Should I Build Raised Garden Bed Against House? – Pros & Cons

A raised garden bed has many benefits over a traditional garden bed.

This bed enables you to save space, offers excellent drainage, protects plants from pests & rodents, warm-up soil quicker, and allows the gardener to control the soil in the garden.

Yes, you can build a raised garden bed against your house! A raised bed can be constructed in any corner of your home as long as there is enough sunlight and the soil is suitable for the plant you intend to grow.

If you want to erect a raised garden bed against the house, read on to know if it’s a good move.

We’ve highlighted the pros and cons of building a raised garden bed against your house so you can make an informed choice.

Advantages Of Building A Raised Garden Bed Against House

There are several significant benefits of erecting a raised garden against your house. They include:

Save Space

Building a raised garden against your house will help you save space if you have limited space. Ensure that the raised garden is adequately positioned so plants can get enough sunlight. Creating a raised garden in the middle of the yard will take up a lot of space. Thus, utilizing the available space in your house will help you save some space.

Protect Plants From Strong Winds

Building a raised garden against the house will also save your plants from strong winds. So, you don’t need to protect your raised garden as some gardeners do for their standalone garden beds. Strong winds can quickly dry up your plants and even kill them. You can detect how windy it is outside by using a Garden windmill. Hence, this method is worthwhile if you have delicate plants that you want to grow in a raised garden bed.

Aesthetically Pleasing

Instead of growing flowers directly into the soil, you can erect a raised garden bed against your house. This helps you control weeds and grass from encroaching on your flower bed. As a result, this raised garden bed on your wall allows you to have a properly planned flower garden that blends perfectly with your house.

This creates beautiful surroundings that you can manage over a long period.

Disadvantages Of Building A Raised Garden Bed Against The House

Lack Of Adequate Sunlight

Building your raised garden bed against the house means the entire plant won’t get enough sunlight. Therefore, if you want to grow plants that need at least 8 hours of sunlight, they will not flourish well. Nonetheless, if you want to grow plants that don’t need a lot of sunlight, then they will be fine.

Besides, some raised garden beds built against a house may have shade. This might further hinder the growth of plants as they won’t receive enough sunlight for proper growth.

Damage From Run-off Water

Is your raised garden located below a gutter? If not, there is no problem, but your garden will have problems if it’s located below a gutter. Rainwater is suitable for your plants, but excessive water, such as from the gutter, may cause more harm than good.

So, ensure that you install the raised garden away from the gutter.

Contaminate Food Crops

Not all house walls are suitable for building raised garden beds against them. This is because some are made of materials such as concrete and pressure-treated timber, which may leach chemicals into your garden. If you’re growing flowers, then there is nothing to worry about.

But if you’re growing food crops, there is everything to worry about. It is wrong to consume food crops with toxins in them.

Tricky To Maintain The Garden Bed

Raised garden beds located against the house are hard to maintain. The space left between the bed and house is a breeding ground for pests, mold, and weeds. Since most gardeners leave a small space between the house and the garden bed, keeping this place clean is quite challenging.

Also, if left unattended, moisture may get trapped in between and cause the garden or wall of the house to rot. This depends on whether they are all made from wood or one of them.

Damage Foundation

Another danger of building a raised garden bed against your house is damaging the foundation. It is easy to damage the foundation of your house if your raised garden doesn’t have the proper drainage. As you water your plants on the bed, the water drains and may find its way to the house’s foundation.

Not only will this weaken the foundation, it will also make mold growth inside your home. Nobody would want this as it may lead to other health issues.

Precautions for Building a Safe Garden Bed

Below are some preventive measures to follow when building a raised garden bed

Design a proper drainage

This is the first step to ensuring that your garden bed doesn’t affect your foundation. The design for your drainage is determined by the type of garden bed you want to build.

The best drainage systems are the gravel and French drain. They help ensure that gardenings blossom without affecting the foundation of your home.

Choose the right soil.

For the flowers to grow well, it is necessary to provide optimum soil. The suitable soil in your garden bed will also contribute to drainage and prevent water from causing damage or pooling. There is a variety of soil in the market; however, your choice of soil is determined by the plants you want to have in your garden bed.

Ensure proper watering techniques

Another way you can keep your foundation free from damage is by ensuring proper watering methods. You can adopt drip irrigation – the water is distributed to the plants slowly, and the garden soil absorbs and drains off excess without pooling. An automatic watering method is also ideal for watering your raised garden bed.

Conclusion

Since you know the good and bad sides of building a raised garden bed against the house, you should make a well-calculated decision. If the proper steps and actions are taken, a raised garden bed should be a success for growing different plants. However, it has several risks that you should be ready to put up with.

As you can see, the cons outweigh the pros, but you can work on the disadvantages to obtain a better garden.