If you want to build or use a raised bed , you should definitely pay attention to how high the bed should be. The correct dimensions result from various factors, which are described below. How to find the perfect height for your raised bed.
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Note body size
It is primarily the back that hurts when tending beds in a bent position or with a hunched back. If the bed is too high, it will put a strain on your shoulders. So that working in the raised bed is easy on the back and joints, the optimal height depending on the body size is a main criterion.
It is easy to check how high the bed should be: the iliac crest is roughly on the same line as the upper edge of the construction. This makes a raised bed height depending on body size as follows:
- Approximately 1.50 meters tall: 75 centimeters raised bed height
- Approximately 1.60 meters tall: 80 centimeters raised bed height
- Approximately 1.70 height: 90 centimeters raised bed height
- Approximately 1.80 height: around one meter raised bed height
How high fill?
An ideally high bed edge alone, however, still does not allow back and joint-gentle work if the soil surface is not adapted to it. Since this should not reach the edge of the raised bed, the optimal height measurement is also advisable here. This can also be easily determined using two different methods:
elbow method
- Keep your arm stretched down
- Measuring from the elbow between five and ten centimeters down gives ideal surface height
- Add five to ten centimeters upwards to get the recommended raised bed edge height
Kitchen countertop method
- Take the height of the kitchen worktop (provided that it is possible to work comfortably and without discomfort)
- Subtract ten centimeters – gives the raised bed edge height
- Subtract another five to ten centimeters to determine height measurements from the earth’s surface
Caring for raised beds while sitting
If you want to work on and care for raised beds while sitting (or have to for health reasons), you should choose a correspondingly “comfortable” raised bed height:
- ideal raised bed height between 50 and 65 centimeters
- The optimal seat height is when the edge of the raised bed is between the iliac crest and the height of the navel when sitting
- If you have trouble getting up, choose a seat height of at least 50 centimeters (to make getting up easier)
- in this case five to ten centimeters more raised bed height
Raised bed height for children
Even children can be enthusiastic about gardening in raised beds. So that you can garden while standing and ideally with an upright posture, the following must be observed:
- for very small ones: at least a bed height of 40 centimeters (plants need sufficient space to root deeply)
- special children’s raised beds usually maximum height of 60 centimeters
- if children are too small for the selected height, simply provide a stool or something similar
Raised bed dimensions for balconies
While raised beds in the garden can usually be laid out as you please, the dimensions on the balcony are often not only subject to size/space restrictions, but above all to the permissible carrying weight of the respective balcony.
Weight determines dimensions
According to the German standard, a balcony has to support at least 400 kilograms per square meter. It sounds like a lot at first, but for watering and caring for the soil, the raised bed material and the plants, you also have to add your own body weight.
A raised bed that is 80 centimeters high, one meter deep and two meters wide already holds more than 1,600 liters of potting soil. After watering, between 900 and 1,000 kilograms quickly accumulate here (450 to 500 kilograms per square meter). The following heights must therefore be taken into account in relation to the depth, whereby these always refer to one square meter of stand space:
- Raised bed height up to 40 centimeters with a maximum bed depth of 100 centimeters
- up to 65 centimeters with a maximum bed depth of 60 centimeters
- up to 80 centimeters with a maximum bed depth of 50 centimeters
