7 Beginner Raised Bed Garden Mistakes to Avoid

7 Beginner Raised Bed Garden Mistakes to Avoid

In this video I will share seven common raised bed garden mistakes. Gardening in raised beds is easier because you have control over more variable and can grow more in less space, unless you make these mistakes. So watch this video and avoid all 7 of these raised bed gardening mistakes.

MENTIONED PRODUCTS
Grassroots Fabric Pots & Raised Beds
https://www.grassrootsfabricpots.com Use Discount Code: NEXTLEVEL10

MENTIONED/RELATED VIDEO
Building raised beds (like at old house): https://youtu.be/8Z48Ni8wgm0
Build Simple Raised Beds (like in this video): https://youtu.be/EiR20Dqad6U
Winterizing Raised Beds:

DIGITAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:37 – How long should a raised bed be
01:49 – How deep should a raised garden bed be
04:02 – Materials to use for raised beds
06:15 – What do you fill raised beds with
08:39 – Do you need to refresh raised bed garden soil
09:51 – Do you need to mulch raised garden beds
11:25 – How do you prepare raised beds for winter?

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Hey Guys, I’m Brian from Next Level Gardening

Welcome to our online community! A place to be educated, inspired and hopefully entertained at the same time! A place where you can learn to grow your own food and become a better organic gardener. At the same time, a place to grow the beauty around you and stretch that imagination (that sometimes lies dormant, deep inside) through gardening.

I’m so glad you’re here!

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50 Comments

  1. @matthewmanners6004 March 13, 2025 at 11:51 am

    I’ve got a golfer problem too. I live next to the 7th hole!

  2. @messyhomestead7320 March 13, 2025 at 11:51 am

    You are the first vlogger who has admitted soil costs money! Thank you. People keep saying "oh make this for $1" but then you see them putting 4 bags of soil in there and I’m like, "ummmm". Thanks for being honest about the costs.

  3. I used old pieces of fence with pieces of 4×4 at the corners. Stands on it’s own, but we also added some stakes on the longer sides for extra stability. I learned the hard way you need to use wood screws and not nails…

  4. great advice

  5. @dennismcbeain3031 March 13, 2025 at 11:55 am

    My intention was to fill my 18" high raised beds with logs sticks etc and a mix of top soil and compost with mulch on top. After watching this video I am now questioning that idea. Being 18" deep and the brush below would the soil compress enough to inhibit plant growth#

  6. Taller beds also keep rabbits away. PVC or resin planks last much longer than cedar.

    I use equal parts sphagnum peat moss, cypress chips, and cotton burr compost for fertilizer and mix it about half foot down every 3-4 years. In addition, you can mix your kitchen greens with older brown mulch for compost. Coffee grounds count as greens albeit brown color.

  7. To me, raised beds are useless. Wasted garden space. I was raised on a fram 83 years ago. I plant my garden the way my mom and dad did.

  8. Excellent tips for anyone who gardens! I already did/do these, but it’s always nice to see what you suggested & they align with what I already do.

  9. There is so much information out there. One says this the other says that… I don’t even know where to start lol.

  10. Straw is the worst for wet areas for sure. Trust me.

  11. @memories.in.grandmas.garden March 13, 2025 at 12:00 pm

    Refresh your soil annually by adding compost or raised bed mix to the top. This helps replenish nutrients, supports deep root growth, and prevents erosion.

  12. When you add soil to the bed the following year, do you have to rake away all your mulch first? You don’t want to bury it, right?

  13. We have concrete for soil. Well, we have mostly limestone with a little clay and rock dust. Same thing! We just want to grow some perennials and small shrubs in the backyard for pollinators. For some reason, I can’t get into physical raised beds for growing these plants. But having borderless raised beds/areas, especially in a lot that slopes a bit, would seem to be susceptible to rain washouts. Having rotten soil (or no real soil) is a pain to deal with.

  14. @holywoodbulldog117 March 13, 2025 at 12:05 pm

    I need 3ft high beds ( back problems ) Can I use clean saw dust from a firewood processor as well as logs, branches ?

  15. Potting or rased garden soil that you buy from the store is not a soil at all. It is 99% organic matter like composted chipper wood,(read labels !)and will become a compacted airless sludge soon. And you will buy it again and again. Forever.
    The typical soil consists of approximately 45% minerals(silt, clay,send) , 5% organic matter, 20-30% water, and 20-30% air.
    So you need a real top soil from the ground (and it’s free). And then just add a little bit of compost on top.

  16. Wood sux, it rots after getting wet.

  17. @josephjohnson6849 March 13, 2025 at 12:08 pm

    11:00 i feel miracle grow would solve this issue. Correct?

  18. @miketheresonator March 13, 2025 at 12:08 pm

    I like to line wood raised beds with plastic on the inside so that the soil does not stay in contact with the wood. This helps the wood last longer and preserves moisture, (i.e., the wood wicks away water). I use untreated lumber and just let it rot, but the plastic slows that down.

  19. What do you do with termites if you’re putting wood at the bottom of the bed?

  20. oooo, saved me on that lawn clippings tip.
    i was totally planning on doing that since we have so much of it.

  21. You mentioned not adding grass clippings when filling beds but recommended it as mulch. Why is that? Is it because of different moisture levels?

  22. @gilberthewko4439 March 13, 2025 at 12:11 pm

    Just don’t put a bed anywhere close to a god dam tree. Anywhere near

  23. Here in the Yakima Valley of Washington State we have great sandy loam volcanic soil. And a nasty invasive Bermuda Grass that infiltrates every ground-based garden. We have installed four 31" – 36" wide, 8′ long, 2′ deep water trough beds. We raised them on treated 4X4s so very little bending over. We drilled drain holes, sprayed the holes with rust preventive paint, put fine mesh screen and 2" of lava rock over them. We opened the drain plugs on each tub and put bags of lava rock over those holes. We put logs cut to just less than 1′ upright on the bottom and a layer of non-plastic landscape fabric over the logs. That will break down, so all the beds do settle as mentioned. Then we laid in some good planting soil, mixed with our local loam and house made compost. It gets darned hot here, 105 to 110 are not unusual, and almost no summer rain, so drip irrigation is the way to go. I recommend using water troughs, although they are pricy. But they will likely outlive me!

  24. I got some 8ft 2×8 kiln dried soft yellow pine, and some precut 2 ft 2x4s probably not great for longevity but building a 4ftx8ftx16in bed cost me about 45 for the wood

  25. I found some clay brick like tiles I think they are 10” x 10” the look good I think i will use them… thing is how would I keep them together and standing I’m not that into construction, probably would have to stick them with cement or something 🤔

  26. I bought resin raised gardens.. with metal corners. Is that ok?

  27. When you top up the soil each year, do you first need to remove the mulch from the previous year or do you simply refresh on top of it?

  28. @denisehopkins1781 March 13, 2025 at 12:18 pm

    I wonder if you do make a very long bed if you could build a “bridge” in the middle of the

  29. You often have good things to say, but building a 6" deep raised bed may look nice, but it’s worthless. The medium will be too shallow and gophers will easily go over the top

  30. I’m glad I found this video. Do you have a video that talks about railroad ties? I can’t convince my partner that they’re bad. Thanks

  31. @charleshunter3595 March 13, 2025 at 12:20 pm

    Dude… what’s up with the stand up hair? C’mon man, be real

  32. @donnakennell5111 March 13, 2025 at 12:23 pm

    Our financials dictate a "reuse, recycle" approach. To that end, I use old fallen trees, cut to size as the borders. I leave the bark for a rustic look. When we had torrential rains that flooded our gardens, those borders helped a lot protecting wash out, as did the container planted veggies. I’m so grateful for your channel. I’ve learned a lot.

  33. Thank you for this straight forward video. So helpful! What do you do with the existing mulch when you are refreshing your bed soil on top for the season? You said you never want to bury your mulch….thanks!

  34. Placing a layer of new soil creates a barrier layer over last years emergent pests, but reusing old mulch will also preserve that same issue. Interesting also most of the YouTube farmers is the lack of knowledge and experience on the issues of RKN (root knot nematodes) and fail to cross-source success and failures. This topic is avoided because the solution is so very limited or just unknown.

  35. My raised beds are 3 feet by 25 feet. Easier to reach to the center of the beds, and better space utilization than short beds. Easier to install drip watering system in a long bed, easier for using row covers, just better. Plan your work and you don’t have to walk around them a lot.

  36. Can i use old potting soil at the bottom of my raised bed and use new soil at the top? I have a 10 x 4 x 1 galvanized bed. Trying to save some as far as filling it with soil.

  37. @user-Rocket-Fest March 13, 2025 at 12:32 pm

    consider space for a wheelbarrow for bring and removing things, so in my case 900mm pathways.

  38. The point of building raised beds for me is to save my back. I’m going to put mine on legs. I have plenty of old lumber from our old wood fencing I’m going to tear down.

  39. Never watch viedes that have "Never do this" in them. Do what you want to do…..

  40. Whatever I can find lying around, I use, dilapidated wood planters, tree branches. I mean it’s uneven but to me it’s perfect 🤣

  41. I would probably continue watching… if measurements were in meters instead of (i’m not naming it because it should’nt exist)

  42. Dude show the sweet potato process

  43. when we put in our 4×4 raised beds, on the soil, i put the smallest chicken wire fence stapled to the bottom to prevent critters then we put on top 15 year weed barrier material and filled with miracle gro raised garden bed soil, 40 1.5 cubic feet bags to start, but we clean and add 2 bags per year since and we get fantastic results

  44. So right on the 20 ft. bed. I am so tempted to take it down and shortening it, but that adds extra work.

  45. @bernadettegrisham676 March 13, 2025 at 12:45 pm

    Can you do a video on proper food storage of vegetables you harvest

  46. @escapetothecountrylife-tq3el March 13, 2025 at 12:46 pm

    A 2×6 is only 5.5 inches as they are planed. The lumber industries way of getting more lumber out of a tree

  47. Huh. Mostly good info, though still at a very basic level of raised beds. I’ve been making raised beds for years and had to learn a lot of these lessons the hard way. I will say, apart from the exponential increase in the cost of lumber from going over eight foot, there’s really not much reason not to build beds up to 12 feet long (still though, four feet is about as wide as you want for convenient access, and sometimes narrower to fit the space). 4×8 is a convenient size, but 4×12 is very similar.

    I always find it amusing to hear people talk about dry climates while standing in front of healthy trees, tall bushes, and green grass (though, I know it’s hard to tell for sure because almost everywhere has a season like this). Where I live, in NW Colorado, every living thing digs deep to find water, and the grass is yellow six+ months out of the year. I have to build my beds waist-high with a raised floor because we have thirsty, thirsty tree roots that have already forced us to replace our sewer once and have managed somehow to clog our new plastic pipe. They’ve gotten into every in-the-ground garden bed I’ve ever made at this house. And the layer of mulch shown here looks paltry compared to the several inches we need here.

    About the soil compaction … this isn’t exactly correct. Compaction depends on the organic content and more especially the microbiome in the soil. You absolutely can get beautiful soft, dark, fertile soil in the ground, but most of us are dealing with heavily depleted soils that will take a lot of work to reach that point. Plus, physical compaction doesn’t help. Avoid stepping in your beds as much as possible, and add a stepping stone if necessary. So yes it’s easier to buy good soil than to make bad soil good, but it’s not impossible. Compost/tea, mulch, biochar, and cover cropping can do wonders to revive depleted soils. Some of the deepest soil I’ve seen in our native sand-crete is in the chicken runs where we set up compost piles for them to scratch. Those feathery Houdinis have dug compost so deep I’ve had to line the fences with more wire, and the soil is indistinguishable from the piles.

  48. If you keep your eyes open you’ll find galvanized beds on sale for less than you can buy wood to make a bed. I found 4x4x1 ft rounds for 20 bucks each. 3×8 by 1 ft for 30 bucks each etc. And I’m sure it’s a 3 ft wide is just fine for me

  49. great info. thanks!

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