Whether it's a wooden frame structure that surrounds the vegetable bed or a raised bed made of wood: the natural material fits into every garden. Wooden beds are also very suitable if you need to get a snail infestation under control or are simply fed up with having to tame the grass that grows into the bed several times a year.
How do you design a vegetable bed made of wood?
A wooden vegetable bed usually consists of a frame structure made of larch or Douglas fir wood and can easily be built yourself or purchased as a ready-made kit. To keep snails away, copper tape and aluminum wire can be attached.
Ready-made kits from the hardware store
You can get these in a variety of designs and sizes. There are even models for balconies or terraces, so you can grow delicious vegetables here too.
The assembly is child's play even if you are not a passionate DIY enthusiast. In just a few simple steps, the wooden vegetable bed can be set up and filled with soil.
Make your own wooden bed border
The durability of these depends on the type of wood used. Fir and spruce wood are inexpensive, but they rot quickly. It is therefore better to use larch or Douglas fir wood. Alternatively, you can use pressure-treated wood, which is also very weather-resistant.
A simple frame construction, in which two narrow sides are connected to the long sides using slats, is very suitable for the vegetable bed. The borders for the vegetable bed are set up as follows:
- Stretch a batter board of the desired size.
- Remove the turf completely.
- Set up the border for the vegetable patch.
- If you want a slightly raised bed, simply fill it with substrate.
- If, on the other hand, you want a frame that is difficult for snails to overcome, leave the wooden structure a few centimeters into the ground.
To protect against snails, copper bands (€11.00 on Amazon) should be nailed to the outside of the wooden bed. This metal reacts with the slime of the reptiles and damages them. That's why the uninvited guests avoid crawling over this surface, no matter how tempting the young lettuce may be.
Tip
If the copper tape attached to the wooden bed is not enough to ward off snails, you can take advantage of the so-called galvanic effect. Attach aluminum wire from a garden supply store directly over the copper. As soon as the animals overcome this limit, a weak current flows that forces the pests to turn back.
