Wildlife Gardening: Creating a Raised Bed

By Annette J Beveridge

Want to create a wildlife garden, but your soil quality is poor? Or perhaps you find it difficult to bend and dig these days?  Don't worry; you can create a raised wildlife garden bed with little trouble, and whether you want to grow flowers or vegetables, you can still help wildlife. 

Raised garden beds have several advantages; they are easier to manage once built and can look really good. Importantly, using the no-dig method keeps stored carbon locked up. 

Raised beds

Raised garden beds warm up more quickly in spring and, importantly, provide good drainage, which is crucial for plants. Make it a feature, or a part of a larger garden ecosystem.

If you are thinking about utilising raised beds, why not go a step further and choose organic methods and avoid harmful pesticides? 

Here's how: 

If practically minded, you won't find it difficult to build a wooden frame for a shallow bed, but if not, you can purchase raised garden beds in a variety of shapes, colours and materials. If building your own, avoid using timber treated with any substances. 

Filling the raised beds

One problem with raised beds is that they take a lot of compost. If you are creating your own, this may not be such an issue, but otherwise, it means spending quite a bit on compost and topsoil. I always suggest purchasing decent compost because your plants will benefit from it. The one I have linked to here is affordable, but I use it to mix with a more expensive compost or my own.  Mixing compost is absolutely fine; just understand that the nutrients within it help to feed your plants for the months to come.

Put a layer of plain brown cardboard over the ground, which will take up some of the space. 

You don't need to dig the ground-level soil over, but do cut any grass. 

Make sure the cardboard covers the entire area, overlapping it, which helps prevent weeds and grass from growing through. Make sure you remove any labels or tape from the cardboard and avoid using heavily printed, glossy or waxed cardboard. Soak the cardboard. This encourages decomposition. Cover the cardboard with compost. Add in grass cuttings, leaves, or well-rotted organic materials. 

Once the raised bed is full, start the fun planting process.