Raising Expectations…

At Vialii we design a LOT of raised beds. They are popular with clients for many reasons – they are great for older clients who can’t bend down to the ground easily; kids love growing veg in them; they can look great with in-built seating around patios; they can make it possible to grow plants where soil/drainage is problematic. Here are some of the most popular raised beds we put into our clients’ gardens…

The Horizontal Sleeper

This is the most common raised bed you will see in gardens, particularly for those wanting to grow their own vegetables. They are very practical as they make it easy to tend your veg and you can perch on the edge while you are gardening. The chunky timbers mean that they will last for years although we recommend giving them a quick stain every year to extend their life.

Our client’s productive garden

The Vertical Sleeper

This is a simple but effective twist on the traditional horizontal sleeper raised bed. By using the timber sleepers vertically we can make the raised beds a curving shape, softening the look.

We designed & built these lovely curving raised beds

The Combination Sleeper

Another great way of creating a sleeper raised bed is to use a combination of both horizontal and vertical timbers to create a unique yet practical raised bed for your garden.

Using a combination of horizontal & vertical sleepers can be effective

The Sandstone Trough

Natural sandstone is a beautiful product and our most popular choice when it comes to patios and paving. It can also be used to create stunning raised beds around your patio adding height and interest to your garden. By adding fragrant planting you will want to sit here all day!

Beautiful sandstone creates a more rustic raised bed

The Rendered Trough

Rendering your raised creates a cleaner, more contemporary look to your garden. What we love most about this finish is how easy it is to change the look of your garden by changing the colour of your paint. A quick and easy transformation whenever you like!

Adding colour to your rendered raised bed can change the feel of your garden

Hardwood & Render

By adding a hardwood top and leaving planting pockets in a rendered raised bed you can create a wonderfully contemporary planter with practical seating for all the year round.

Stunning hardwood creates the perfect finish to these rendered raised beds

If you want to add some raised beds to your own garden please get in touch to arrange a free consultation.

All at Vialii

#RaisedBedRevolution – Book Review

We’ve recently been sent a copy of “Raised Bed Revolution”, a new book by Tara Nolan all about one of our favourite garden features – the raised beds. We have designed and built a variety of raised beds over the years, using different materials and using different designs and shapes, so we were immediately keen to see what this book had to offer.

“Raised Bed Revolution” by Tara Nolan

About the Book

The book is immediately appealing, a lovely quality of hard back with a ridged cover. The full title is “Raised Bed Revolution. Build It, Fill It, Plant It. Garden Anywhere” – well that pretty much sums up raised beds. They are a wonderful option for many gardens providing an easily accessible space for those who would maybe struggle to garden at ground level; they can provide an alternative growing medium when the existing soil is poor (or maybe there is none there at all!); they can be attractive features in their own right, often adding height, colour and interest into a garden. So, we are a fan of the raised bed, but were we a fan of the book?

We love our raised beds here in our own garden

The author has a similar passion to us about raised beds, hence she is starting the #RaisedBedRevolution and encouraging readers to share photographs of their own raised beds on social media using this hashtag.

The author talks about the rise in interest in edible gardening in the US which we very much see here in the UK too. Lots of our clients, even those with few gardening skills, are keen to have even just one raised bed so they can experiment with growing their own, especially if they have a young family. There is lots of advice in this book on what to grow in your raised beds and tips on how to grow them well.

Types of Raised Beds

Included in “Raised Bed Revolution” are lots of examples of different types of raised beds. Here are some of our favourites but the book is packed full of many many more:

This raised bed which has been tiled and filled with flowers rather than being used for veg:

A tiled raised bed

We love upcycling and this is a cheap and easy way to create a raised bed out of old bricks:

Raised bed made from old bricks

Making tiers with your raised beds is a great way of adding height and interest:

A tiered raised bed

Dry-stone walls are a passion of ours at Vialii and we just love this one, it might have to be included in a design sometime:

A dry-stane raised bed

Other Projects

There is also tips on ways to maximise space with raised beds such as installing an archway for your beans to scramble up:

An archway between raised beds

And we think our girls would love making these colourful signs to brighten up our veg patch:

Colourful veg markers

Help & Advice

The book provides lots of helpful advice on a wide variety of topics including tips on protecting crops, choosing the size and material, soil, location and much more.

There is a large section showing you how to make your own raised beds and there are lots of different designs to choose from. There are also other associated products which it shows you how to make such as an obelisk and cold frames. Some of our favourite designs that you can learn how to make include:

The upcycled raised bed, using off-cuts of wood:

Upcycled wood

A raised bed with built in benches:

Built in benches

And our absolute favourite – the upcycled suitcase planter with gas pipe legs:

A quirky raised bed

We also loved that in the sections where it shows you how to make a range of raised beds, there are plenty of photographs of women with power tools #girlpower

We have given this book a Vialii rating of:

4 out of 5 stars, pretty good indeed. The only reason it just missed out on top marks is that we would have liked to have seen a few more inspirational raised beds. A couple that we have designed and built for clients include:

We used traditional timbers for these raised beds but used them vertically allowing us to create these lovely curving shapes and make the garden feel less rectangular:

Using vertical timbers allows the raised beds to be beautiful ovals

These raised beds are rendered and painted bright pink. The colour can easily be changed allowing a dramatic change to the feel of the garden at low cost. The raised beds allow for planting around the seating area which includes the lovely fragrant lavender:

Bright pink, rendered raised beds provides planting space around the deck

We wondered how you could dedicate a whole book to the humbled raised bed but Tara has certainly shown us how. Here’s to the #RaisedBedRevolution!

Raised Bed Revolution by Tara Nolan is published by Cool Springs Press (£20).

Best wishes,

All at Vialii