25 Beautiful Raised Garden Bed Ideas for Every Kind of Space

Here's how to create beautiful raised-bed gardens

By Arricca Elin SanSoneUpdated: Apr 25, 2024

Adam- Lazy Guy DIY

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If you're looking for an easy way to grow veggies, herbs, or different types of flowers, you need a raised-bed garden. And we have raised-bed garden ideas for every type of space.

You can place raised garden beds anywhere—on a deck, patio, or even a driveway. Plus, you can build them tall enough to save your knees and back from getting sore.

Raised-bed gardens also make it easy to get the right soil mix. Whether your lawn sits on loose sand, heavy clay, or something in between, your raised beds can be filled with exactly the soil mixture you want for the plants you're growing.

Raised beds warm up faster than garden beds so you can maximize the number of growing days per year. And they're easy to fence in, so you can keep your plants away from hungry critters like rabbits or deer.

Read on for more raised-bed garden ideas for every type of space.

How Deep Should a Raised-Bed Garden Be?

While it depends on the plants you're putting in, there is a minimum depth.

"Different plants require different amounts of soil," says Pam Farley, author of The First-Time Gardener: Container Food Gardening. "For example, radishes can grow in a shallow bed, while tomatoes need more space. The best way to remember how deep your raised-bed gardens should be is a simple rhyme: Eight is great. Eight inches is the minimum, and if you can make them deeper, that's even better."

What Should You Put in the Bottom of a Raised-Bed Garden?

You'll see plenty of comments on social media about using black plastic or weed cloth under your garden bed, but neither is a good idea.

"I don't recommend this because roots that need to grow deep will have no place to go," says Farley. "And if you till the soil or dig a little too deep, you'll have bits of weed cloth or plastic mixed in with your garden."

Plastic also causes drainage problems. If your raised bed is on the ground, it also prevents beneficial earthworms from reaching your soil.

You don't have to put down anything at all, but if you're building a raised bed over a space where there is grass, you can place a layer of cardboard at the bottom to keep it from growing up through the soil. (Avoid glossy cardboard, and remove all tape or other plastic). "The cardboard will decompose over time and keep the weeds at bay while your veggies get established," says Farley.

If you're battling burrowing critters like moles and gophers, you can also put down a layer of chicken wire or hardware cloth before adding soil. This should keep them out of the growing space because they won't have access from the bottom up, says Farley.

What Kind of Raised Bed Should I Use?

There are tons of pre-fab raised-bed kits you can purchase and assemble yourself. (Here are several that we recommend.) But many designs can be DIY’ed for less money using up-cycled or repurposed materials or even lumber from the hardware store.

A DIY design lets you make adjustments to fit the bed into your space in as simple or complex a design as you like. You also can combine a mixture of DIY and pre-fab kits.

Finally, if you don’t have room for traditional raised beds in your yard, try space-saving options such as vertical grow towers, window boxes, and wall planters, which still provide room to exercise your green thumb.

Ahead, we've rounded up our favorite raised-bed garden ideas you can build yourself or use to create your own design.

Find more great gardening ideas right here:

Potager-style Raised Garden Beds

David Burton//Getty Images

The potager, or kitchen garden, combines vegetables and ornamental plants in beautiful ways for a space that's both practical and beautiful. It comes from the French jardin potage, or "soup garden" and was part of European historic estates and country homes for centuries.

Read about garden layout designs.

Stock Tank Raised-Bed Garden

garden, shrub, pebble, herb, annual plant, yard, backyard, gravel, deciduous, cottage,

Blue Roof Cabin

A stock tank makes a great, easy-to-use garden bed, and bonus: it looks great, too! We love stock tanks, by the way: Here are more things you can do with a stock tank!

Get the tutorial at Blue Roof Cabin.

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Self-Watering Planter

Anika's DIY Life

Raised planter beds typically dry out faster than garden beds, so it can be a challenge to keep them watered. This DIY self-watering version solves that problem.

Get the tutorial at Anika's DIY Life.

Raised Vegetable Garden with Compost Bins

raised vegetable garden ideas raised bed with compost bins

Adam-Lazy Guy DIY

If you want to grow veggies and keep your compost close at hand, this ingenious design has it all! (Here are 7 things to know before you start composting.)

You can also add the hanging basket support for planters which can grow additional edibles, such as strawberries, which grow well in baskets.

Get the tutorial at Lazy Guy DIY.

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Landscape Timber Raised-Bed Garden

trainman111//Getty Images

Landscape timbers (a.k.a. logs) are used here to form the edges of a raised bed to contain soil and provide a separation between the garden and lawn. These timbers are inexpensive (or even free!) and will last a few seasons.

They also give the garden a rustic, unfussy look.

Pocket Garden Between the Steps

raised bed garden ideas garden between the steps

CaliKim

Who says you need a ton of space? This petite garden is featured in Pam's book, The First Time Gardener. (Find the link above.)

The garden was created by CaliKim, and is sandwiched between landscaping timbers alongside herj garden steps. This design makes full use of every available inch of garden space.

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Concrete Block Raised Bed

Willowpix//Getty Images

Inexpensive concrete blocks create an instant raised bed. They're a bit utilitarian in appearance, but they're totally functional and easy to assemble. You even can fill the holes with soil to make tiny spots to grow small flowers such as sweet alyssum, which will spill over the sides.

SHOP CONCRETE BLOCKS AT LOWE'S

Raised Planter Box with Trellis

Jen Woodhouse

This handsome raised planter box has an integrated trellis so you can grow vining plants such as clematis or scarlet runner beans. Use this bed to dress up a boring expanse of the garage wall, for example. It looks especially smashing in pairs, as shown here.

Get the tutorial at Jen Woodhouse.

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DIY Planter Boxes

The Inspired Workshop

These raised planter boxes made from cedar fence pickets give you plenty of room for planting, whether you want to grow a few veggies or flowers.

They're also set high up off the ground, which means garden visitors, such as hungry bunnies, won't be able to reach the goodies.

Get the tutorial at The Inspired Workshop.

Stacked Stone Raised Bed

John Elk III//Getty Images

You can dry fit various sizes of natural stone to create borders for a raised bed. This is a more informal, rustic style, but it works equally well for flowers, as shown here, or herbs and veggies.

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Triangular Raised Garden Beds

Melissa J. Will/ Empress of Dirt

You often see square or rectangular beds, but what if that isn't the best design for your garden's layout? Here, raised beds are created on a diagonal, forming triangular beds with plenty of room for growing veggies.

Get the tutorial at Empress of Dirt.

Herb Garden Spiral

raised bed garden ideas fresh herbs in the garden

michael1959//Getty Images

Herb spirals have been planted for centuries, using rocks placed in a circular pattern with soil added to raise the beds for drainage. This is an easy project to plant outside your kitchen door so your herbs will always be handy. (Here are our favorite perennial herbs.)

Read about what herbs to plant.

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Fence Garden

Irena Sowinska//Getty Images

If you have absolutely no garden space, consider mounting small pots on a fence or wall. This creates enough space to grow small herbs, such as chives, and lettuce.

SHOP WALL GARDENS

DIY Raised Garden Bed Cover

Hydrangea Treehouse

It's not so fun to work hard in your garden and then share your veggies with the squirrels and rabbits.

This smart solution is a garden cover, constructed from chicken wire, to keep your neighborhood small animals out of your beds. It can be adapted to any size raised bed.

Get the tutorial at Hydrangea Treehouse.

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DIY Cedar Window Boxes

Joyful Derivatives

No yard? If you have a window, you still can grow plenty, including vegetables that don't have deep roots such as spinach, lettuce, and some herbs. (These are all veggies that grow well indoors.) This plan is super-inexpensive (and more satisfying!) when you build it yourself.

Get the tutorial at Joyful Derivatives.

Fabric Grow-Bag Raised Beds

eurobanks//Getty Images

No space in your landscape beds—or really awful soil? These fabric grow bags hold plenty of soil for veggies of all sorts. They come in various sizes and can be reused for several years.

SHOP GROW BAGS

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DIY Raised Tiered Bed

Anika's DIY Life

This clever design allows you to stack planters for double the growing space. Plus, the integrated trellis provides support for climbers such as beans and cucumbers.

Get the tutorial at Anika's DIY Life.