How to Build a Simple Raised Planting Bed with Railroad Ties

A raised planting bed is just that, a planting bed that is higher than the regular ground that it sits on. There are many reasons that you might want a raised planting bed. One of them being to be able to garden without having to bend down so far. Even by elevating the planting surface as little as 12 inches, you will find that it is much easier to get to all your plants for harvesting and weeding.

Another benefit to the raised bed is that it will keep your planting area separate and defined from your lawn, driveway or patio. This makes it very easy to deal with when it comes time for maintenance.

By creating raised beds, you can reduce and possibly eliminate any compacting of the soil, which will make it much easier to maintain. Additionally by building a raised bed, you have complete control over the soil mix that you put in it, instead of having to put up with less than perfect builders soil that seems to surround our homes. You can now have the best soil mix for the plants you want to grow in an economic manner.

The first thing you need to do is decide on a spot where your going to place your raised bed, obviously if the plants you want to grow are shade plants, you would choose a shady spot. For sun loving plants, the opposite will do. A nice sunny spot in the middle of the yard should work out well. Once you have the spot you want, its just a matter of choosing the material you want to build your bed with.

I like to work with railroad ties because they seem to last a long time, and do not require all to much skill to put in place. By taking three or four railroad ties, you can form a triangle, square or diamond shape bed just by laying them down on the ground. Since they are so heavy, they will not move once you place them unless you decide to move them. By laying out four eight foot railroad ties, you create a box eight by eight, for a total of 64 square feet, a nice size for a small and manageable garden. If you like, you can cut the railroad ties in half to create four foot sections, this way you could make a rectangle as well.

Notice by working with railroad ties, there is no need to nail or screw anything together. Where you put it is where it stays. That's what makes this style so easy to do. Once you have the shape you want for your raised planting bed, its time to fill it. What I like to do is spread out newspapers 10 to 20 sheets thick over the entire area where my new planter is. After you spread out the newspapers, a quick watering will dampen them enough to keep them from blowing away while you work. By doing this, you don't have to remove the sod or weeds that are inside the area of your planter.

Now its time to fill the bed with the soil your going to use. In an ideal world, we would all have a huge compost pile with plenty of fresh compost just waiting for us. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. If you don't have enough of your own material to fill the bed, you can always buy it from your local home center in bags. They have a wide assortment of materials, including compost, cow manure, top soil, potting soil, peat moss and wood mulch. By experimenting you can come up with the ideal mixture for your purposes.

If you don't want to get all that creative, you can always contact your local landscape supply yard and have a yard or two of potting soil delivered. By buying in bulk, you don't have to get involved with making your own soil mix, and you can have it delivered. An eight by eight bed, one railroad tie high will take a little over one yard of soil. In order to bring all that material home from the home center in your car, it might take a few trips. By having it delivered, they will drop it as close as you like as long as they can get the truck to where you want it.

Some landscape yards might not have potting soil on hand, and will offer you topsoil instead. Although this isn't an ideal option, you can still work with it. If you cant locate potting soil in bulk, all you need to do is get your soil amendments from the garden center. What passes for topsoil at the supply yards is not of the quality you would want in your new raised bed and should be amended with peat moss at the very least to help keep the soil light. Some organic matter in the form of cow manure will also help, as will a little bit of garden fertilizer. Another great way of keeping the soil light and fluffy is by adding vermiculite, some garden centers have it, but you can find it at most pool supply stores, they use it under pool liners. It's white expanded mica that will help with the drainage of your bed.

If you have the time to wait before planting your bed, one of the best ways to fill it is by creating your own compost mix right in the bed. There are many great ways to do this. What I like to do is to start with the layer of paper, then add a layer of grass clippings, on top of the grass clippings place a layer of shredded leaves, then cover it with another layer of newspaper, finally another layer of grass clippings. Do this for a few layers. By this time, the layers will have mounded up well over the top of the planter. This is OK, just take some black plastic sheeting and lay it over the top, hold the sheeting down with some stones around the edge, right on top of the railroad ties. Leave it alone to compost on its own, preferably over the winter.

By the spring time, all of this will have cooked down and you will be able to plant in it with very little trouble, be sure to keep some shredded leaves handy to mulch around your plants and to keep the weeds down. This method will encourage the earthworms to visit your garden and and help you develop the best soil. Once you have done it this way a few times, you will be a pro. Soon, you will have raised beds all over the place.

Of course, there is always the possibility that you no longer want your raised bed where you have it. The great thing about the beds you built is that they are not fastened together. Moving them is simply a matter of taking your hand cart, wedging it under the center of one of the ties, tilting it back, and wheeling it away to the new spot. Do the same thing with the remaining ties.When you have your new bed, you can begin filling it like you filled the first one, this time topping your new bed off with all that great soil you had in the old bed. Since this soil has not been compacted by walking on it, it will be easy enough to shovel into your wheel barrow and move to the next spot.