Whether you use them for flowers or veg, raised beds can be an easy way of providing some character and variety to your garden. We've rounded up a handful of our favourites on the market, with a range of different designs and price tags.
Why use raised flower beds?
- They're a great way of keeping things organised and give you a specific area to focus on for growing.
- From a design point of view, they can offer differing levels to the layout of your garden, and fill in nooks and crannies.
- They offer a higher working height, so are ideal for those with limited mobility.
- As they need to be filled with topsoil and/or compost, you can grow plants that wouldn't thrive in your garden's soil.
- They warm up more quickly in spring, which means you can get a head start on sowing seeds.
The best raised bed ideas for the garden
The Chamberlain Rectangular Wooden Raised Flower Bed
- Material: wood
- Size: 100 x 100 x 20cm, 200L
- Self-assembly
These are no-fuss, easy to construct raised flower beds, which you can put pretty much anywhere in a flat garden to use as either flower or vegetable beds. The interlocking timber sections mean you don't need any annoying fixtures or fixings to set them up.
Their size also means they're easy to plant in - not so long or wide you struggle to access parts of them, or risk soil compaction from having to stand or kneel on it.
Corten Steel Trough Planter Pot
- Material: Corten steel
- Different sizes available: 60cm up to 200cm long
- Pre-assembled
A smart alternative to the many wooden raised planters is a weathered steel version like this. We love the unique finish of the rusty patina and the sleek clean lines, which make it a neat choice for more modern gardens in particular.
Choose one of the smaller sizes to add interest to a quiet corner, or go for a longer version to use as a divider for zoned areas.
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Forest Garden Wooden Raised Flower Bed Builder Pack
- Material: wood
- Size: 203.5 x 103.5 x 41cm, 380L
- Self-assembly
A lovely, long raised flower bed will allow for all sorts of plating in rows. The depth above the ground 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.
Forest Caledonian corner raised bed
- Material: wood
- Size: 130 x 130 x 28cm, up to 500L
- Self-assembly
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.
The 15 year guarantee from rot and fungal decay is another very positive attribute and shows that the wood should stay sturdy and strong for a good while.
Charles Taylor Extra Large Trough Set
- Material: wood
- Different sizes available: 83 x 41 x 31.5cm / 108 x 47 31.5cm
- Pre-assembled
Make an impact with these beautiful raised bed trough planters. They're made in the UK and have a warm wood stain which looks lovely in cottage-style and mature gardens. As an added bonus, they have a simple slatted base to allow for easy drainage, whether they're on gravel, a patio or a border.
Rowlinson Large Patio Planter
- Material: wood
- Size: 180 x 40 x 37cm, 166L
- Self-assembly
Perfect for patios as well as borders, this smart raised trough is a versatile choice. It's almost 2m across, so there's plenty of room for growing flowers, shrubs or veg inside, and the wood is pressure treated to help stop it rotting.
Outsunny Raised Planter
- Material: fir wood
- Size: 135 x 105 x 40cm, 93L
- Self-assembly
This is a raised flower bed on legs, which helps save 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 too.
The fabric lining keeps the soil inside but has drainage holes to let the water out and air in.
Raised flower bed kit
- Material: recycled, injection moulded panels with aluminium canopy frame
- Size: 100 x 100 x 25cm, 230L
- Self-assembly
This raised bed kit from Suttons is a great way of starting your own raised 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. There are several different sizes available too.
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.
Metal Raised Flower Beds in Green
- Material: painted steel
- Size: 100 x 100 x 30cm, 300L
- Self-assembly
Sturdy, with a fetching utilitarian aesthetic, these green raised flower beds are great for all sorts of growing. The steel is lightweight 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. 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.
Outsunny Set of 4 Raised Bed Self Watering Planter
- Material: reinforced plastic
- Size: 50 x 50 x 16.5cm per box, 166L total capacity
- Self-assembly
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.
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 root balls 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 finishes - 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.
Find more of our favourite troughs and pots in our guide to the best garden planters you can buy today.
