Planting
Start a Raised Bed Vegetable Garden
Build one or two 4x8 beds where the sun reaches for 6–8 hours a day, fill them with a topsoil and compost blend, and plant a handful of easy crops. Care takes about 20 minutes, a few times a week.
Raised Gardening Beds is owned by the team behind Thrive Garden, which sells some of the products linked on this page.
| Goal | Beds (4x8) | Growing area | Weekly time in peak season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salads and herbs | 1 | 32 sq ft | 1 hour |
| Summer produce for 2 people | 2 | 64 sq ft | 1.5–2 hours |
| Regular produce for a family of 4 | 3–4 | 96–128 sq ft | 2–4 hours |
| Some produce to store or preserve | 5–6 | 160–192 sq ft | 4–6 hours |
How many beds you need
Most people overbuild their first year. Two well-kept beds produce more than four neglected ones, and you can always add a bed next spring once you know how much time the garden takes.
A 4x8 bed is the standard size for good reason. At 4 ft wide you can reach the middle from either side without stepping on the soil, and 8 ft is a common board length. If the bed has to sit against a fence or wall, make it 2–3 ft wide instead so you can still reach the back.
Leave at least 18–24 in between beds for walking, and about 3 ft if you need to bring a wheelbarrow or wheelchair through. Our raised bed garden layout guide has sample arrangements for one to six beds.
For depth, most vegetables do well with 10–12 in of soil over loosened ground. Go to 18–24 in for potatoes and long carrots, or if the bed sits on concrete or hard-packed soil. Our bed depth guide goes crop by crop.
If you'd rather not build from lumber, one option is a galvanized metal raised bed, which goes together with basic tools and usually lasts 15–20 years or more.
Sun and placement
Sun matters more than anything else you control. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans and cucumbers need 6–8 hours of direct sun. Lettuce, spinach and most herbs manage with 4–6.
Watch the spot for a full day before you build. Note when buildings, fences and trees shade it, and remember that trees leaf out in late spring and the sun sits lower in fall.
A few more placement rules:
- Run long beds north to south if you can, so both sides get even light.
- Stay close to a water source. A bed 100 ft from the spigot gets watered less often.
- Pick level ground, or level the bed itself, so water soaks in evenly instead of running to one end.
- Keep away from large tree roots. They will find your loose, rich soil within a season or two.
- Avoid black walnut trees. Their roots release a compound that harms tomatoes and many other crops.
Fill the beds with a proper mix rather than native clay or straight bagged potting soil. Aim for mostly screened topsoil (around 60%), with compost making up about 30% and perlite or pine bark fines the last 10%. Our raised garden bed soil mix guide shows how to calculate how much you need. Filling a 4x8 bed to 12 in deep calls for 32 cubic feet of mix, or roughly 1.2 cubic yards.
Your first-year planting plan
Plan two plantings in one bed: cool crops in spring, warm crops after your last frost.
Bed 1, spring: lettuce, spinach, radishes, peas on a trellis along the north edge, and onion sets. Plant these 2–4 weeks before your last frost.
Bed 1, summer: as the greens finish, replace them with bush beans and basil. Let the peas finish, then put cucumbers on the same trellis.
Bed 2, summer: two tomatoes on the north end, four peppers in the middle, and herbs or marigolds along the south edge. Plant these 1–2 weeks after your last frost, once nights stay above 50°F.
Fall: sow lettuce, kale and radishes 6–8 weeks before your first fall frost in whatever space opens up, and plant garlic a few weeks before the ground freezes.
For spacing and crop-by-crop timing, see our raised bed planting guide, plus our guides to tomatoes and peppers.
Weekly care routine
A raised bed needs less weeding than a ground garden but more watering. A simple routine keeps it on track.
- Water deeply 2–3 times a week rather than a little every day. Aim for about 1 in a week in total, more in hot, windy weather. Push a finger 2 in into the soil; if it's dry, water. A drip line or soaker hose on a timer saves the most time.
- Mulch 2–3 in deep with straw, shredded leaves or untreated wood chips once the soil has warmed. Mulch holds moisture and blocks most weeds.
- Pull weeds while they are small, ideally once a week. In loose bed soil they come out easily.
- Check for pests on the undersides of leaves. Pick off hornworms and beetles by hand, and hose off aphids.
- Tie up tomatoes and train cucumbers as they grow, every few days in early summer.
- Feed lightly. A bed started with compost needs little early on. Side-dress heavy feeders like tomatoes with compost or a balanced organic fertilizer once fruit sets.
Harvest and replant
Pick often. Beans, cucumbers, zucchini and herbs produce more when you harvest regularly, and slow down if you let them mature on the plant.
When a crop finishes, pull it, add 1 in of compost to that spot and replant the same week. Bush beans, lettuce and radishes fill gaps quickly in summer. At the end of the season, clear spent plants, top each bed with 1–2 in of compost, and cover the soil with shredded leaves or a cover crop until spring.
How to choose
Limited time
Start with one bed of greens, herbs and two tomato plants. Add a second bed only after a full season.
Feeding a family
Plan three or four beds so one can hold space-hungry crops like squash, potatoes or sweet corn.
Poor or paved ground
Build beds 18–24 in deep so roots never reach the hard layer underneath.
Hot, dry summers
Choose deeper beds, install drip irrigation from day one, and mulch heavily.
Related guides
- What to plant, and when
- Raised bed garden layout
- Raised garden bed soil mix
- Watering raised garden beds
- Growing lettuce in raised beds
How big should a first vegetable bed be?
A 4x8 bed, 10–12 in deep, is a good first size. It's big enough for a real harvest and small enough to keep watered and weeded in a few hours a week.
When should you start a raised bed vegetable garden?
Build and fill the bed in fall or early spring so the soil can settle. Plant cool crops a few weeks before your last frost and warm crops after it.
Do raised beds need fertilizer?
A bed filled with a good compost mix needs little in the first months. Add 1–2 in of compost each year, and side-dress heavy feeders like tomatoes once fruit sets.
Ready to buy a raised bed?
Thrive Garden sells galvanized metal raised beds and fabric beds in several sizes.
Raised Gardening Beds is owned by the team behind Thrive Garden, which sells some of the products linked on this page. Read our disclosure.