Filling the raised bed – that's how it works

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A raised bed looks pretty on the balcony or in the garden. However, so that vegetables and their peers can thrive in them, a few things should be considered when filling.

Preparations for the raised bed

A raised bed is commercially available, alternatively you can build it yourself, it even works with pallets! You can find instructions for this on video platforms such as YouTube. You should definitely attach rabbit wire or a mouse grid below so that voles do not tamper with your bed.

If you have now bought or patched up your bed, it should be adequately protected from moisture and moisture before filling. You can achieve this by lining it inside with a protective cover, which can be a pond or pimple film, for example. You cut this with a cutter and adjust it to the dimensions of the bed.

Fill the raised bed – the layers

So before we can plant our vegetables, we have to do shift work. Four layers are layered for the raised bed – from bottom to top it looks like this:

  1. Woodcut (approx. 20 cm high) on the ground: This includes tree, shrub and hedge cuts, such as large branches or twigs
  2. Foliage or lawn sods (approx. 15 cm)
  3. Semi-mature compost (approx. 20 cm): You can use garden or organic waste, for example
  4. Plant substrate (approx. 30 cm): high-quality garden soil for the plants in the top layer

The height information for each layer serves as an orientation. How high the respective layers should be depends on the raised bed. If this is on the balcony, it will probably be smaller and not as deep as one for the garden, but it can also be used for gardening.

Spread the individual layers as evenly as possible, also distribute the top layer with soil beautifully and evenly before you plant the plants.

The layer material becomes finer from the bottom up. Starting with a rough woodcut down to the top layer of high-quality earth.

What for the layers?

The organic materials in the raised bed will rot over time, creating heat that promotes the growth of heat-loving plants. Especially in the early days, the raised bed contains a lot of important nutrients from which grown vegetables benefit.

When to fill the raised bed?

The raised bed is filled at best in autumn, so you can also use it as a composter for animal-free kitchen waste and rot over the winter. Due to the slowly progressing rotting, the bed will lower again after some time, for some plants this is no longer wild, while others cannot tolerate it. Of course you can also fill your raised bed in spring.

Planting raised beds

In the first year of your raised bed, it is advisable to plant heavy feeders because they benefit particularly from the nutrient-rich filling. Heavy feeder are for example:

  • tomatoes
  • zucchini
  • Cucumbers
  • paprika
  • Cabbage

Then you plant Middle Eater how:

  • Carrots
  • garlic
  • Kohlrabi
  • parsnip
  • fennel

Last are the Weak teacher in turn like:

  • Peas
  • radish
  • arugula
  • Salads

Would you like to grow vegetables yourself in your raised bed? Class! Here you will find useful information about growing vegetables:

There are further suggestions for self-sufficiency in everyday life here and we explain what is behind the term permaculture in the garden. Do you already have a worm café at home? Here we reveal what a worm box is and, above all, what it does.

Tip! In the BRIGITTE community you can exchange ideas about plants.