Depending on your budget and gardening goals, you can line the bottom of your raised garden beds with wide-mesh hardware cloth, stainless steel mesh, landscape fabric, burlap sack, or newspaper/cardboard.

What should I put in the bottom of my raised garden bed?

You can fill the bottom of a raised garden bed with a number of organic materials, including straw, grass clippings, wood chips and leaves. Place cardboard – or any suitable weed barrier material – over this organic layer, weighing it down with a few bricks or pegs.

Is there a bottom to a raised garden bed?





Your raised bed might need a bottom if you have pest problems or you experience lots of water in your garden. So really, it’s an automatic yes, especially because it helps when your raised soil mixes with the soil on the ground, but it helps to keep your plants safe.

What do you put on the bottom of a raised garden bed with legs?

Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: Then fill the planter box with soil specifically suited for raised garden beds. Finally start planting fresh herbs and flowers.

Do raised beds need a base?

Most raised beds can be built on any surface and there is no need for foundations or cement, build them directly on soil, grass, paving, tarmac, concrete or even sloped gardens, just make sure that you are building on a solid and level surface.

Should you put landscape fabric under a raised bed?

Landscape fabric If you have a weed problem in your yard, landscape fabric is effective at keeping unwanted plant growth from showing up in your raised garden beds.

What can I use as a planter base?





Lightweight Filler for Pots

  1. Recycle Plastics. Plastic Water/Soda Bottles. …
  2. Reuse Packing Materials. …
  3. Unused Plastic Pots Turned Upside Down.
  4. Recycled Crushed Cans.
  5. Natural Materials. …
  6. Recycled Cardboard, Newspaper (Also for short term use only.)


What is the best material to line a raised garden bed?

You can line your raised bed to make it more durable and to prevent toxics from leaching into the soil. For lining, use landscape fabric found at garden supply stores or cloth fabric from clothing. Avoid non-porous plastic, as it can retain too much water and discourage beneficial insects and worms.

Why you shouldn’t use landscape fabric?

Landscape fabric inhibits water from getting to the roots of your plants. With fabric, plants are forced to grow roots along the surface directly under the fabric to get water. Plants will struggle and many will eventually die, 2.

What is the best liner for raised beds?



Plastic is probably your best bet for a raised garden bed liner if the soil in your raised beds is too dry and you need to retain moisture by preventing drainage. If the soil in your raised garden bed is dry, then an impermeable plastic liner is probably your best bet to retain water.

Can I line my raised garden bed with cardboard?

Many gardeners build raised beds right on their lawns, and line the bottoms with cardboard to smother the grass – a technique that makes it possible to fill the beds and start gardening right away. Even the gardener’s helper enjoys a cardboard box!

Should I line my raised garden bed?

It is essential to line the bottom of the planting area of an elevated garden bed to prevent the soil from running away through the drainage hole. A liner also separates the growing medium (soil) from coming in direct contact with the planter.

How do you prepare the ground for a raised garden bed?



Remove all rocks, old roots, and plant debris. Dig down a little further with the shovel (a few more inches) to just loosen up the soil. Mix the soil with organic matter such as compost. We recommend that the compost make up about 25% of your soil.

Do you need drainage holes in a raised garden bed?

Having raised beds with good drainage is essential. Not only will it prevent overwatering or underwatering your plants, but it can also reduce the risk of various diseases associated with water issues, like root rot.