Starting back at the beginning of Covid our family found a lot of fun creating raised beds for flowers in our yard. It created at park feel, meadow look, and wildlife haven we got to enjoy every day. Some other advantages were eliminating areas of grass we had to cut and reducing water consumption by no longer needing upkeep on that lawn space. When we sold our last house and prepared an outline of our garden where we will build our new house, we knew we wanted raised beds again, this time we went all in on cut flowers though after visiting the amazing zinnia fields at Hunsader Farms (you must go if you have not, take the whole family). Our last raised beds were anywhere from six inches to 24 inches tall, we thought if we scratched up the grass and fill the bed with compost the grass would not come through, whoops, we were wrong! We were constantly fighting the grass trying to grow through our beds, it didn’t make us love them less but was exhausting.
This time around we would find the answer on the best weed blocked beds, without using ground cloth and plastics, look at us trying to be green. The known winner and easiest material to come by is of course cardboard, with 3 Amazon drops a week, who doesn’t have cardboard laying around. Make sure to use card board with no minimal ink and no colored in to limit the amount of toxins that can be released into the soil. With cardboard as a control, we needed to try 2 items that were cheaper and possibly easier, paper bags for one, and palm leaves for the 3rd. The palm leaves needed a second layer after the first had time to dry up a bit and was showing some gaps grass could push through, but it was 100% free, natural and effective! We have also seen gardeners use banana leaves! In all honesty, it’s about making use of what your have to create an effective weed block. The paper bags came through with flying colors as well however on a windy day it was hard to keep in place before we added soil. In full view all three of these worked very well, all three materials came to us for free and all 3 will not harm the earth if left to simply decay over time.
Our beds were only 8 inches deep and we used compost from an old plant trash heap. The one mistake we made was not placing the weed blocking material under the edge of the boards we used. We’ve seen 2 little blades of grass peeking up right on the edge where our weed block stopped, as if to tease us of our mistake. The wood we used is old decking that was acquired for free, it is pressure treated so despite looking rough it’s still very strong and has much life left. If we were doing an edible garden I would not have opted for pressure treated wood, as studies have should the chemicals from the wood can leach into the veg, however it’s still a great option for a flower bed. If you keep your eyes open you will see free old decking or playground material for free on Facebook market place or swap shops.
These beds were put together with just a few 3” nails and turned into a great family project, our daughter used her sidewalk chalk to decorate the wood and spent the whole afternoon gardening(coloring) with us. This is a great project for a novice and the only help you may need would be cutting the wood to size, I know everyone has someone in the neighborhood who’s handy with a saw and willing to lend 30 min. As we get into the full swing of Spring projects, these really make the foundation of the garden going forward for the year. With Easter around the corner, we found out last year these little garden beds not only make great back drops for family photos but also perfect hiding places for treat filled eggs hidden in the early morning. Plant that garden you’ve been thinking about in a new raised bed, and start your new gardening season this weekend!
The Veranda View 