Raised Garden Beds and Garden Structures

Raised beds solve two Dunedin problems at once

The first is soil. A lot of Dunedin and Taieri gardens are heavy, wet clay that stays cold well into spring, and no amount of digging fixes that permanently. A raised bed lets you fill it with the soil you actually want, and it drains and warms faster - which in a Dunedin climate can be the difference between a crop and a disappointment.

The second is your back. A bed at 400 to 800 mm high is worked standing up or sitting on the edge, and it stays that way as you get older. That is the single most common reason people ask us for them.

And because we are fencing contractors, we build them out of treated timber, solid posts and galvanised fixings. They are built like a structure rather than assembled from a flat pack, and they do not sag in the middle after two seasons of wet soil pushing outwards.

What we build

Raised vegetable beds

Single beds or a whole set laid out with paths between them, at whatever height suits how you want to work. We size them so you can reach the middle from either side without standing in the bed, and brace the long sides properly so the walls stay straight once they are full.

Planters and garden boxes

Smaller planters for a deck, a courtyard or either side of a front door, and long boxes to soften a hard edge along a driveway or a wall. Because they are made to measure, they fit the space exactly rather than nearly.

Screens and privacy panels

A freestanding screen is often a better answer than raising the whole fence: it blocks the one sightline you want blocked, keeps the rest of the light, and does not need the neighbour to agree to anything. Slatted, louvred or solid, on posts set the same way as a fence post so the Otago wind does not take it.

Pergolas and garden structures

Pergolas, shade structures, arbours and gateways into a garden. These are the pieces that make an outdoor area feel finished, and they are the natural companion to a new deck.

Compost bays, woodsheds and bin screens

The useful, unglamorous end of it - a three-bay compost setup that actually works, a woodshed that keeps a winter's firewood dry, or a screen that hides the wheelie bins from the street. Small jobs, and we are happy to do them.

Edging and terracing

Timber edging to hold garden beds back from the lawn, and low terraced beds on a slope. If the ground needs holding up rather than just tidying, that becomes a retaining wall job, and we do those too.

Timber, and what to plant food in

We will go through the timber options with you. Treated pine is the standard, hardest wearing and cheapest. If you would rather not grow vegetables directly against treated timber there are straightforward alternatives - untreated hardwood or macrocarpa, or a liner - and we will price them so you can choose knowing what the difference costs. It is your food, so it should be your call rather than ours.

Get it done with the fence

These are the jobs that make sense to bundle. If we are already on site building a fence, adding beds, a screen or a planter run is a fraction of what it costs as a separate visit, and everything matches because it comes off the same timber order. Mention it when you ask for the fence quote.