the
washington
post
.
thursday,
june
9
,2022
DC
4
Homeban areas, you probably only have
a patio or small yard, so you’re
probably going to want to like
what you’re looking at out there,”
says Tim Williams, operations
manager of Greenstreet Gardens,
a landscaping and design compa-
ny. “But if pretty isn’t a factor for
you, don’t worry about it. No one
is going to judge you.”
Assembly. “It’s smart to have
gloves on hand,” Espiritu says. “I
always assemble kits using a drill
with a screwdriver bit on it — set
to a low torque, so you’re not
over-screwing the bolt or strip-
ping it out — because it’s faster.
And have someone with you to
help with the build. It’ll just be
easier.” Don’t forget to ensure that
your bed is on even ground, be-
cause a raised bed on a slope will
get unbalanced moisture distri-
bution and may leak soil. (Have a
level handy if you don’t feel com-
fortable eyeballing it.)
Cost. Last, but never least, con-
sider your budget. A metal raised-
bed kit can cost several hundred
dollars, plus shipping fees if it’s
not available locally. The good
news, though, is that by this time
of year, many kits will be on sale oron clearance in the D.C. area.
“But don’t wait too long, because
they will become unavailable, and
it will be too late to plant most
things,” Williams says.
Here are four raised-bed kits
the experts recommend.
Vego Garden’s 17-inch six-in-
one modular metal raised bed. I f
you’ve been browsing raised-bed
options on Instagram, you’ve
probably seen these eye-catching
beds with rounded corners
( bit.ly/vego-bed ). Williams is a
fan. “It’s fantastic how much sur-
face area you can get and the large
soil volume for deep root sys-
tems,” he says. The 10-piece kit
with 17-inch-tall sides can be built
into six configurations, both
square and rectangular, including
2 by 2 feet and 5 by 3^1 / 2 feet. It takes
about 35 minutes to put together.
When attaching the panels in this
kit and the others, check that the
tops and bottoms are aligned;
simply flip the panel if not.
Birdies’ tall modular raised
bed. The OG of corrugated raised
beds, Australia-based Birdies has
been producing them for more
than 13 years. Made of galvanized
steel with an Aluzinc coating, thebed can be built into nine setups,
rectangular and square, such as
40 by 24 inches and 66 by 40 inch-
es ( bit.ly/birdies-bed ). It’s 29 inch-
es tall, so you don’t have to bend
over to reach your plants, Espiritu
says, “which is great for gardeners
who are elderly or who have ac-
cessibility issues.” Set aside about
45 minutes to build and install it.
Olle’s 17-inch 12-in-1 galva-
nized raised bed. The panels are
made of galvanized steel and coat-
ed with Aluzinc, designed to re-
flect the sun and maintain a con-
sistent soil temperature ( bit.ly/
olle-bed ). The 12-piece kit of
17-inch-tall panels can be trans-
formed into a dozen configura-
tions, both rectangular and
square, including 80 by 40 inches
and 44 by 24 inches; it should take
about 35 minutes to assemble.
Singer likes this kit because of its
durability and height. When it
comes to filling it, he recom-
mends a blend of 90 percent top-
soil and 10 percent compost; the
latter will decompose over the
year. “Dump a couple of bags of
compost into the bed at the start
of each year to refresh the organic
matter,” he says. “And since thesoil compacts, you really have to
till it well every year.”
Forever raised beds. “ If you
want a bed that isn’t wood but
will last a long time and looks
like wood, this is the way to go,”
Espiritu says. Designed to look
like they’re built with cedar
planks, these beds are made from
a composite of recycled wood and
plastic ( bit.ly/forever-bed ). They
are available in configurations of
3 by 3 feet or 3 by 6 feet, making
them great for smaller backyard
gardens. Expect it to take about
15 to 20 minutes to assemble.Martell is a writer based in Silver
Spring. His website is
nevinmartell.com. Find him on Twitter
and Instagram: @nevinmartell. Chat Thursday at 11 a.m.
Garden designer Carmen Johnston
joins staff writer Jura Koncius for our
weekly online Q&A on decorating and
household advice. Submit questions
at live.washingtonpost.com. At Home newsletter Go to the
Home & Garden page to subscribe to
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Thursday.BY NEVIN MARTELL
One of the first lessons I
learned as a gardener is that if you
don’t have high-quality soil, the
greenest thumb in the world isn’t
going to save your plants. When
we moved into our home half a
dozen years ago, I soon realized
that the dirt in our backyard was
not viable for growing. Thick with
clay, it was intersected by so many
roots that it was impossible to
push the shovel into the earth
without hitting one.
I needed raised beds to fill with
garden-level soil before I could
sow my first season’s plantings. I
purchased a few kits made with
untreated wood — they were
cheap and easy to assemble — and
packed them with a combination
of bagged soil and composted
kitchen scraps.
It only took me a couple of
years to regret my choice. The side
planks buckled, and those resting
on the ground rotted away. The
rich loam inside began spilling
out onto the white pebble path-
ways around the beds, an eyesore
and a waste. This spring, I ripped
them out and replaced them with
a trio of new raised beds and an
herb garden on wheels, but first I
spoke with three gardening ex-
perts and spent a lot of time
researching my options.
Here are the five factors they
say you should consider when
choosing raised-bed kits.
Materials. Kevin Espiritu,
founder of Epic Gardening, gen-
erally recommends buying metal
raised beds over those made of
wood. “When you do the calcula-
tion on longevity of metal versus
wood, metal beats out wood,” he
says. “And during the pandemic,
the cost for wood has skyrocketed,
so sometimes wood is even more
expensive than metal.” He notes
that good metal beds will last
more than a decade with proper
care, which includes ensuring the
bed doesn’t flood often or consis-
tently sit in moisture. And line it
with geotextile fabric or land-
scape fabric if you’re growing
crops requiring acidic soil, which
will corrode the metal.
Size. B eds should be at least a
foot tall, says Josh Singer, a com-
munity garden specialist with the
D.C. Department of Parks and
Recreation. “Bigger crops, such as
tomatoes and squash, need at
least that much room for their
roots to grow,” he says, adding
that you can even dig up another
foot of ground below the bed to
give plants space to expand. To
ensure that you can easily reach
across the entire bed — and that it
won’t be so long that the sides
bow out — he advises keeping
beds two to four feet wide and
four to eight feet long.
Beauty. “In urban and subur-Level up your gardening game by incorporating raised beds
VEGO GARDEN
Vego Garden’s 17-inch r aised bed. K evin Espiritu of Epic Gardening generally recommends buying metal beds over those made of wood.