How To Build Raised Garden Bed With Concrete Blocks

There are limitless ways to grow a garden, and one of our favorites is in raised beds. Raised bed gardening has many benefits over other growing options.

Because the soil is not continuously getting stepped on, it stays loose and well-drained, and raised beds are simply easier to plant and maintain since they are off the ground. Raised beds can also deter some pests – like gophers and rabbits – from reaching your precious plants.

Raised beds can be made from all kinds of materials, but I love the idea of using cinder blocks because they have many advantages of their own. First, they won't deteriorate like wood and other materials will.

Second, they are built to stack, so it is easier and quicker to create a raised bed with blocks than with most other materials. Just stack them in any shape you want, fill with dirt, and plant.

And third, they are cheap. You can buy them at most home improvement stores and you can often find them for free from places like Craigslist and Freecycle.

Need a little inspiration? We've gathered up 12 examples of different ways gardeners are using cinderblocks to build raised beds.

12 Raised Garden Beds Made With Cinder Blocks

First, we haven't found any cinder block garden beds more practical than these incredible grow beds built by Jon Hughes. These can be seen on his YouTube channel.

In most of his cinder block beds, Jon plants a variety of vegetables in the center and onions in the perimeter holes. He grows enough food to donate a huge amount to his local food bank.

I love the fact that Jon utilizes the holes in the blocks for plants. I could see this method being useful for creeping plants as well, as a way to keep them confined to specific areas.

A quick view of my garden, that will give you ideas of what is possible with almost no-work,my garden is all automatic and just about weed free. Nobody and I mean nobody, gets the production that I get from my garden…I have 1397 square feet of garden beds, and I get 12,000 lbs of Fresh Organic Vegetables each year to donate to the Food Bank and to friends who want to eat the best food ever grown 😉 – Jon Hughes

Casey from Oklahoma Gardening demonstrates step-by-step how cinder blocks can be used to build these raised garden beds. She uses the holes in the blocks to insert PVC pipe, creating an easy, handy hoop house over the beds.

In this example, the hoops are used for cover cloth to keep squash bugs off the plants. This is a great idea for crops prone to pests, and could also be used to protect sensitive crops from the elements and to extend your growing season.

These stunning raised beds, seen at the 2004 San Diego National Convention Garden Tour are built with a combination of cinder blocks and pressure treated logs.

Cinder block raised garden beds

San Diego National Garden Tour 2004

One of the great things about using cinder blocks is that you can easily make your planting beds as high as you want. Think of them as gardening Legos! A bed this high may not provide many additional benefits to the plants, per se, but it would definitely be an easy garden to maintain.

Texas gardeners Christine and Richard Alcorta use cinder block beds to combat the problem of rocky soil in their yard. They grow an abundance of vegetables and herbs in these easy-maintenance grow beds. Via Central Texas Gardener.

I love this idea from Gardening-4-Life – super simple, single-layer cinder block beds with herbs on one side, veggies on the other, and mulched pathways. Beds like these provide a nice divider between planted areas and pathways.

This beautiful L-shaped garden nicely utilizes the corner space beside this home. This was shared by Ellie0505 on the Square Foot Gardening Forum. Ellie grows an incredible amount of food in this small space, including tomatoes, strawberries, and peppers.

Cinder block raised garden beds

Cinder block square foot garden in Washington | Square Foot Gardening Forum

One of the most beautiful gardens I have seen that utilizes cinder block beds is this one from justmeandher112 on YouTube. They have several different types of raised beds in their garden space, but I particularly love these 2-layered block beds.

See the video of the evolution of this garden space to fully appreciate the amount of work that went into creating this amazing garden!

These double-layered block beds by Lloyd Kahn make a nice, productive, gopher-resistant garden space. He grows a nice mixture of vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Cinder block raised garden beds

Image: Lloyd Kahn

For a touch of whimsy, Grow and Resist made mosaics on the edges of her cinder block beds. What an awesome idea! See her blog for the whole start to finish process of making these.

And lastly, masteRoman DIY on YouTube shows how he replaced his rotted wood garden beds with these beautiful cinder block raised beds. See his full process in the video below.