DIY Raised Garden Beds
I grew up gardening. Back in Michigan, my folks would rototill a giant rectangle in the backyard that we would fill with tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, peas, chard, and more! I loved that garden. I loved taking off my shoes and sinking my toes into the black dirt. Every spring I would argue with my mother that the plants were too far apart, and every summer I’d complain that I could barely move between the tomato plants without picking up a spider or two.
Benefits of Building a Raised Garden
You don’t have to worry about water runoff!
More ergonomic if you have back issues, you can even sit on a garden stool to harvest from your beds!
You’re less likely to deal with weeds, slugs, and other varied garden pests.
It’s a fantastic technique that allows for dense planting with a high yield.
Downside? Raised garden beds typically do need more water, since the dense planting will suck up H20 like it’s going out of style. To help your beds retain water, make sure you mulch! You can use grass clippings, straw, wood chips, etc. We plan on using our next ground of grass clippings to help protect our beds from the summer heat! Worried about water use? Make your own rain collection system! It works just as well as the manufactured ones at a FRACTION of the price! CLICK HERE FOR DIY INSTRUCTIONS AND SUPPLY LIST
Look at that little worm go!
What wood should you use for your beds?
Purists and organic gardeners will swear by the following wood types:
Redwood and Black Locust: Rot resistant for approximately 20+ years, but also the most expensive
Cedar: Rot resistant for 10-15 years, but again more expensive
Douglas Fir: Rot resistant 5-7 years, and more on the affordable side.
I’m going to be honest, every lumber store near me ONLY sold cedar out of the above options, and it wasn’t cheap at $21 per board. And that was just the 2×6 lengths priced out. For our needs and budget, we used your basic treated pine from Mentor Lumber, a fantastic local company that delivered to our house for $25 extra – worth it! The wood will stand the test of time, and resist rot just fine. We built two raised beds that measure 4′ by 8′ each, plenty of room for the two of us to grow a nice veggie patch. I can already see the pickles and pumpkins!
YES – Treated wood is safe to use for raised beds.
Before 2003, chromated copper arsenate (CCA) was the primary chemical used in pressure treated wood. This compound used arsenic to help the wood resist rot. Post-2003, the arsenic was removed from the equation and replaced with copper or chromium. Though these chemicals are still toxic in large amounts, they are virtually harmless when proper precautions are used. Wash your hands and clean up the sawdust during construction! In theory, the chemicals can leach into the soil, but from what I’ve read up on – the levels are undetectable! So garden without fear. Our lumber and screws came to around $220 – MUCH lower than the estimated $550+ for cedar.
SUPPLY LIST: For two raised beds that measure 4 ft x 8 ft
- x2 : 4in x 4in x 8 ft boards
- x12 : 2 in x 6 in x 8 ft boards
- x1 : 2 in x 4 in x 8 ft boards
- x80 : 3 in self-drilling galvanized wood screws
We very quickly scrapped the hand saw and remembered we had a handheld circular saw. Live and learn, HAH! Construction of the second bed went much faster. Don’t forget, use screws that are appropriate for your wood! Make sure they are coated/galvanized so they can resist moisture and rust. All this hard work needs to stand the test of time!
How deep should you make your raised beds?
They say your bed should be 6 inches deep minimum, 12 inches is best! This is why we stacked two 2″x6″ on top of one another for a combined depth of 12 inches. All the boards we bought came in 8-foot lengths, so for the sides of each raised bed we cut 4 of the 2×6 boards in half. KEEP IT SIMPLE!
At the corner of each bed, we have 2′ lengths of 4 x 4 secured by 2 screws in each board, drilling from the outside. At the side center of each bed, we have a 2′ length of 2 x 4 to help keep the 8′ lengths of the garden from bowing outwards after the beds are filled with soil.
We carefully hand-dug each hole to sink the posts in the ground. Yes, it was slower going than say, a post digger tool – but we were glad that we did it that way. Where we were digging must have been a trash heap at some point for the house. We kept running into bits of metal, brick, and glass bottles. Actually very cool, as most items looked pretty aged.
After the beds were placed, we lined them with newspaper for some weed control. I just collected junk mail and old newspapers wherever I could. Worked out well. Just be sure that you’re not using any coated paper, the shiny stuff will not break down as well over time.
Now comes the dirt! Yet again, we did this on a budget! Yes, we could have created some fancy mix of compost/soil/vermiculite/etc, but we were just as happy purchasing a garden mix from another local company Mapledale Farm. You could smell the compost as we moved wheelbarrow loads. You can also see, we hosed down each layer of dirt we dumped to keep the moisture level up from the start. Ohio is finally starting to heat up!
Our gardens required 2.4 cubic yards of soil! Mapledale Farm delivers for free with a minimum purchase of 3 yards. Great for us, as we don’t yet have a truck. We used the extra soil to fill in low spots around our property, and husband planted some perennial grass seed to fill in the bare spots!
Dirt was delivered by 11 AM, and the beds were filled by 2! The rest of our afternoon was filled with charting out our gardens and planting, a post for another day!
Talking to Husband, I think we might try to create a hoop house to cover the beds before the winter hits, allowing us to use the beds as a greenhouse for earlier planting next spring! It’s an easy DIY using PVC pipe and plastic sheeting.
