Raised Bed Garden Guide for Beginners

Build a raised bed when it solves a problem. A bed can help with packed, rocky, wet, weedy, or hard-to-reach ground. If your soil drains well and is easy to work, an in-ground bed may be simpler and cost less.

Choose the site first

Match the sunlight to the crops and keep water close. Fruiting crops often need six to eight hours of direct sun. A shadier bed may suit leafy crops better. Plan the paths and make sure extra water can drain before you fill the bed.

Make every part reachable

The right width is the width you can reach without stepping on the soil. A bed reached from one side should be narrower than one reached from both sides. Your height and mobility matter more than one standard measurement.

Treat the soil as a no-step area. Walking on it presses out the air and makes roots work harder.

Use soil with structure

A useful starting mix is mostly good topsoil with some plant-based compost. Compost is an ingredient, not the whole bed. A bed filled only with compost can dry quickly and build up too much salt or phosphorus.

For more help, read the Soil pH for Vegetables: What pH Should Soil Be?.

On normal ground, roots and water usually benefit from an open connection to the soil below. On a patio or other hard surface, use a base that lets water drain. The bed height should solve your site's access or soil problem, not follow one universal number.

Space crops by their mature size

These raised-bed crops come from the published library. Each card shows the plant spacing saved in its crop guide. Do not crowd extra plants into a bed just because the soil looks empty at planting time.

• 

  Bell Pepper

  A sweet, warm-season pepper that can be picked green or left to ripen to its final color.

  Harvest

  70 to 85 daysfrom transplant

  Effort

  

  Season

  Warm

• 

  Blueberry

  A long-lived fruit shrub that needs much more acidic soil than most garden crops.

  Harvest

  Year after year

  Effort

  

  Season

  Cool

• 

  Broccoli

  A cool-season cabbage-family crop grown for tight green flower buds.

  Harvest

  50 to 85 daysfrom transplant

  Effort

  

  Season

  Cool

• 

  Cabbage

  A cool-season leaf crop that wraps its inner leaves into a firm head.

  Harvest

  60 to 100 daysfrom transplant

  Effort

  

  Season

  Cool

• 

  Carrot

  A root crop that asks for little except loose, stone free ground and patience while it germinates.

  Harvest

  70 to 80 days

  Effort

  

  Season

  Cool

• 

  Chili Pepper

  A warm-season pepper grown for pods that range from gently warm to very hot.

  Harvest

  70 to 120 daysfrom transplant

  Effort

  

  Season

  Warm

• 

  Cilantro

  A cool-weather herb with fresh leaves called cilantro and dried seeds called coriander.

  Harvest

  45 to 80 days

  Effort

  

  Season

  Cool

• 

  Cucumber

  A warm-season vine grown for crisp green fruit that is picked before it turns yellow.

  Harvest

  50 to 70 days

  Effort

  

  Season

  Warm

• 

  Garlic

  A hardy bulb usually planted as separate cloves in fall and harvested the next summer.

  Harvest

  240 to 270 days

  Effort

  

  Season

  Cool

• 

  Green Beans

  A warm-season crop picked while the pods are crisp and the seeds inside are still small.

  Harvest

  50 to 60 days

  Effort

  

  Season

  Warm

• 

  Green Onion

  An onion grown for its mild green stalks and small white base instead of a dry storage bulb.

  Harvest

  50 days

  Effort

  

  Season

  Cool

• 

  Kale

  A cold-tough leafy green that can keep making harvests well into fall.

  Harvest

  50 to 55 days

  Effort

  

  Season

  Cool

Expect the bed to dry sooner

Raised beds often dry faster than nearby ground, and taller beds may need more frequent watering. Check the soil instead of using a fixed schedule. Water near the soil, and use mulch when it helps slow evaporation and weeds.

Sources

• Raised bed gardens (University of Minnesota Extension)
• Raised Beds (Clemson Cooperative Extension)