Here are two videos with great ideas for making raised beds for the garden, the backyard, or even for the patio. These raised beds would be great for any crops that you’d grow in typical raised beds built from wood, except that these require no building and are made with materials that are inexpensive and even free. These would also be good for growing useful but invasive plants such as mint, lemon balm, oregano, nettles, soapwort, and horseradish.

A couple of points:

First, chicken wire can get pretty rusty pretty fast, especially if you live in a climate with a lot of precipitation. So if your chicken wire is starting to rust (particularly if you’re reusing it year after year for your cardboard-box raised beds), wear gloves when working with it (in order to reduce the risk of contracting tetanus from being stuck by rusty metal that has been in contact with dirt).

Second, try to avoid using Miracle Gro soil, or other soils that have artificial fertilizers already added to them. You could end up overfertilizing your crops, and who knows what chemicals are being used for the fertilizer. (Also, from reviews that I have read, Miracle Gro often comes infested with gnats or fungi.)

Watch the videos to learn more: