Raised beds are typically made of wood, but this material has serious disadvantages. Bricks are much more durable than wood, so you can enjoy a layered or brick raised bed for decades. In addition, such raised beds are even suitable for permanent planting with perennial shrubs or even small fruit trees, since the individual layers inside do not decompose so quickly.

A raised bed made of stone is very durable

Advantages of stone raised beds

Although stone is more expensive than wood and harder to work with, it has an almost unlimited lifespan. Once erected, you do not need to rebuild such a raised bed every few years. Also, while the inside of a stone raised bed heats up more slowly than a wood raised bed due to the thicker walls, it can retain heat longer. This has a positive effect on plant growth, but also has an impact on the rotting process of the individual inner layers - these also rot more slowly and do not collapse as quickly, which is why stone raised beds are more suitable for permanent planting. In principle, however, even with these variants, the decomposed material must be removed after a few years and the bed must be replanted.

Types of stone raised beds

There are two different ways to build a stone raised bed. With a dry wall, you simply stack the stones on top of each other without mortar or cement, while with mortared walls they are connected to each other with a suitable material and are therefore permanently fixed. Note, however, that dry stone walls take up more space for the same height, as the walls need to be built significantly wider than a mortared wall to be strong.

dry stone walls

Usually you do not need a foundation for a dry stone raised bed, instead, a level and sufficiently solid surface is sufficient. Tamp this firmly so that the stones do not tip over or sink in. If the soil in your garden is very soft (e.g. because it is very sandy), a simple foundation is recommended to increase stability. All types of natural stone are suitable as a material, which can either be processed or not. Little hewn stones, however, can only be brought into a reasonably closed form with a level upper edge with a great deal of skill. In addition, the joints between the stones are larger, the coarser the stone profiles are. However, you can take advantage of this by planting these loopholes with rock garden plants or suitable herbs.

How to build a simple drywall raised bed

The easiest way to build a drywall raised bed is to use rectangular stones that are as smooth as possible. Use the largest and most even specimens for the bottom row. Then build up the dry stone wall layer by layer until the final bed height is reached. When doing so, make sure that the stones are not stacked jointly, but offset to one another. They should be so stable on top of each other that they neither wobble nor tip over. To level out any unevenness, you can wedge small pieces of stone into the remaining gaps. Then nothing wobbles anymore.

Raised bed with mortared wall

Mortared walls can be built from regularly processed or cut natural stones, bricks, clinker or concrete blocks. In any case, however, a foundation must be laid under the walls of the raised bed so that it is sufficiently stable. There are various possibilities:

  • a 40 to 50 centimeter thick layer of crushed stone or gravel, compacted with a vibrating plate (€499.00).
  • a cast concrete foundation

Furthermore, a sufficiently deep pit must first be excavated at the intended location of the raised bed. Finally, you build the walls of the raised bed on this foundation, taking care to ensure a good seal. Water must not penetrate anywhere, otherwise it will freeze in winter when temperatures are below zero and destroy the wall.

Which types of stone are particularly suitable for raised beds

Stone raised beds can look very different. The market offers a wide range of natural stones, but also shaped stones such as bricks or clinker and molds cast from concrete. What kind of stones you finally decide on depends on various factors. On the one hand, different materials naturally have different optical effects - but also their price. Natural stones such as granite, porphyry, travertine, limestone and sandstone look fantastic, but they are also very expensive. Concrete blocks, on the other hand, are much cheaper to buy and are also easier to process due to their uniform size and shape. This also applies to bricks or clinker, although simple clay bricks are usually not particularly stable and weatherproof. It is therefore better to use fired clay bricks or clinker.

tips

Natural stones are also available in the form of stone palisades or steles, with which extravagant and individual raised beds can be built. Walls made of processed slabs of slate also look particularly elegant. Since these are very expensive, you build the walls of the raised bed out of solid material (e.g. concrete or metal) and then only cover the front sides with it.

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Vegetable garden