Raised beds are a garden designer's secret weapon, and not just because they look good. A raised bed is a microclimate of fertile soil where flowers flourish and herbs and edibles co-exist peacefully with trailing nasturtiums.
Perhaps you worry that you don't have enough room for raised beds or that a raised bed or two will disrupt the design of your garden? Allow us to us change your mind, with these 10 innovative ideas for adding raised beds to a garden.
N.B.: Looking for practical advice about how to build DIY raised beds, how big to make them, or what materials to use? See our design guide at Hardscaping 101: Raised Garden Beds.
The New Front Yard
Above: In London, architect Sam Tisdall designed a tiny 800-square-foot house with an enormous vegetable garden in raised beds in the front yard. For more, see Garden Visit: The Little House at No. 24a Dorset Road.
Seaside Sprawl
Above: At their summer house in Little Compton, Rhode Island, Dan and Dara Brewster ceded much of the lawn (and view) to a sprawling kitchen garden with raised beds. For more, see Rhode Island Roses: A Seaside Summer Garden in New England.
Triple Threat
Above: In London, landscape designer Charlotte Rowe created symmetry with three side-by-side raised beds of equal proportions. For more of her work, see Before & After: A Jet-Black Garden with White Jasmine Perfume.
A Stacked Deck
Above: Photograph via Flickr.
Tiered raised beds create extra growing space in a small garden. In a sprawling garden, stacked beds look sculptural and become a focal point in the landscape. For more, see Design Sleuth: Stacked Raised Beds for the Garden.
Edible Backyard
Above: LA-based garden designer Lauri Kranz uses decomposed granite to surround raised beds in a vegetable garden, creating weed-free walkways. For more, see Low Cost Luxury: 9 Ideas To Use Decomposed Granite in a Landscape.
Lawn Begone
Above: Instead of being swallowed by lawn, a tiny cottage becomes a destination defined by its large, squared-off raised-bed garden. For more, see 11 Best Backyard Landscaping Ideas of 2015.
Tennis, Anyone?
Above: Ceramicist Frances Palmer transformed a neglected tennis court into a verdant garden, using the surface as a foundation for rows of raised beds. For more, see Steal This Look: An Old Tennis Court Turned Kitchen Garden.
A Concrete Plan
Above: LA-based landscape designer Kathleen Ferguson transforms a sunny corner of a garden into a mini edible garden with a closely clustered collection of small raised beds. For another of her gardens, see New Glamor for Old Hollywood: A Visit to Howard Hughes' Garden.
Black Beauty
Above: Blogger Victoria Skoglund stained her raised beds black to focus attention on them in her garden. For more, see Hardscaping 101: Raised Garden Beds.
Above: Sunset designers created a checkerboard effect with raised beds, with a single variety of plant in each box in a demonstration garden at the magazine's Celebration Weekend 2015.
For more:
- Hardscaping 101: Design Guide to Raised Garden Beds.
- Edible Garden: A Veg-Wedge on Wheels.
- Trend Alert: Stained Raised Beds.
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