Raised beds are particularly productive (and of course practical) if you use them for composting at the same time. For this purpose, the boxes are filled according to the so-called hill bed principle and planted one after the other with vegetables with different nutrient requirements.

Pumpkin grows well on fresh compost

How to build a compost raised bed

Since the material in such a compost raised bed collapses due to the rotting process, it is best to construct the boxes as described:

  • Use planks made of sturdy hardwood.
  • Oak, Douglas fir or larch wood is ideal.
  • Place posts grooved in each corner.
  • You fit the durable boards into these.
  • These should be removable individually.
  • In this way, the height of the side walls can be adapted to the constantly changing substrate height.
  • No film is used inside the bed box.

Don't forget the rabbit wire on the floor!

With a raised bed with an open floor, you should never forget the rabbit wire. It must be bent up at the edges and connected to the bottom boards without gaps using staples. Otherwise, voles and mice will soon live in the raised bed and attack your plants.

Fill the compost raised bed according to the hill bed principle

In the “classic” way, a raised bed is filled with your own kitchen and garden waste using the hill bed principle. The entire material rots so badly within a few years that the plants are sometimes already deep in the box in the second year and hardly get any light. At the same time, the nutrient content changes from initially high to medium to low. The rate at which rotting actually progresses depends on the structure, mix and nitrogen content of the starting materials. You should make sure you always have enough material to refill.

And this is what the individual layers of a "hill bed" raised bed look like:

  • at the bottom coarse wood waste, densely layered and with chopped material to fill in the gaps
  • above it twigs and coarse chaff
  • as a third layer, rotted leaves or rotted stable manure or turned-over sods
  • then coarse compost or raw compost
  • Finally, as the last, top layer, garden soil or fine compost

Crop rotation on the compost raised bed

In the first one to two years (depending on how much the bed has already collapsed), compost raised beds are first planted with heavy feeders. These include vegetables such as cabbage, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, leeks, pumpkins, zucchini and sweetcorn. From the second to third year, vegetables follow that are no longer quite as hungry for nutrients. Planting with middle consumers such as chard, beetroot, lettuce, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, carrots, onions and garlic, potatoes, radishes, parsnips and spinach is now optimal. From the third to fourth year, the compost raised bed is perfect for weak consumers such as lamb's lettuce, winter purslane, rocket, radishes, beans, peas, parsley and other kitchen herbs.

tips

For a good crop rotation, the plant family on the bed is changed annually. Green manure and ground cover during the winter months are also beneficial.

Category:

Vegetable garden