle of 30 degrees. After assembly, the structure is filled with soil, which is compacted.

Technology for arranging vertical beds for strawberries from plastic pipes

To grow strawberries, you can build a vertical bed from. In this case, you need to prepare plastic pipes, a steel cable and a special knife for cutting. The volumetric section allows you to place the required amount of soil inside. The cut should be made along the structure. To fix the bed in a horizontal position, you need to make a hole in each half. Then a fishing line or cable is pulled through them. The parts are then placed one on top of the other. In this case, you can make different levels of beds from PVC pipes with your own hands.


For your information! If you plan to place the structures in a suspended state, then you need to take into account that they can sway. Therefore, it is better to install them in places that are well protected from the wind.

Constructing vertical beds with your own hands using a construction mesh

A compact structure can be built for crops such as strawberries, greens, flowers or potatoes. A good solution would be a vertical bed. To do this, you need to prepare a metal mesh, straw, special soil and the necessary tools for processing the material.


To create a bed you need to bend the mesh into a pipe. In this case, the cross-section should be 0.9 meters. The edges are secured with wire. Straw is laid on the sides, and the free space is filled.

To plant potatoes, such beds should be placed at a height of 50 cm from the surface level. Gaps of 10 cm are left between plants. Then the first layer should be shed, then the soil should be laid and the seedlings should be planted.

Features of arranging a vertical bed for strawberries with your own hands: using pots

To grow strawberries, you can also use ordinary ones. Such designs allow you to create an attractive external design. You can use both plastic and clay pots. In this way, you can create a multi-level composition.

Pots need to be selected so that their diameters become smaller towards the top of the structure. In this case, the difference between pairs of pots should differ little.


The largest pot is placed in the chosen location and filled with soil. After this, a smaller pot is placed in it, etc. When the structure is ready, plants are planted in the soil and watered. The largest pot is installed at the base of the structure. A rod of a smaller size than the diameter of the container is placed inside. The pot is filled with soil, and the remaining products are strung on rods one by one. After filling with soil, plants are planted. The pots are mounted on a pole or high stump.

The nuances of creating vertical beds for strawberries with your own hands from tires: photos of products

There are different ways to grow cucumbers in open ground. In this case, you can build vertical beds. This option is also suitable for planting strawberries.

The tire structure is mounted according to the same principle as pot structures. Tires of different sections are suitable for this. But keep in mind that old products are not particularly environmentally friendly material.


Before mounting, tires should be cleaned, dried and, if necessary, painted. The largest tire is placed down, and a part is cut off from the side. The hole is filled with soil and planted with plants. In this way, other elements are also laid out. Tires can be beautifully decorated with patterns or even unusual cuts.

Article

Have you ever thought about why, with all the advantages of raised beds, you rarely see them? This is due to the fact that many owners of suburban areas believe that the device is quite complex. In addition, not all home craftsmen have such skills. But if you are still thinking about the question of how to make beds from boards with your own hands, then you need to put everything on the shelves in order to end up with neatly and beautifully folded sides that are ready to last for many years.

As practice shows, the harvest collected from such unusual beds exceeds the usual one. Growing cultivated plants in wooden structures can be done as soon as the snow melts. Early ripening crops ripen here, including: radishes, lettuce and onions. All this is due to the fact that such a bed contributes to better warming of the earth, because on a normal surface at the end of April there is still a layer of frozen soil. But for a greenhouse this approach will be ideal.

Manufacturing of structure No. 1

If you are faced with the question of how to make beds from boards with your own hands, then you can first consider making a structure that is simple. It is suitable for those summer residents who do not like working with wood. First you need to decide on the dimensions of the future box.

Popular methods today recommend growing crops in wide boxes; this parameter should be approximately 160 cm. For a greenhouse, this option will be optimal. The next step is to prepare the soil. It should be well loosened and leveled in the place where you plan to build.

For anyone who is looking for an answer to the question of how to make beds from boards with their own hands, photos of such structures will be the best helpers. They will allow you to understand how such a product should look. To carry out the work, you should prepare four boards, the height of which will be 30.5 cm. 8 boards should have a length of 120 cm. You will need four pegs, which will form the basis of the central posts. Their length will be 61 cm.

The building material must initially be prepared correctly. The sides are usually made from edged inches, the width of which is 15 cm. It is convenient to use wood for this purpose. This is a natural, environmentally friendly material that will allow you to secure the garden bed elements together using staples or self-tapping screws.

Before installing the long side boards, you should not forget that you will need to screw the central profile right there on the floor. Those summer residents who are thinking about how to make beds from boards with their own hands should first read the instructions. From it you can understand that you need to hammer a peg in all corners of the future structure. The wall is installed at the next stage, here you can install a longitudinal beam that will connect the corners. The second beams are installed on top of the first, their ends should meet the boards at the corners. Using a square, you need to check whether the corners are perpendicular.

Assembly Features

When installing walls, you must ensure their vertical position. However, the support pins must remain outside. The two side beams are screwed in the next step; they need to be secured to the four posts so that the ends of the planks meet the pegs.

Now you need to make sure that the workpiece is square. It should be measured along the diagonals and compared. The box is leveled until the diagonals are the same. If you are faced with the task of making boards with your own hands, then at the next stage you must strengthen the frame.

Two posts should be placed at the center point of the outer wall. They are dug into the ground so that the top edge of the post is flush with the top of the crossbar. The stand is fixed with screws; the remaining walls must be done in the same way.

The second option for making strong boxes

If you have a garden board and experience in carpentry, then the beds can be made using a different technology. To begin with, the structure should be marked, and then unnecessary parts should be sawed off from the boards. Using a square, you can determine the angles so that there are no problems during assembly. The boxes themselves are held together with bricks. To begin with, you should prepare elements for several boxes; it is important to ensure that the structures turn out to be rectangular, otherwise it will be problematic to connect their ends. There will be gaps that are not needed.

The finished boxes are installed at the next stage. If something is already planted in the greenhouse, then this will not be a problem. You can install such sides at any time. But if cucumbers and melons grow in a greenhouse, the stems of which are already in the aisles, then you will have to wait until autumn. Whenever possible, it is worth choosing a type of wood that is not so susceptible to destruction. Otherwise, the boards should be treated with a substance that will not harm the plants.

Making a bed in the form of a pyramid

Quite often, summer residents wonder how to make beds from boards with their own hands in a greenhouse. The most interesting idea for this are pyramids. You can grow not only vegetables and herbs in them, but even flowers. Garden strawberries and strawberries feel especially good in such a house.

The most impressive advantages of such a bed are the space saving in the greenhouse and the exposure of each plant to ultraviolet radiation. To carry out the work, you should prepare 11 dried boards, the dimensions of each element should be 200 x 50 x 2.4 mm. Among other things, you will need the following tools:

  • hacksaw or jigsaw;
  • drill;
  • square;
  • roulette;
  • protractor;
  • screwdriver

Work methodology

If you are faced with the question of how to make a garden bed fencing from boards with your own hands, then use the following instructions: at the first stage you need to take 4 two-meter boards that will serve as support. At one end of each it is necessary to make cuts at 30°. At other ends the cut should be made at 60°. The boards should ultimately remain two meters high. This will allow you to get the same bases.

To connect the boards, you should prepare a block whose dimensions will be 50 x 50 x 400 mm. It will act as the basis for the side faces. Two boards, the ends of which were cut at an angle of 60°, are laid next to each other, and a block is installed between them. The elements are aligned and tightened with screws. Now the product that was obtained by twisting at the previous stage must be placed and leaned against the edges with angles of 60°. Everything is fixed with self-tapping screws.

In order to fix the longitudinal shelves, edges are marked for them, and then the sides are measured. On the edges of the future structure that extend from the base, it is necessary to make 6 marks every 285 mm. These manipulations must be repeated with each support. For proper alignment, you should measure the distance between the edges, everything should be at the same level. The numbers are added and divided by 4. This will give an average value, which will be the length of the horizontal supports. The edges will need to be set according to it.

Making shelves and installing a pyramid

Before you make beds from boards with your own hands, you must make shelves. The resulting numbers must be measured, and then cut four boards according to them. On the sides they are cut at 30°, but only on one side. The other side must remain as it is. These steps must be repeated for each level of sticks.

Now you can move the long supports and horizontal boards into the greenhouse where the bed will be installed. Moving it afterwards will be quite problematic due to its impressive size. Each horizontal support is fixed with three screws according to the marks you made earlier.

The vertical edges must be perfectly level; for this it is recommended to use a level. If you are faced with the question of how to make beds from boards with your own hands, then the horizontal shelves must be leveled, they must be at the same distance from the surface, then the soil will not sag.

Filling the pyramid

You need to start filling from the bottom shelves. To do this, everything is covered with soil and compacted well. Thus, you need to move to the very top row. Once the bed is ready, greenhouse plants can be transplanted into it. It is also important to know how to fill such a structure.

A metal mesh should be laid at the bottom, which will provide reliable protection against rodents and moles. The next layer is wood, paper and cardboard. All this will serve as good drainage. Now you can pour coarse sand and a mulching layer of sawdust, fallen leaves or grass. All this is well watered.

Final works

The next layer will be 30 cm of fertile soil, which needs to be well compacted. If you have wondered how to make beds from boards with your own hands, it is recommended that you first consider photos of such structures. However, at this stage we can assume that the pyramid is ready and can be used. It has a low cost, but will be ready to serve you for about 10 years.

More about sizes

If you are thinking about how to make beds from boards with your own hands, the dimensions of such structures must first be carefully considered. For example, low structures with an impressive volume of soil are suitable for perennial grasses and strawberries. Such beds can look like shelves or pyramids.

Whereas for greenhouse crops, pyramids with a well-thought-out irrigation system are needed. A vertical pyramid for vegetables is made up to 1.8 m high. The width can be 1 m. In such a bed, fertilizing can be done using the technology of automatically supplying a nutrient solution.

Advantages of board beds

Before starting work on the manufacture of the described beds, it is necessary to consider their advantages and disadvantages. Among the first are:

  • high productivity;
  • long service life of beds;
  • ease of maintenance.

Before you make beds from boards with your own hands, you should consider the advantages of such structures. Among others, it should also be noted that using this approach you can get a fairly rich harvest even in cold regions.

Main disadvantages

However, such designs also have their disadvantages. Among them, summer residents especially highlight the need to allocate time for the manufacture of structures. In addition, they will have to be treated with special substances that will prevent rotting and deterioration of the material. Before you make beds from boards with your own hands, you should consider the disadvantages of such structures. Among others, it should also be noted that every spring the wooden elements will have to be varnished or painted. But if the manufacturing is not approached conscientiously enough, then such structures can completely ruin the landscape, which also cannot be called a plus. But if you have experience, then the beds can turn out to be very attractive, which is also true if you plant them with flowers.

To get a high-quality harvest, it is necessary to put a lot of effort into arranging the site and growing various crops. An alternative to painstaking garden care are raised beds - not very large elevations designed for cultivating vegetables and herbs.

In order to build raised beds with your own hands, you do not need specific equipment or any special skills. The structures along the entire perimeter are fenced with hand-made walls, because of this the overall ground level becomes higher than in an ordinary garden plot. This device has its own characteristics, namely: the hill is made in several layers, which contributes to high-quality soil fertilization, protection of the root system, and good growth of crops.

The entire structure of the high bed consists of 6 layers:

  1. Bottom protective layer made of metal mesh.
  2. Wood chocks.
  3. A mound of branches and bark.
  4. Part of the active layer made from paper scraps.
  5. A nutrient layer of fallen leaves and grass cuttings.
  6. The directly fertile part of the soil.

Using metal mesh protect the root system, thereby preventing the penetration of pests. The upper part of the structure is filled with fertile soil, where various crops are planted, which subsequently take root in another layer of foliage and grass, where vegetables and herbs are fed. Bark, logs, and paper scraps are used as semi-protective components necessary for filtering moisture and metabolism.

All of the above layers of high beds are enclosed with a special frame made of brick, wood or plastic.

Gallery: raised beds (25 photos)























Advantages and disadvantages

When compared with ordinary garden structures intended for growing vegetables and herbs, bulk beds have a number of significant advantages: