A drywall raised bed is neither grouted nor concreted. Instead, the stones are loosely stacked on top of each other. The dry raised bed can be set up in a morning and dismantled just as quickly - in contrast to a mortared wall, which often also requires a solid foundation.
Raised beds are easy to attach with dry stone walls
Materials needed
For a raised bed with the external dimensions 160 x 100 centimeters and a height of 80 centimeters you need the following materials:
- any rectangular stone, at least 24 centimeters long, 11 centimeters high and 11 centimeters deep
- always prefer larger stones - the more stable the raised bed will be
- weed fleece
- rabbit wire
- as desired: nesting boxes, insect nesting boxes, perforated bricks and nesting stones in a rectangular shape (for insects and other small animals)
This is how it is built
First, the outline of the raised bed is marked on the ground. Then dig a pit at least 10 centimeters deep and remove all plants, especially existing root weeds such as bindweed, goutweed, couch grass or horsetail. Consolidate the soil well, for example with a vibratory rammer borrowed from equipment rental. Now fill in a thick layer of gravel and crushed stone - this serves as drainage - and carefully compact this layer as well. Now build the wall by carefully piling up stone by stone so that everything is stable and nothing wobbles. The stones in a row should always be staggered to the previous row - so that they are never joint after joint. Finally, lay the weed fleece (€21.70) and the rabbit wire.
Pay attention to the angle of inclination
The mass of earth inside a raised bed of this size is limited, so that the earth pressure on the bed walls remains within reasonable limits. In this case, you can confidently do without an angle of inclination (sometimes also referred to as “run-up”). Instead, build the raised bed border in a vertical construction. Incidentally, with larger beds, a greater wall thickness (depth) ensures more stability.
tips
You can integrate a whole range of nesting aids into the bed walls while constructing the raised bed border. Not only wild bees are happy about drilled hardwood discs or blocks or perforated clay bricks. On the other hand, bumblebees, spiders, lizards, beetles and, in winter, butterflies thrive in smaller cavities or crevices in the wall. Wood shavings and leaves, on the other hand, are the perfect nesting material for ladybugs and earwigs.