Although not my favorite method for gardening, a raised garden bed can be a handy spot for growing many of your favorite garden veggies.
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When we moved into our new place 5 years ago we noticed this nice sunny spot on the west side of our house. It is at the south end of the spot where the last owners parked their large camper. We don’t need nearly the same space for our little old camper so our first plan was to turn this area into a raspberry patch. But the layer of gravel was too deep so we had to make other plans.
Instead, we ended up building a raised garden bed in the spot. The 3 beds give us about 100 more square feet of garden space and also make a nice spot for easy to assemble hoop houses in the winter.
This is in a fairly public area of our yard. All of these raised garden beds can be seen both the front and back yards. That meant they needed to look nice and add to the overall look of the yard.
Building a raised garden bed like these is really fairly simple, but it does take some time. Plan on a couple of hours per bed.
Building a raised garden bed
Tools needed:
- Some type of saw
- Hand Drill
- 1/8 inch Counter Sink drill bit
I’ve tried to keep this design simple. No special tools needed simply some type of saw and a power hand drill. Of course, an electric saw or even better a chop saw makes the job go much quicker. But you could easily build these with just a hand saw. An electric drill is a must-have for this project. Don’t use nails to put everything together, nails will not be able to handle the stress the weight of the soil will cause and your raised garden bed will quickly come apart. The beds built to plan will be 3 feet wide and 8 feet long.
Materials Needed
- 11 – 2x4x8
- 3 pounds of 2 1/2 to 3-inch screws
- Fabric Weed Guard (optional)
- A soil of your choice
Cut all the boards to length
The boards on long sides will not need to be cut.
- Cut 6 – 36-inch boards these will be the end boards
- Cut 12 – 10.5-inch boards
- Cut 2 – 40-inch boards
- Cut 3 – 92-inch boards
Assembling your raised garden bed
No matter the type of wood you have chosen to use, pre-drilling all the holes is very important. Pine, cedar, and redwood are all considered softwoods and are very likely to split if you don’t pre-drill first. Using a countersink bit is handy, but not really necessary with softwoods.
Assemble the long sides
This one is pretty easy. Line up 3 boards, make sure they are straight and line up flush at both ends. Then secure the boards together with 2 of the 10.5-inch boards. Center these boards at 32 inches. The 10.5-inch boards should be flush with whichever side you consider the top so that the seat boards will set flush later. Use 6 2.5 inch screws for this process.
Assemble the boxes
An extra set of hands goes a long way on this step. You can do it yourself, but having a helper (even a younger kid) to help hold the boards in place is very helpful
Attached the 6 shorter boards to the ends of the 2 longer pieces you built in step 1. The short boards are attached one at a time. Screw through the side boards into the end grain of the short boards. this will give you an interior dimension of 36 inches. Make sure the short boards are straight and tight against each other as you attach them.
Add the side supports
Next, attach the remaining 10.5-inch boards with 2 1/2 inch screws. You add 2 to each corner, one attached to the side boards and one to the end boards. These short boards serve several purposes in your raised garden bed. First they add a decorative look to the raised bed, second, they help tie all the boards on the sides and ends together and third they act as support for the seat boards we will be adding in the next step. Make sure all of these boards are flush with the top so the seat boards will set evenly.
Add the seat boards
The seat boards add a nice look to the beds and also come in handy when working in the beds. A second set of hands helps with this step as well. I would suggest setting all the boards up and getting them lined up correctly before attaching. Once they are in place attach them to the raised bed with 2 1/2 inch screws (remember to pre-drill). I put 2 screws at each end (one in the side support and one in the bed boards). I then make any adjustments that might be needed if your lumber is slightly warped and then added 2 more screws at each of the other side supports and at least 1 screw every 3 feet or so along the length of the top.
Add a stretcher
If you have a piece of scrap lumber that can be cut to 36 inches then I would suggest you add a stretcher to the bottom of the bed. Put this in the center. This board will help hold the bed together at the center and prevent the weight of the soil from bulging the sides of your bed.
Fill and plant Your raised garden bed
Depending on where you are installing your raised garden bed you may also want to add a layer of fabric weed guard to the bottom of the bed. This will keep weeds or grass from coming up in the bed, or in our case, it will keep the gravel below the bed from mixing with our new soil.
Fill your beds with a soil (or soil mix) of your choosing. We used a soil mix we bought from a local nursery which was a combination of topsoil, compost, and sand. Plan on some settling in the first year of planting. We filled our beds to the top knowing that the soil would settle a few inches giving us the room in future years to add more compost to the beds. I would even suggest you water the beds once before planting to help the settling process along.
Then plant and enjoy! Most veggies and many fruits do well in a raised bed garden. Raised beds warm up quicker in the spring and are often the first beds you can plant each year.
Removing Popcorn Kernels from the Cobs
Hallo,
Great ideas, your raised beds.
But can you tell me the mixture of the soil you use, like for eg. How much sand, kompost, earth etc. And what sort of sand.?
Have a great day
Bryan
When I mix the soil myself I do 50% compost and 50% topsoil. You could also add in some perilite if you wanted to drop it too 40/40/20. Then every year after that you will just add more compost to the box.
What type of wood do you suggest for the raised beds?
It depends on where you live. Usually, I would recommend cedar or redwood. If you happen to live in a very dry climate as I do then you might be able to get away with douglas fir.