Build Your Own Raised Garden Bed! Grow Your Own Food!

In this blog, we hope to instruct you in building your own garden bed. Learn from our mistakes and grow your own food at home!

Step 1: Benefits

There are many benefits of building a raised garden bed!

1) It is easier on your back!! You don't have to lean as far down to plant, dig, or harvest your crops
2) Better drainage. When plants are soaked, they cannot breathe and DIE
3)Better soil (for most who do not usually add compost to their own yard)
4) They are pretty

Step 2: Obtain Materials

Getting started:

(6) scrap 2x8x12 pieces of lumber (not pressure treated)
(1) piece 4x4x12
wood exterior screws
drill
stain
gravel
garden soil

Step 3: Dig Corner Post Holes

Now you're ready to construct your bed!

Dig four holes where your corner posts will be located. Make sure that the holes are 4' apart on the short side and 8' apart on the loner side. The final size of your bed should be 4'x8' for a total of 32 square feet of garden space.

Step 4: Put It Together

Cut the 4x4x12 into (4) 3' sections.
Cut each 2x8x12 into an 8' and 4' section.
Screw the 8' lengths (three on each side) onto the 4x4 with the exterior screws, making sure to leave 1' at the bottom (these will fit into the corner holes that was dug earlier). Also make sure to pre-drill each hole, so your wood will not split when you screw it in.
Now, you should have (2) 8' length pieces.
Place each into the corner holes.
Have someone hold up the two sides as you screw in the first 4' length to attach the whole unit. Now, go to the other side and screw in a 4'board to complete the rectangle. Your unit should be solid enough to move around to now to make sure the raised bed is level. Once everything looks good, you can now fill in the holes with dirt.
You may now screw in the remaining (4) 4' lengths on the short sides of the bed to complete structure.

Step 5: Filling in the Raised Bed

You should now place some gravel in the bottom of the bed if you have slow drainage in your area. You can now fill with garden soil (it is usually cheaper to get it in bulk by the yard from a landscaping company, than from a home improvement store). I paid about $40 for each bed in soil versus it would have been +$100 if I bought individual bags from a home improvement store.

All together, it costs about $100 per bed if you build it yourself. It costs +$500 to order one online and then YOU still have to put it together!