There’s a common misconception that replacing your lawn with artificial grass means you lose all touch with nature. Far from it. There are many ways artificial grass and nature can live side by side whether it be plants or animals. One of the best ways of doing that is by incorporating raised beds.

Raised beds are easy to build, and you can start growing some amazing things relatively quickly. With a raised bed you will be able to bring life, nature and wonderful colours into your garden. It can be used for flowers to help the bees, or vegetables that can be used for stunning home-grown, home-cooked meals.

The first thing to say is that the beds are best running alongside your artificial lawn, rather than sitting on top of it. Mainly because of the need for the plants to root, and for the water to drain. So when designing your artificial garden, leave space in the designs to build your beds…

Building the raised beds

Firstly, dig over the soil in the area you have chosen, to break it up. In terms of the construction of the bed, you can choose from a variety of materials, but people usually go for wooden logs or slats. Railway sleepers are perfect and can often be bought very cheaply. Knock these together to create a rectangle (or suitable shape), allowing easy access to the bed itself, and space for paths alongside. Once you’ve created a place for your plants, just fill it with soil and compost. Now you are ready to start planting. What are you going to grow first?

Once built

Once built, the fun starts!  You can grow whatever you like in a raised bed, from plants to flowers, although of course, the usual suspects are fruits and vegetables, which can be very enjoyable to grow, and even more enjoyable to consume. Particularly good are root vegetables such as parsnips and carrots, which do extremely well in such a free-draining environment.

However, equally as popular are green beans (which can grow fast and produce great results), as well as onions, leeks, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. If we listed everything that you can grow in the UK, we would be here all day, so we’ll leave it at that. I’m sure you get the ideas, there is a lot of scope with what you can do if you install a raised bed

If you have the space, the best possible plan would be to include several beds. With multiple beds, you can grow a variety of crops throughout the year, as well as rotate those crops across the beds. This can greatly help with maintaining the nutrients in the soil.

Raised beds, set into a garden boasting an artificial lawn, can demonstrate the best of both worlds and create an incredibly appealing balance of styles.  Your artificial lawn will ease maintenance needs and thereby release the necessary time you can spend on the really fun aspects of gardening. And what could be better than serving Christmas dinner with Brussels sprouts harvested from your back garden?

So, what will you be planting this year? Let us know over on our Instagram and Facebook.