Gardener shares before-and-after photos after building stunning raised garden beds: ‘Wonderful use of space’

Gardeners worldwide are tearing up their grass lawns in favor of growing food and native plants, and the trend doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. 

One newbie gardener from the UK posted to the r/gardening Reddit community to show off their impressive backyard transformation after building several large raised garden beds. The first photo shows a raised stone patio area that looked like it could use a little greenery. 

The addition of the raised beds that the OP said were filled with a “designer sunset” bush rose, hydrangeas, zinnias, foxglove, and delphinium really livens up the space. Numerous potted fruit trees and flowers line the beds and lower portion of the patio, creating much-needed biodiversity. 

“After 24 railway sleepers, 5 tons of Earth, and 1,000 liters of compost, they are finally complete! So proud of myself as I’ve never built anything before. Flower suggestions welcome (I’ve already sown the zinnias as per previous suggestions),” the OP captioned the photos.

Even though the gardening project required 1,000 liters (over 260 gallons) of compost, the OP mentioned that they filled most of the beds with leaves, grass clippings, and free topsoil they got from the Facebook marketplace. They only spent about $126 on compost for the top layer, making it a reasonably affordable project. 

While the Redditor had to buy the wood for the planters and the plants themselves, they would still save money in the long run on groceries as most of the potted plants were berries and other fruits. 

In addition to saving money and time on grocery shopping if you grow food, rewilding your lawn can lower your water bills since native plants have adapted over thousands of years to the local climate, requiring much less water and fertilizers. 

Adding pockets of biodiversity to your yard also invites pollinators, which helps support a thriving ecosystem since humans depend on bees and butterflies to pollinate crops vital to our food supply. 

Planting a few low-maintenance, drought-tolerant plants like clover or buffalo grass can give you a great introduction to native plants. Even a partial lawn replacement can make a big dent in your water bills and save you time on lawn maintenance.

“Your flowers look amazing! You must have put a lot of time and effort into them,” one user said.

“Wonderful use of space. Looks great!” another remarked.

“Beautiful work with those sleepers. Those trees won’t do well in those pots long and will need watering everyday in summer. Just a heads up, looks awesome!” said another.

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