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The use of raised beds is important for summer cottages with frequent flooding and poor soil. However, even in the absence of these reasons, an earthen embankment fenced off by sides can increase productivity, as well as simplify plant care. Fences are made from any materials at handavailable on the farm. Due to environmental friendliness, it is best to make wooden beds with your own hands, which we will now do.
Pros and cons of raised beds with wooden sides
Having made raised beds of boards in the yard or any part of the garden, the vegetable grower receives the following advantages:
- Wooden fences make the garden beds easy to maintain. Weeding, watering, harvesting is simplified.
- On plots unsuitable for agriculture, fenced mounds of boards are made with purchased fertile soil. You can also prepare the nutrient soil yourself. The technology allows you to get good yields even where vegetation, in principle, cannot grow, for example, on a stone.
- Thanks to the fence made of bulk boards priming does not creep. It is easier to attach arcs to the sides to pull the greenhouse than to install them directly into the ground.
- Boards are an inexpensive material that is easy to process. The wood is not heated much by the sun, which saves the root system of plants from burns.
- Wood fences are environmentally friendly. A vegetable grower does not have to worry about contamination of the soil with harmful substances, as is the case with asbestos-cement slate.
In addition to the benefits of tall beds of boards, there is an aesthetic side to the use of this technology. Country gardening takes on a well-groomed look. Each crop grows in its own weed-free bed. Hard-surface paths are laid out around the board fences, which gives easy access to maintenance even after rain. There will never be dirt around the beds.
If we touch upon the shortcomings of the technology, then only a short service life of wooden boards can be distinguished. Planks are susceptible to rapid rotting in the ground and nothing can be done about it. Wooden boards will last for 5 years at best. Gardeners, trying to increase the life of the fence, treat the boards with paint or antiseptic impregnations.
We select boards for the box
Make wooden beds it is possible from any blanks available on the farm. A bar, lining, slab and round timber are used. But when the question is about purchasing material, it is important to pay attention to what types of wood the boards are made of:
- A fence made of oak or ash will last for a long time. The cost, of course, of such material will hit the gardener hard on the pocket.
- Pine is advantageous in terms of processing and cheapness. In terms of service life, pine boards rot very quickly in the ground. You can extend the life of such a fence for a couple of years with the help of impregnation treatment.
- If you are lucky enough to buy boards made of larch or cedar, this will be the best material for building boards. Larch wood is so saturated with resin that it will lie in the ground for many years without additional processing. Cedar boards are less resinous, but they will last a similarly long time, plus their cost is low.
- Acacia boards keep well in the ground.However, wood has a very hard structure. You will need a powerful power tool to handle the boards.
It is worth noting that you should not save on the quality of the boards. Bad wood will quickly rot, and after 2-3 years the sides of the beds will be covered with holes, from which the soil will be washed out by rain.
We calculate the size of the fence made of boards
The photo shows that the boards are made of rectangular fences. Wood is an inflexible material for making curved shapes. The only thing that is needed is to correctly calculate the dimensions of the wooden box. The convenience of caring for the garden depends on this.
In the manufacture of the box, they adhere to the following dimensions:
- One of the important parameters of the bed is the height. There is an erroneous opinion of gardeners who think according to the principle, the higher the better. High sides up to 70 cm are only relevant for the "warm bed" technology, where the filler is layered in layers. For simple raised beds, a side height of 15–20 cm above ground level is sufficient. It is unprofitable to make high boards because of the unnecessary consumption of boards. In addition, in winter, the soil inside the fence will freeze, which is accompanied by its expansion. From this, the high sides will swell or they will tilt and acquire an ugly curved shape.
- The convenience of work depends on the width of the wooden box. Experienced vegetable growers equip the width of any garden, equal to half of their height. Usually, this parameter is kept within the range of 90-120 cm. When processing the beds, a person must reach the middle from each side of the side board.
Length is the only parameter that is not limited. It all depends on the location of the garden. Although the box is too long, the rigidity of the side walls is weakened. The boards will bend outward over time. It is optimal to stop at a length of 4 to 6 m.
How to protect wood from decay
Planks from even the finest tree species require moisture protection. This will determine how long the structure will last. However, wood protection should not be undertaken to the detriment of soil contamination. The cheapest and most affordable way to protect boards from rotting is to treat them with a thick lime solution. The best result is shown by harmless impregnations, for example, the drug "Senezh".
Serious protection is provided by wood varnish or oil-based paint. The non-toxic coating is harmless to plants and soil. The only caveat is that when painting the boards, you must not touch their ends. The wood will breathe in these areas, removing moisture from itself. If the ends of the boards are painted over, they will rot faster than unpainted ones.
How many boxes need to be made
The number of beds depends on the area of the summer cottage, the number of crops grown and personal preferences. However, if space permits, it is advisable to make one spare box for compost. The fence will be empty all summer. The soil is not poured inside, but all organic waste is dumped. Only after the box is completely filled with organic matter, a layer of earth is poured on top, and green manure is sown. Most often, mustard is preferred, but peas can be sown.
After overwintering, the spare bed will turn into an ideal area with nutritious soil for planting cucumbers or tomatoes. It is only necessary to preliminarily loosen the soil before planting crops. A new spare bed is made from a neighboring box, where garden crops grew last year. Using this technology allows you to get rid of the separate arrangement of the compost heap.
The procedure for making beds from boards
So, we slowly came to the moment when we need to consider how to make beds of boards in our summer cottage.
Let's get down to work:
- In the area allocated for the garden bed, the sod is removed according to the size of the future box. The first row of boards is placed on one side in the pit along the perimeter.In order for the design to have an aesthetic appearance, the workpieces are level. You can level it by placing pieces of wood or stone under the boards.
- With a tape measure or a construction cord, measure the diagonals of the box between opposite corners. They achieve the same distance, after which they begin to connect the boards at the corners of the box. They are twisted with self-tapping screws. Additionally, it can be reinforced with overhead metal corners.
- After the manufacture of the first row of the box, the second row is extended. At the corners, the workpieces are connected in the same way with self-tapping screws, after which both rows are sewn together with metal strips or wooden slats. This procedure is continued until the required depth is obtained.
- When the wooden fence is completely ready, the bottom of the pit is covered with geotextile fabric. The fabric prevents weeds and infections from the ground from entering the garden bed.
- The canvas is stapled to the sides and proceeds to the drainage embankment. Any small stone will do. Fertile soil is poured on top of the drainage 3 cm below the upper edge of the box. Now you can plant the plants, and sprinkle the soil with mulch on top.
It remains to organize paths around the established beds. You can leave the lawn or make a hard surface, such as paving slabs.
In the video you can see the manufacture of a universal bed:
We examined how to make a bed of boards with our own hands, as well as all the nuances of the preparatory work. We hope our advice will help summer residents organize their site.
this is good, but better and more durable than a flat slate ridge 50 centimeters high
Slate, rubber, many of the synthetic substances are harmful because of their evaporation.
Very interesting and informative article. The author, tell me: what are the parameters of the boards in the 5th figure above for a garden bed in two rows to form one such box?
Hello! It is advisable to take boards with a cross section of at least 25x150 mm.