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Everyone is obsessed with raised garden beds right, or is it just me? I know they have been a dream of mine since we moved out of our little condo. There is something so magical about them. Maybe it’s the fact that they really define a space – in a good way. Or maybe it’s because they look so pretty, who knows… If this is your first garden, try planting these
Starting a raised bed garden is super exciting!! But don’t get carried away and make a
, my advice is to start small and see how your first gardening year goes.
Benefits of Raised Garden Beds
- You can create your own soil. Since you don’t have to plant directly in the ground, you can fill your raised garden bed with any type and quality of soil you need. Be sure to get your soil from a reputable source (I learnt that the hard way).
- Fewer weeds. Seriously, it makes such a difference especially if you buy clean soil – there will be no weeds at all! I think I’ve seen a handful, and they’re all super small.
- Less bending. This is a no-brainer! Mine are only 20″ tall and already it saves my back.
- Fewer predators. Especially with slugs, and rabbits. It’s a little too high for them to reach which is a plus for you!
- Easier to attached row covers & cold frames. This one I never really thought of, because I hadn’t used row covers or cold frames. But it is much easier to staple on a row cover to a piece of wood rather than to the ground.
- Can you use the square foot gardening method! For more info click here.
The Best Materials for Raised Garden Beds
You can literally make raised garden beds out of anything….. steel, plastic, logs, and probably the most common cedar or pine lumber. We choose lumber! And it was a big debate whether or not to use cedar or pine. After a lot of research, we decided on pine. Not only was is half the cost, but I had found a natural sealer that would preserve the life of it for about 10 years – how awesome is that? Sold yet? Let me show you how easy it is to build them!
How to Build Raised Garden Beds
We mad four beds – two that were 4′ x 8′ x 20″ and two that were 4′ x 10′ x 20″. For the ease of this tutorial, I will go through and give the instructions for one 4′ x 8′ x 20″ raised garden bed.
What You’ll Need:
• (1) 2″ x 4″ x 8′
• (6) 2″ x 10″ x 8′
• Galvanized screws 3″ long
• Measuring tape & pencil
• Drill & Impact Driver
• Saw (circular mitre)
What You’ll Do:
Step 1
Cut two of the 2″ x 10″ x 8′ pieces in half. So you have four 2″ x 10″ x 4′ pieces.
Step 2
Cut your 2×4 into 2′ pieces, so you’ll have 4 pieces.
Step 3
Layout your pieces to make the 4′ x 8′ rectangle, and drill them together on the corners (see below).
Step 4
Lay a 2′ piece of 2×4 in each corner and attached them to the box you just created.
Step 5
Then attach the next level of your box to the remainder of the 2×4 sticking up. And you’re done. See super easy right?
What We Learned
We were done within a couple of hours – seriously no big deal! But we did learn a few things… like always face that darn stamp to the inside of the box so it doesn’t look so ugly, haha. And you don’t really need that piece of 2×4 in the middle you can add if you want, it only means that you will need to by another 2″ x 4″ x 8′ or just one 2″ x 4″ x 12′. And since we used pine, we searched for an effective, and natural sealer and found one!! It’s called Seal Once! It’s non-toxic, eco-friendly, will not harm plant, pets or fish, and it lasts up to 10 years!! Awesome right.
Ok, well I’ll let you get to it. Please let me know if you have any questions – I’d be happy to answer.
-Abbagail
Hi found your garden beds very interesting, I would like to know you just set the beds right in the ground what if weeds grow through the beds or some people put a liner say a tarp and then add soil. Thank You.
Hey, I would recommend a weed liner, a few layers on the ground, then you can fill with soil. Thanks for the comment!