Ryde, NSW

This Ryde customer wanted a bed she could fit a large worm-farm composter into while still leaving plenty of room to grow — so we sized it to take the composter comfortably and keep a generous growing area either side. Pairing a raised bed with a worm farm is a neat way to close the loop in a home garden, turning kitchen scraps straight back into the soil that grows the next crop.

Set in a sunny position, and with the wicking reservoir keeping the soil watered from below, the bed will grow a good range of vegetables and herbs right through the year with very little attention. The worms do their quiet work in the middle while the plants draw steady moisture from the base — two low-effort systems running together in the one bed.

The leafy North Shore, with its big trees, shade and heavy clay, can be a hard place to grow food in the ground, so lifting the veggies into a clean, self-watering bed in the sunniest spot available makes all the difference around Ryde. A sunny position like this one should keep the kitchen supplied across the seasons.

Our beds are built from kiln-dried, vegetable-grade timber with a food-safe finish, made to last years in a busy backyard. If you'd like a productive, composting, self-watering garden bed in Ryde, Gladesville or the wider North Shore, we'd be happy to help you plan it.