A raised garden bed is a great place to create your urban garden. Being raised means less bending to get to those weeds. It also allows you to build a good deep bed of nutrient rich soil easier than having to excavate a standard bed. By surrounding the bed with gravel or paving it also minimises the intrusion of unwanted weeds.
Raised beds can be built from a variety of materials including brick, concrete, wood, steel and even plastic. Car tyres stacked progressively provide a great potato bed, though somewhat unsightly to some. The number one thing NOT to use is treated timber. The chemicals that deter bugs and rot can and do leech into your soil effecting your crop.
Cost, availability, as well as building skills will help you choose the best option for your garden bed. Try not to make it too wide to ensure you can easily reach all parts of the bed. If you are older or less mobile choose a higher design to minimise bending. Also ensure the space between beds allows barrow access as well as 2 or more people to work. Finally, don’t use your house wall as one of the walls. Damp and the resulting rot as well as termites are the last things you need!
If water is not available at the site plan beforehand what needs to be done to get it there. Pre plumbing the site can save a lot of hard work and expenses later.
Finally, think about the positioning of your beds. In our southern Hemisphere it's best to align the beds north - south. If you plant something tall at one end of a long bed put it at the end away from the sun, i.e. in Australia the southern end so they don’t shade the smaller plants. If you don’t know the site well, take time to watch how the shadows move across your site. This information will be of great value when you choose what to plant where later. The amount and direction of sun will also change from Summer to Winter.
