As someone who has built many (many) raised beds out of materials ranging from reclaimed wood to brand-new steel, I have come across my fair share of construction challenges.
I’ve dealt with wood that disintegrates after one season, screws that refuse to stay in place, uneven cuts (measure twice, cut once!), and far too many sliced hands from working with corrugated metal.
I won’t lie; there are days that I dream of using a pre-made raised bed kit. But each time I build a bed, I have specific and unique needs.
Maybe I require an unusual shape with a specific height. Or maybe I want a design that I can build a trellis into.
So I keep building my own DIY gardens and dealing with the neverending construction challenges and less-than-perfect results.
Enter: Vego Garden.
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I hesitate to ever call a product life-changing because that kind of hyperbole is overused, but their beds really have made my gardening hobby so much easier.
Their kits are made of long-lasting materials, they’re endlessly customizable, and they include things like built-in lights and trellises if that’s something you want (and I do!).
We’re going to go over the Vego system to look at how it worked for me and whether it might be right for you.
Here’s what we’re going to discuss:
Vego Garden Modular Metal Raised Beds
Endless Sizes
Vego Garden makes modular beds, which means you can choose the style that works for you and adapt it to your needs. Or, you can combine kits to make any shape you can dream of.
Want to write your name in garden beds? You can do it! I hope your name is short, though, because you’ll need a lot of space otherwise…
Each kit comes with a certain number of panels in your chosen height. You can assemble these panels in several different shapes – or any shape you can dream up, I suppose.
For instance, I chose the 17-inch-tall “six-in-one” bed. It’s available on Amazon.
17-Inch Six-in-One Vego Garden
This particular style can be made into six variations using the 10 panels included in the kit. I opted to make a rectangle, but I could have created a square, a circle, an elongated rectangle, or a smaller rectangle.
There is also a 17-inch-tall kit available with four, nine, or 10 shape options, as well as a 42-inch-wide round bed, available via Amazon.
In addition to that, you’ll find 11-inch-tall and 32-inch-tall beds in four, six, nine, and 10-shape options as well as round kits.
They also have special shapes like multi-height cascading beds, 17-inch U-shaped sets, and 17-inch L-shaped beds.
Cascading Raised Garden Planter
There are also small ones sized just for kids, or for growing herbs, young trees, or berry shrubs.
While the kits aren’t necessarily made to be used together, you could certainly combine parts to make something outside of the prescribed shapes.
If this sounds like it might all be a bit too much to figure out, don’t worry. Vego Garden has a 3D design tool available on their website to help you pick exactly what you need.
Optional Accessories
Each bed has the ability to accommodate several accessories, which are sold separately.
Accessories include solar lights, trellises in multiple sizes, worm composters, and a netting cover with a mister irrigation system.
Netting Cover, available via Amazon
There are also DIY components available for making your own designs. These include wall extension kits and bracing rods.
The company also sells tool kits, reusable seedling trays, hori hori knives, seedling tray covers with drip irrigation, soil sifters, and more.
Visit the Vego Garden store on Amazon to view their full catalog of product offerings.
Easy Construction
My six-in-one, 17-inch-tall, 10-piece set with optional trellis arrived in two tightly packed boxes without a lot of wasted space, which was a pleasant surprise.
I’m not an instruction reader (NOT a brag), but I could easily understand how to assemble the parts without becoming familiar with the instructions first.
I don’t recommend my method, though.
For instance, the trellis needs to be installed before you fill the bed with dirt, which is something I would have figured out before I went ahead and dumped all my dirt in if I had bothered to read the instructions first.
I’m just saying that the design is easy to understand and assemble.
The panels secure to one another using machine screws. Once you create your outer shape, you can add the top protective strip.
Pro tip: If you have any accessories, attach them now!
The absolute worst part of the assembly was removing the sticky plastic coating from both sides of each panel.
It took forever and destroyed my fingernails. But I appreciate that it protected the panels, and they all arrived in pristine condition.
Other than that, assembly was incredibly easy and took me under an hour (if you don’t count the time it took me to dig out the dirt so I could attach the trellis correctly…)
Once completed, I lined the ground with several layers of cardboard. Then, in went the soil and some peppers and squash plants.
Value and Quality
No matter how much you prep and care for them, wooden garden beds will break down over time. While Vego kits cost more up front, they are made to last.
The company claims they designed their system to last for over 20 years. If that ends up being my experience, it means they will last at least twice as long as any wood one I’ve made.
The panels are sturdy. They’re thicker than your typical corrugated metal, and they’re coated in rust-resistant paint in multiple color options, with plastic coating the edges.
Not only does this eliminate the chance that you’ll slice your skin open on the edge of the metal (done that!), but it also limits the amount of water that gets into the metal, causing rust.
I love that the corners are rounded, so you won’t stumble into them and bruise your shin while watering in the dark after a long day. That happens to everyone, right?
If you’ve ever tried to round corrugated metal, you know it’s a daunting task that rarely turns out symmetrical and without dents. And don’t even think about bending wood.
The metal used to construct these beds is a first in the gardening industry. It’s steel hot-dipped in zinc, magnesium, and aluminum. The combination resists corrosion and protects the metal from rusting.
The material has been verified at the Texas A&M National Corrosion & Metals Reliability Lab, which tests materials for reliability and longevity.
Vego Garden states that in lab tests, the material was shown to be as good as or better than competitors in most environments and to far exceed competitors in high heat and high humidity environments.
Vego Garden partnered with Netherlands-based AzkoNobel to develop a USDA-approved paint for food production. That means it doesn’t contain any heavy metals like mercury, lead, or selenium that could leach into your plants.
The paint is specifically made to resist ammonia and other chemicals found in manure and fertilizers.
The white painted lining on the inside of the panels reduces heat buildup and reflection onto plants growing inside.
I can attest to the effectiveness of this paint coating from my own experience.
Some of my DIY beds are made out of corrugated metal, and the soil six inches in from the side felt hotter to the touch than soil six inches away from the side in the Vego bed.
The paint on the outside is made to reduce reflectivity to maintain a more stable temperature inside the bed as well. No more being blinded by bright sun reflecting off shiny metal!
It’s not just about protecting your eyes, either. A friend of mine realized that her metal beds had been reflecting the sun onto her potting shed and had melted the plastic walls. Heat from the sun is powerful!
Vego Garden has tested the material and claims that it won’t degrade and leach chemicals into your garden soil even in the heat.
I doubt the company was overly concerned about cleanliness, but I also found that the paint had a sort of nonstick quality to it.
While my other beds, wooden ones especially, became stained and dirty after I repeatedly splashed water onto the interior while watering, the soil just washed right off the painted metal.
Speaking of aesthetics, Vego Garden did take this into account, as evidenced by the fact that their products come in pearl white, olive green, modern gray, and British green options.
When the material is eventually ready for retirement, it’s completely recyclable.
What’s the Verdict?
I like reusing materials, and I’ve been a bit dogmatic about my refusal to buy new materials to make my raised beds. It just felt wasteful when reusing wood and metal works perfectly well.
But I’m going to be replacing all my beds with Vego Garden ones.
Not only do they look better, but I won’t have to worry about weird chemicals leaching out of the wood I pulled off an old shed, or about painful cuts after scraping or brushing up against the side of corrugated metal walls. And they’ll last longer.
Completely anecdotally, the squash in my Vego Garden grew so much better than the vines in my other beds.
It could be the better airflow thanks to the built-in trellis, or it could be the more moderate soil temperatures. Maybe it’s something else entirely. But I want to set my plants up for success, and any tool that even might help is worth a go, in my mind.
Plus, they look really nice. I keep reassuring the DIY beds sitting next to my Vego bed that they’re just as good, even if they aren’t as beautiful. I’m not sure they are just as good, though.
One that I built last year is already leaking soil from one corner. I don’t think that will be happening with the Vego bed.
The company also donates one kit for every 50 kits they sell.
Find the best size and shape for your garden, and accessories to match, now on Amazon, Walmart, or Home Depot.
Are you considering bringing one of these kits home? How do you plan to use it? What shape will you build? What will you plant? Let us know in the comments.
Even if you decide a Vego Garden isn’t right for you, I hope this guide set you in the right direction toward finding the best solution for your space.
Need more info? We have a few other guides that might help you create the perfect raised bed gardening setup:
