Today, many gardeners are passionate about organic or biological farming. It is in its basis that it is necessary to make high beds when growing plants. Do it yourself can be done quite easily. This is what will be discussed in the article. High beds provide higher yields compared to flat, provide convenience for care.
Benefits
Do-it-yourself high beds are created so that the gardener can be rewarded with the products received for his labor. Their main advantages include the following:
- convenient treatment due to a significant elevation above the soil, which helps to reduce the physical effort of a person and prevents the appearance of various lumbar-spinal diseases;
- high beds can be filled with any soil, and therefore, they do not depend on the fertility of the soil located on a particular site;
- they warm up much faster compared to other beds, which predetermines an earlier period of planting seedlings in them;
- a garden that has its own made high beds looks aesthetically pleasing and neat;
- they carry out drainage, and this helps to ensure that the water does not stagnate there, and the box to which it is limited prevents it from spilling onto the track.
disadvantages
In addition to the positive qualities, high beds have a number of negative ones that must be taken into account when placing them:
- the arrangement is associated with some labor costs, as well as with the use of physical strength;
- due to the limited space of the plant, they require more frequent top-dressing compared to the usual placement;
- in self-made at the country house high beds, the soil dries much faster, so watering should be carried out much more often. In this regard, such beds are not placed in elevated areas. This problem can be solved if the soil under them is mulched or buried by 20-30 cm.
Fencing material
Any high bed should be fenced. The selection of material depends on the capabilities of a particular person and his desires.
The following materials can be used in its quality:
- plastic - it is characterized by durability, moisture resistance, decorativeness;
- slate - for most summer residents is an accessible material, but has increased fragility;
- a tree is an optimal solution in terms of simplicity, however, to prevent decay, it must be treated with antiseptics;
- brick is a durable material that requires certain skills in masonry to create an aesthetic appearance.
DIY tools and materials for creating a high garden bed
To do this, you will need:
- pieces of brick, stumps, boards, branches, which serve as the basis for ensuring drainage;
- foliage, sawdust, peeling vegetables;
- wire mesh matching the size of the beds;
- fertilized soil;
- wooden blocks of the necessary height and width;
- roulette;
- building level;
- shovel;
- self-tapping screws;
- screwdriver;
- hammer.
Creation order
Below we will consider how to make a high bed with your own hands:
Step number 1. The site is cleared of turf. It is marked by the size of the future beds using roulette.
Step number 2. Bars or boards are mounted according to the marking, their adjustment is carried out using a hammer. They are fastened with self-tapping screws when using a screwdriver.
Step number 3. A wire mesh is laid at the bottom, which will prevent the penetration of various pests to the plant roots.
Step number 4. On the grid lay out materials for drainage. Then the organic waste is lined.
Step number 5. After this, the nutrient soil spills out, it is leveled.
This is a step-by-step instruction. Do-it-yourself tall beds can be used for their intended purpose. Next, we will consider the process of their creation from different materials and for individual cultures.
Using different materials to create tall beds
As noted above, it is best to use wood for the construction of these structures. A self-made high bed (photo 1) made of wooden materials at home in the country is very convenient and looks quite aesthetically pleasing.
Only new raw materials may be used. It is not necessary to use sleepers as building material that contain harmful pollutants that can cause irreparable damage to the soil.
The tree is treated with antiseptics after the summer resident is convinced of its environmental safety. When creating tall beds with your own hands from boards, it is better to use hardwood, since they do not contain various resins in their composition.
The most environmentally friendly material is wattle. However, it easily passes wind, which leads to excessive desiccation of the soil. The wattle fence has no thermal insulation, the soil easily wakes up through it. Therefore, when using such a material, it is necessary to cover the inner walls with cardboard.
Do-it-yourself high beds in the country house can be done using alfalfa stalks, wheat straw or oats as a protective material. They will not last a long time, but their value tends to zero.
Plastic is characterized by good thermal insulation properties and a long service life. It can be used not in its pure form, but in plastic bottles.
High beds fenced with slate
To obtain maximum economic efficiency in the construction of such structures, you need to try to use improvised material that is available on the farm. You can make high beds from slate with your own hands. There can be cultivated garlic, strawberries, cucumbers.
In this case, slate can be used both flat and wavy. Its advantages include the following:
- it does not rot and does not collapse when interacting with the organic matter of the soil;
- allows you to select the optimal width, which contributes to the strength of the created high beds;
- the material has strong characteristics if not exerted on it with excessive force.
To form such a bed, you first need to dig a trench in which slate sheets are placed, sprinkling them with soil or earth.
other methods
Do-it-yourself high beds can be done with or without a fence.
Making a round bed, a frame of the corresponding form is used, on the bottom of which material for drainage is placed. A tunnel is made in the center where organic waste is stored. They must be fresh. After that, they are spilled with water.
A bed without a fence is created as follows:
- below are the roots, trunks, driftwood, deciduous branches;
- then lay the sod layer grass down;
- everything ends with a fertile top layer of special soil, which contains the necessary nutrients.
You can create tall beds-hotbeds. For their construction, you must perform the following steps:
- determine the exact height of the future fence;
- creation of a solid structure involves the use of thick trees that dig into a certain depth in the soil;
- boards knock together, pre-treating them with an antiseptic;
- mount the mount for metal arcs above the garden bed, they are installed in steps of at least 75 cm;
- at the bottom of the bed they put fabric, the edges of which should go on the sides on which it is fixed with a stapler;
- metal arcs are inserted into the prepared frame;
- in the middle there is an additional arc, with the help of which the upper points of the supports are fixed in order to give additional strength;
- soil is poured onto the fabric, the layer of which after leveling should be 10 cm;
- on top of it, perforated cardboard, a layer of hay or grass, mineral fertilizers mixed with sand are placed;
- polyethylene is stretched over the upper part of the metal frame, which is then fixed.
After planting seedlings, the soil is mulched with a black film or sawdust.
Berry growing
Do-it-yourself high beds for strawberries can be made from tires that are pre-cleaned, washed, dried and dyed. Holes are cut on the sides. The design provides for the presence of a plastic pipe, the size of which should coincide with that of the future beds. Holes are drilled in it around the entire circumference and height.
Mount the first of the tires, install a pipe in the center, which is wrapped with synthetics and fill the soil. If the flowerbed provides for the creation of several tiers, then the same steps are performed with other tires. After preparing the flower beds, water is poured into the pipe. In those holes that are made in the tires, strawberry bushes are planted.
The vertical bed for this berry can be made using shelving. The latter can be purchased, as well as made independently in the form of a pyramid. Square shapes having different sizes are knocked out of the boards. The smaller of them is placed in a large one, filled with earth and planted strawberries. You can fix the cut plastic bottles in rows on the fence in rows, while the neck with the cork and the bottom should remain intact.
You can plant strawberries in bags. They can be made of different materials, but most preferred, as the most environmentally friendly, bags made of natural fabric. To create an additional fortress, they can be repeatedly sewn. They are filled with soil, slots are made for planting berries, a loop is sewn at the top, with which the bags will be attached to the support.
In shops for summer residents you can find on sale special cylindrical containers for creating high beds for berries. They have holes with small protrusions. Soil, peat, sand is poured here, strawberries are planted in the holes. The protrusions provide support for the bushes as they grow and develop. With the onset of cold weather, they can be covered with agrofibre.
Photos of tall beds made with their own hands are presented in this article so that the reader can imagine and evaluate how it will look at his summer cottage.
Recommendations
High beds are best not to be used for crops that are very fond of water. These include cabbage and tomatoes. Perennial grasses are also better not to grow there, since there is a danger of their freezing.
The surface of the beds must be mulched, which will protect the soil from drying out.
It is possible to water loose beds with irrigation. To do this, between the various structures make small ditches in which spring water accumulates. You can also use drip irrigation.
Conclusion
Do-it-yourself high bed is quite simple. As the material can be used both purchased, and that which is available on a personal plot. It should be borne in mind that the soil in such artificial soil tanks dries up quite often, which requires regular irrigation or irrigation. And plants grown by this method require periodic top dressing.