If you want to get a garden started easily, creating a raised garden is a great way to do it. By creating a raised garden, you avoid having to pull weeds, turn soil, or dig out a lot of rocks and debris before you plant your flowers or vegetables. You can just choose the location you want your garden to be, then lay down the bed retainer walls, and put in the dirt.

Raised garden beds are popular for a couple important reasons. The first reason is that you can start to grow seeds and small starter plants earlier in the growing season than with traditional gardens. This works because the raised garden becomes warm enough for growth before the ground does. The second important reason that raised gardens are popular is simply that they’re easy!

You will begin your raised garden by choosing the materials to use for the walls. Some possibilities of materials to use are rocks, bricks, or wood or railroad ties. Rocks can be piled together to form a wall, the bricks will create a more formal look, and wood can look very nice, natural, and sometimes be free.

You will have to get enough materials to build the walls at the level that you choose. You can create a low walled garden, just a foot or two high. Another option is to have multiple levels, some low at a couple feet or less, with areas much higher at four or five feet tall. Your budget and your preferences will dictate how you make yours.

Once you have all of your materials, you will need to choose where to make the garden bed. The considerations you will have to take into account for this choice are the amount of space you need and how much sunlight you need for the types of plants you will have. A vegetable garden, for example, needs at least five to six hours of sunlight every day.

Now that all of the planning stages are complete, you can begin the building process. You can start by creating a bed frame by laying out your materials in the design that you want for the garden bed. After the frame is ready, you just need to fill it with soil. The soil level should be one to two inches below the top of the garden bed frame.

The final step is to actually begin planting. You have the option of planting small starter seedling plants, to sow seeds directly, or to put larger, more mature plants in. It is important that you add mulch, such as tree bark or dry grass clippings, around your plants once they are planted. This will keep the bed and plants from drying out too quickly in hot weather.

Keith Markensen takes a look at building garden steps pulling from his years of landscape experience and he shares regularly at www.Plant-Care.com his professional landscape knowledge.