After watching how the sun reached different parts of the garden around the house throughout the year, Dan’s idea was to build raised beds in two different areas. Using raised beds would improve the quality of the soil and create two separate raised kitchen garden spaces to grow fruit, vegetables and cut flowers.
Dan’s wooden raised beds
Dan’s large, wrap-around garden was turfed with a section of concrete hardstanding. Although the garden was very mature with shrubs, hedges and trees, the grass was struggling to survive and the soil underneath was poor-quality for growing. The concrete area was unused and uninviting.
Planning the Garden
Using our website raised bed calculator, Dan selected sizes that worked for his garden space. For the grass area, low raised beds were selected measuring Length 3m x Width 1.2m x Height 0.35m. For the raised beds being built on the concrete hardstanding, a slightly taller size of Length 1.8m x Width 0.9m x Height 0.45m was chosen to give enough soil depth for growing.
WoodBlocX structures can be built on both soft and hard ground types such as grass, soil. patios and driveways. When ordering through our website, you can select what type of ground fixing you require for your project! For bespoke designs, we even offer a Free Design Service with unlimited revisions until you are 100% happy.
Preparation and building
There was minimal ground preparation needed for building on the grass patch. Dan removed the turf to match the size of each raised bed and slightly levelled the soil. The turf was added back into the bottom of the raised beds to reduce the amount of soil required. No preparations were needed on the concrete hardstanding as this was already flat and level. Ground spikes were used to secure the structures to the ground on the grass and angle floor brackets were used on the concrete.
Following his detailed layer-by-layer instructions for each design (which can be printed and included with your order), Dan built all the raised beds in one afternoon! An internal plastic liner was installed to maximise the lifespan of the WoodBlocX timber which is already pressure-treated to last.
As Dan’s address was not far from our sawmill in Dingwall (Scottish Highlands) the components for his order were picked, shipped and delivered on a pallet within a week ready for Dan to build at the weekend!
Finished Garden
Dan’s garden is now a home-growing paradise with 6 raised beds full of good-quality compost. The planters use our traditional capping which finishes off each structure beautifully creating a suitably strong edge to sit on whilst tendering to the plants.
Within weeks of installation Dan and his family started growing a wide range of flowers, fruit and vegetables including potatoes and courgettes, which when harvested, made their home-grown meals very tasty! Read our detailed blog post to learn more about what to grow in raised beds.
Dan said:
“WoodBlocX raised beds were perfect for creating a kitchen garden on our grass and concrete garden areas. They were so quick and easy to build, allowing us to transform our garden in a weekend! We love growing a wide range of fruit and vegetables at home, helping us to teach our kids where real food comes from!”
Build your own home-growing patch
Use WoodBlocX raised beds to transform your garden into a growing heaven! Suitable to build on soft and hard ground, our structures can give you the space you need to improve the soil and get growing!
