Raised flower beds can be an easy way of providing some character and variety to your garden beds. Whether you use your raised flower beds for flowers or vegetables, they are a good way of keeping things tidy and organised and giving you a specific area to focus on for growing. From a design point of view, raised beds can be a great way of offering differing levels to the layout of your garden, as well as filling in different corners and nooks and crannies.
Raised beds are also accessible, offering a higher working height, so are ideal for those with limited mobility. As they need to be filled with topsoil and/or compost, they also allow you to grow plants that would not thrive in your garden’s soil. Raised beds also warm up more quickly in spring, which means that you can get a head start on sowing seeds.
What to plant in raised flower beds
The short answer to this is, pretty much everything. The beauty of a raised bed is that you can fill it with soil tailored to the plants that you want to grow – you could fill the bed with well-drained soil, compost and grit for Mediterranean herbs, for example, or ericaceous compost for acid-loving plants. Just make sure that the raised bed is deep enough to accommodate the rootballs of the plants.
Making your own raised flower beds
This is not quite as easy as it sounds, believe us, we know from experience, although it can be a thoroughly rewarding thing to do. If you aim to build raised beds yourself, then make sure you have wood that’s suitable for all weathers, that hasn’t been treated in toxic finshes – this can get into the soil and affect the plants. Huge railway sleepers were in fashion and they can be very sturdy additions to a bed, but they are hard to transport and once they’re in, it’s hard to change your mind about where you want them. The selection of raised flower beds we have below offer ease of construction, but also the potential to move them around.
The best raised flower beds for the garden
The Chamberlain Rectangular Wooden Raised Flower Bed
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These are no-fuss, easy to construct raised flower beds, which you can put pretty much anywhere in a flat garden. You can use these as either flower or vegetable beds and their size means they are easy to plant in – too long or wide can make accessing parts of your raised flower beds tricky. It means you can avoid soil compaction from having to stand or kneel on your bed. The raised beds are 155cm long by 80cm wide with a height of 20cm. In total you’re looking at a capacity of 239 litres. The interlocking timber sections mean you don’t need any annoying fixtures or fixings to set them up.
Metal Raised Flower Beds in Green
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Sturdy, with a fetching utilitarian aesthetic, these green metal raised flower beds are great for all sorts of growing. The steel is lightweight and measures 100cm by 30cm deep and it’s fairly simple to put together, using nuts and bolts – don’t forget your screwdriver and pair of pliers. The metal is unlikely to degrade like wood and we love the colour too. These come in a set of two. What’s nice about this raised flower bed is that if the height of it isn’t quite right for your needs, you can bury them a little deeper and not worry about rot setting into the material.
Forest Garden Wooden Raised Flower Bed Builder Pack
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A lovely, long, raised flower bed pack which measures 2 metres by 1 metres and will allow for all sorts of plating in rows. The depth is 21 cm and it can hold around 380 litres of compost. The half round timber is a lovely, natural look and the whole thing comes with a 15 year guarantee. The wood is pressure treated timber and the pack includes fixtures and instructions on how to put it together. There are also pre-fixed 41cm spikes that are for securing it into the ground.
Forest Caledonian corner raised bed
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We love a corner raised flower bed and this might be perfect fit for the spot in your garden you’re looking to give a lovely lift to. It tucks away beautifully, leaving you more space, if you need it for playing on the lawn. There’s 216 litre capacity for compost and it is easy to assemble, the 15 year guarantee from rot and fungal decay is a very positive attribute and shows that the wood should stay sturdy and strong for a good while.
Outsunny Set of 4 Raised Bed Self Watering Planter
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This fetching two tier design allows extra raised flower bed capacity for your garden. But what’s also nice about this design is its self watering nature: it reserves excess water that plants can absorb when needed, plus there are drainage holes with plugs that you can use according to whether your plants need it. The modular design means that you can have a series of different combinations for anything from a herb garden, to flower beds, to vegetable beds. In this two tier design the bottom planters are 26.5H x 50Lx 50w cm and the top planters are 46.5h x 50l x 50w cm.
Maxi Manger Trough Planters
- Buy now from Harrod Horticultural (£195)
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Make an impact with these beautiful raised bed trough planters from Harrod Horticultural. The Maxi Mander trough raised flower beds are great for avoiding back strain as they are properly raised up off the ground, allowing you to only bend a little to get to your plants. These raised flower beds stand 79cm off the ground and are available in four lengths, 2ft, 4ft, 6ft and a whopping 8ft. These raised flower bed planters will also take long root veg such as carrots and parsnips. These will look great in either a city or rural garden.
- Buy now from Harrod Horticultural (£195)
Harrod Superior Metal Raised Beds
- Buy now from Harrod Horticultural (£145)
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Some very chic, sleek designs for raised flower beds that should survive the test of time. These raised flower beds are made using 1mm thick galvanised steel which has a 10 year structural guarantee. The steel is powder coated in anthracite grey which is weatherproof. This was one of the finalists of the RHS Chelsea garden products of the year in 2017, which is a definite mark of quality. There are range of sizes to buy, from 0.6m to 2.4m and three heights so you should find something for wherever you need in your garden. You’ll need roughly 576 litres of soil to fill a 2.4m long one.
- Buy now from Harrod Horticultural (£145)
Wooden Planter Raised Elevated Garden Bed Planter Flower Herb Boxes for Vegetables Flower with 2 Shelves Solid Wood
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This is another high raised flower bed option, which again, saves the back. What’s more, with this planter you have the added option of a lattice for climbers or just to hang planters or tools from. There are two very handy shelves which can be used for pots or storing things on, like in the image. The overall dimensions of these raised flower bed is 105 L x 40w x 135 h cm and the bottom of the bed to the floor height is 50cm. The bed size itself is 99L x 34.5 W x 27.5H cm. The fabric lining keeps the soil inside but has drainage holes to let the water out and air in.
Raised flower bed kit
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This raised bed kit from Suttons is a great way of starting up your own raised flower bed planting and has good draining and easy assembly. These raised beds are particularly ideal for potatoes, but you could use it for flowers or other vegetables too. There are several different sizes and the prices start from a very reasonable £12.99. The injection moulded panels are all made from 100 per cent recyclable materials with four corner pins. The extension kit makes it easier to make this bed bigger, plus there’s a handy support structure for any netting or other canopy you want to use.