A Review of the Vegepod Raised Garden Bed

If you’re done with rabbits eating your kale, deer munching on your tomatoes, skunks enjoying your cucumbers, and slugs eating your lettuce, you’ll want to know about the Vegepod Raised Garden Bed. What’s a Vegepod, you ask?

It’s understandable if you aren’t familiar with the Vegepod Raised Garden Bed. I’ll admit that I only heard of it a few years ago. The company started in 2009 in Sydney, Australia, but it wasn’t until 2017 that they opened an office in the U.S. and we were able to easily buy them.

Now that they’re here, though (and in 18 other countries!), it’s time to find out what makes the Vegepod so special. I think a good place to start is with their sense of humor!

So, what IS the Vegepod Raised Garden Bed?

Hold up! We’re just going to ignore that funny YouTube video? I get it. Humor doesn’t help your veggies grow, but maybe a discount on the Vegepod will? Turns out the Vegepod folks aren’t just funny, they’re also pretty darn nice, and they gave us a discount code to share! So if you want to buy it, you can save 10% when you get it directly from Vegepod. Just use the code FGNJAN24. 

Back to the Vegepod, though … When it comes to raised beds and container gardening, you already know we’re big fans. Container gardening gives anyone the ability to garden, even if it’s something as small as a couple of square feet on a patio or on a sunny windowsill. You can create a lovely little herb garden in containers. Or if you have the space, but maybe don’t have a yard or good soil, a raised bed or larger containers or grow bags offer the flexibility to grow a good-sized garden.

That’s the beginning of what the Vegepod is. It’s a raised container garden. It’s also much more. The Vegepod is ideal for water conservation, it’s accessible for people with mobility issues, and it repels pests and garden-eating critters better than just about any other option out there.

Environmentally friendly

Let’s start with some of the environmentally-friendly aspects of the design. First of all, it’s durable. You won’t be wasting your money or environmental resources buying one of these every couple of years. Plus, the easily constructed design makes it easy to disassemble and move, which is great for renters. And if you do decide to part ways with your Vegepod at some point, it’s recyclable.

While I appreciate those qualities, what really makes the Vegepod eco-friendly is the self-watering and wicking reservoirs. The reservoirs make it possible for established plants to go weeks without watering. Here’s what Vegepod has to say on their website about watering: “You can be neglectful and still get tremendous growing results. We have seen Vegepods left for 6 weeks through January and have still been fine.” (Editor’s note: January is summer in Australia, where Vegepod is headquartered. For those of us in the U.S., can you imagine not watering your garden for several weeks in July? I can’t!)

Accessible

What about accessibility? A raised bed of any kind is a little easier on the back and knees since you don’t have to bend as much to get to the plants. The Vegepod Raised Garden Bed has a growing depth of 11 inches, so if you place it on the ground, your back gets a little relief.

However, the optional Vegepod stands raise the height of the garden bed to waist high, so you can do a lot of gardening without bending over. And the small and medium-sized Vegepods can be mounted on optional trolley stands. These stands have lockable castor wheels, bringing the soil height to a little over 3 feet high and making the garden easy to move.

Pest control

Now let’s talk about the rabbit in the room. Plain and simple, the mesh cover keeps rabbits, raccoons, opossums, and other pests out. Meanwhile, the agricultural-grade material is permeable to air and rain, and it lets in 83% of sunlight, so your plants still get plenty of that warm sun they crave.

Here’s the great part about the cover, though. It’s hinged and opens a full 90 degrees, giving you plenty of room to get to your vegetables. That said, thanks to the built-in mist sprayer, you don’t actually need to open the lid to water your garden.

Sounds great, right? Surely the Vegepod Raised Garden Bed must have some drawbacks? There are some, although they’re probably not too surprising.

You won’t be growing your favorite fruit tree in here. And those 10-foot tall sunflowers won’t fit either. Some tomatoes will grow, but for larger varieties, you may need to train them to go across the Vegepod rather than straight up. But because of the 11-inch depth, you can still plant carrots, garlic, and most other root vegetables.

Another drawback, if you can call it that, is that even though the Vegepod will keep pests out, it can also keep them in if they come in with seedlings or soil. So you’ll want to ensure your vegetables are pest-free before you plant them. Of course, you could also release some ladybugs in there and let nature do its thing.

Vegepod details

The Vegepod comes in three sizes. The small is 39 by 20 inches (4 cubic feet), the medium is 3 feet, 3 inches square (8 cubic feet), and the large is 6 feet, 7 inches long by 3 feet, 3 inches wide (16 cubic feet). All three of them have a planting depth of 11 inches and a total height of 40 inches with the cover.

Vegepod now has an indoor soil-based kitchen garden version. It is recommended for small greens and herbs. You can grow anywhere indoors because you dont need sunlight! This amazing planter can grow up to 8 varieties of greens and herbs at one time. It can even be used for seed raising!

You don’t need any tools for assembly, and along with written instructions, Vegepod has a page on their website with very detailed assembly instructions. If you can put an Ikea bookshelf together, you can put a Vegepod together. I would even argue that the Vegepod is easier than the last Ikea bookshelf I built, but that’s another story!

And if a full-sized raised bed seems like too much, you can get all the benefits of the Vegepod in their grow bag—the Vegebag.

And remember, if you order directly from Vegepod, use our code FGNJAN24 for a 10% discount! 

Have you used the Vegepod? I’d love to hear about your experience.

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