It is advantageous to construct an elevated bed next to a brick wall for planting flowers, fruits, vegetables, and other kinds of plants. It can eliminate built-in corners and free up a lot of space in your yard.
Brick walls made of garden soil may grow unstable as a result of moisture intrusion and root infiltration into the foundation. By placing a barrier between the soil and the wall, it is possible to construct a garden bed next to a brick wall safely. Build the garden bed 12 to 24 inches away from the wall to offer an extra layer of security.
Although it’s a common practice and anyone may build a raised bed against a brick wall, there are a few things to think about before you lay out your grand idea.These include
- safeguarding against dampness
- safeguarding against roots
- defense against pests
Although there are several excellent moisture barriers available, I have found this polyurethane waterproof barrier on Amazon to be cost-efficient, long-lasting, and a fantastic value.
Table of Contents
How to Waterproof a Wall’s Foundation
Water seepage from the earth and the outside must be prevented from damaging the walls’ foundation.
Use a waterproofing solution to ensure that water does not seep into the wall’s foundation.
You can use a variety of techniques to stop moisture from penetrating into a wall’s base.
Here are some of the more widely used techniques:
Heavy polyurethane coating
This coating, which is synthetic, is often two to three times thicker than typical coatings.
The coating’s goal is to stop moisture from penetrating through the outside walls and into the interior spaces, where it can eventually lead to strains and cracks.
The surface should be thoroughly dry before applying the coating, and it should be free of any debris or filth that can cause it to flake off later.
Concrete Penetrant
Penetrating sealants function by raising the concrete’s surface tension.
These materials will produce hydrophobic water-shedding, which means that instead of allowing water to sink into the sealed concrete surface, it will be immediately rejected from it.
At the molecular level, it lessens a substrate’s capacity to absorb moisture or stains.
A clean, dry surface should also be used for applying this coating.
Fiber Cement Board
One of the better options for building materials that operate on home exteriors to stop moisture from seeping into the house’s foundation is fiber cement board.
For water molecules to enter and become a problem, the holes in concrete fiber must be much larger.
If the edges are not sealed, the consequences of having the barrier there in the first place will be negated. The edges must be sealed to prevent moisture from passing as well.
Epoxy for Walls
On cement-based substrates including concrete, plaster, cement-mortar, and cement boards, epoxy functions as a protective and ornamental paint to keep moisture out.
The surface that needs to be treated must be dry, stable, and free of any substances that could prevent bonding, such as dust, grease, and other loose particles.
Pool Liner
The wall surface nearest to the house where the garden will be located should have the plastic pool liner attached to it. On this liner, the garden is then built, starting from the house’s walls and moving outward.
Bitumen Paint
Similar to epoxy, bitumen paint coats and shields the wall’s surface from the damaging effects that bare dirt can have on a wall.
It is fairly affordable, widely accessible, and simple to apply with a paintbrush.
Tree Root Barrier
The wall will not be directly shielded from soil by a tree root barrier.
It actually acts as a hard barrier to stop growth in undesirable directions, preventing tree and plant roots from approaching your home.
By collecting moisture and causing the soil beneath the foundation to sink, roots can cause cracks in concrete buildings and home foundations. The removal of the support from beneath the foundation creates a void, which increases pressure and leads to unintentional cracks.
Additionally, as the roots get bigger, they can exert more strain on the walls and foundation, leading to tension and cracks.
See our in-depth post here to learn more about roots and how they affect concrete foundations.
Making your own elevated bed can occasionally be difficult. On Amazon, we discovered a sturdy and useful elevated bed that is decent and simple to install. Clicking here will take you there!
Benefits of using a barrier lining during construction
When building raised bed gardens, a barrier liner is quite helpful since it will help shield walls and other foundations from the affects of having plants nearby.
- A liner can shield nearby walls from stray roots.
- Additionally, it can keep runoff water in the soil.
- protects the soil from weeds and pests like termites.
Keeping Roots at Bay
By collecting moisture and causing the soil beneath the foundation to sink, roots can cause cracks in concrete structures and home foundations.
The removal of the support from beneath the foundation creates a void, which increases pressure and leads to unintentional cracks.
Promoting Water Runoff
Raised bed gardens are designed to make efficient use of improved soil for plant and food growth.
Therefore, the characteristics of this soil would
- give the plants healthy nutrients
- Root aeration for plants
- decent drainage
Protection from weeds and pests
Weeds from the existing soil would not be able to enter the soil that is rich in nutrients and is meant for your plants because of a lining barrier.
By vying for space in the raised bed, they could deprive your plants of nutrients if you let them.
Furthermore, pests like termites are present in untreated soil naturally and can easily contaminate the adjusted soil combination.
If you choose wood for the siding on your raised bed, termites could be an issue because they can quickly chew through it, compromising the raised bed’s structure. The result was that the wood would snap with little any force. Find out more about the damage termites may do to your garden.
Will the Soil Affect the Wall?
Yes! The soil will have an impact on the wall because when it rests up against the brick and mortar building, moisture from the earth will begin slowly seeping through the brick wall.
The routine watering of the plants in the raised bed will eventually cause the wall structure to weaken.
It is never a good idea to just deposit soil against any wall construction without the right protection in place since it can allow termites and other insects that live in the soil to enter the building.
Should you Join the Garden Bed to the Wall?
It is possible to attach garden beds to a wall. However, because they were not a part of the original structure while the wall was being built, if bricks are utilized, they may eventually fall away from the wall.
When this occurs, you can line the raised garden bed with a protective liner as previously mentioned to stop any dirt from washing away.
The similar issue frequently arises for homeowners who buy previously owned properties.
The areas where the bed and wall meet simply disintegrate.
Filling the crack is what you can do to address the problem, which may appear to be one. A basic mortar filling mixture will work.
Are Bricks from the Wall safe for Raised Beds?
The raised bed garden won’t be impacted by the wall’s bricks. Having soil close to bricks raises one issue, though. Run, Ash!
In order to increase the longevity of concrete products, fly ash, a masonry additive that contains heavy metals including radium and arsenic, is frequently utilized. There isn’t a lot of scientific evidence, though, to support the claim that fly ash does seep into the soil.
Chemicals from concrete won’t leak into the soil due to the barrier utilized to stop moisture infiltration.
Can Roots cause Damage to the Wall?
Plant roots can harm a wall by doing the following:
- resulting in wall cracks and stress
- absorb groundwater and add moisture to the bricks of the wall
The soil shrinks as a result of the moisture level being lowered by absorbing water by the roots. Because of this shrinking, the foundation is affected by the shifting of the subsurface dirt. The same thing occurs when water is lost by transpiration and roots put pressure on the walls, resulting in concrete fissures.
For this reason, it is also advised that raised bed gardens be built 1 to 2 feet away from a wall in order to prevent the wall from being harmed by the garden’s roots.
Stop Roots in an existing garden
Installing obstacles to limit growing plant roots in raised beds is necessary if you want to avoid root issues in your current raised bed.
Alternately, you can simply create a 1-foot-deep channel around the raised bed’s perimeter, compact the dirt in the bottom of the channel, and hinder the growth of the occupied roots.
Use herbicides directly applied to the soil surface that are transferred into the root system by rain or irrigation to prevent roots from becoming an issue in your garden.
When the chemicals come into touch with the roots, they kill them.
This is how substances like bromacil, hexazinone, and tebuthiuron function.
How to Build a Garden Bed Against a Wall
To construct a raised garden against your house wall, follow these instructions:
- Dig into the ground.To prepare the dirt for building a bed, dig down far enough (about 10 to 20 inches). Use a large log to compact the soil on the surface, then use a level meter to level it out for proper drainage.
- Bricks were cast to surround the excavation.Build the raised bed’s framework from bricks, then use cement or bricks to finish the front and rear of the excavation.
- Put another brick layer between them.Bricks can be attached to the wall or a new layer of bricks can be laid in front of the existing wall.
- Put up a watertight barrier.Install a cotton fabric or thick waterproof plastic sheet now to create a barrier between the wall and the bed.
- Line the bottom of a garden with organic material to add a first layer that will break down and release nutrients into the soil as it does so. Additionally, this fills the garden bed without the need to add a lot of nutrient-rich soil, which would raise the project’s cost.
- On top of the organic material, spread a layer of soil that has been fertilized with organic fertilizer and nutrients.
- Add plantsThe bed is now ready for various plants, including flowers, fruits, vegetables, or a mixture of them.
Walls you can Build a Raised bed Garden Against
You can construct raised bed garden walls using the materials listed below, for example:
A Fence
Raised bed boundaries can be created with timber fences, bamboos, plastic bottle fences, glass bottles, empty cans and tins, cement bricks, and concrete blocks.
House walls
You can construct raised bed gardens against home walls, but you must take some safety precautions. Build a bed away from the house walls by 2-4 inches because doing so can lead to humidity and holes in the wall.
Front walls
Raised beds can be used to beautify the entry by using front walls. The same safety measures must be used to maintain a distance of 4-6 inches from a wall.
The Downside of having a raised bed against brick walls
Beware of these drawbacks before building raised beds in your garden plan for a rooftop or courtyard:
Lack of sunlight
Sunlight is a factor to take into account while constructing a raised bed next to a wall. You would not have many issues if the wall faced south.
The plants that are on the southern side of a wall structure benefit from the sun’s nearly 12-hour period of uninterrupted daylight in the northern hemisphere.
The amount of sunshine that the plants would receive will be constrained if the wall faces east or west. This will have an impact on the overall crop production throughout the growing season (beginning of spring to the end of fall)
Waterlogging and Salinity Problems
If a barrier isn’t employed to shield the wall’s structure from moisture over time, the wall will eventually start to absorb water and deteriorate.
If any pressure is applied to the wall by the soil’s natural movement, this will result in fissures.
The reasonably priced Trazon Soil 3-in-1 Meter can be used to measure the soil’s pH and moisture content. It checks the pH as well as the amount of moisture and light. Clicking here will take you there!
Promotes Pests and Insects
The presence of soil next to a wall, in this case the walls of a house, can invite bugs inside.
Termites are underground insects that like moist, dark environments to flourish. Cellulose, an organic fiber present in wood and plant materials, provides nutrition to termites.
This means that they can rapidly undermine the construction of any home by eating through any wooden components, rendering it inhabitable.
Can I build raised bed along the house foundation
No, planting anything—whether it’s a raised bed or a simple garden—along the home foundation is not a good idea. Water seepage and the development of plant roots both have the potential to undermine the home’s foundation.
What Should you Put in the Base of the Raised Beds?
To prevent weeds, you should build the base of the raised bed out of a wooden sheet. Dead leaves, rotting plants, grass clippings, wood chips, straw, and other carbon-based materials should be spread over this base.
Use ground cover or shade cloth as an additional layer of defense to encourage drainage and stop soil loss.
The Takeaway
Raised bed gardens are sustainable and kind to the environment.
They take up relatively little room while also enhancing the home’s natural attractiveness.
You must take the required precautions to ensure that the soil won’t compromise the stability of your wall structure or perhaps your residences in order to have a garden bed next to a wall.
FAQ
Should I line the walls of my raised garden bed?
Raised garden beds should be lined because they offer more benefits than drawbacks. Your raised garden bed’s liner protects the soil from high temperatures, deters moles and gophers, and discourages the growth of weeds. Additionally, a raised bed liner enables water to drain away without removing soil.
Can I build a raised garden bed against a fence?
It’s innovative and affordable to create raised bed gardens next to a fence to maximize growing space. This technique makes the most of a yard’s layout and design as well as vertical fence space to increase garden space.
Can you plant a vegetable garden against the house?
Yes, it is a very nice idea to start a fruit or vegetable garden close to your home. It is even better if you grow it on a raised bed. It will be more convenient, you won’t have to worry about weeds, and you’ll have more control over the soil.
Can I build a raised bed against a wall?
You can construct raised bed gardens against home walls, but you must take some safety precautions. Build a bed away from the house walls by 2-4 inches because doing so can lead to humidity and holes in the wall.