The surface on which you place your bed is your floor or garden surface. Here you will begin by preparing your bed by layering a carpet in old cardboard on your bedroom floor or garden surface. The importance of this layer is to kill any pre-existing weeds or prevent unwanted plant growth before these can germinate and grow up through your bed.

Now for your bed or base layer of larger logs (the older and more porous, the better). Depending on space available, these logs or tree branches will be layered first. You may find these in some forgotten corner of your yard or nearby vacant land. This base layer will act as a sponge for moisture and home for beneficial bugs in the microbial world.

The mattress layer in your bed will be a mixture of thinner, finer mulch, leaf or bark chips. It is important to note that each layer is complementary and beneficial to each other in terms of creating your own perfect 'bio or ecosystem', for your plants.

This second to the last layer is your compost, sod, or topsoil. The thickness of compost or peat in a reasonably large raised bed of about 800mm or 30 inches need only to be as thick as the root requirements of your vegetables or flowers you choose to plant. I suggest 40 centimetres foot or two of your best available peat or compost.

Finally, once you have planted your seeds or seedlings into your raised garden bed, a warm covering of straw or cut grass as should be used as a top layer. This layer will protect your compost from harsh direct sunlight and moisture loss that your seeds need to germinate into healthy plants.