How to Build a Raised Bed in Your Garden
A bounty of homegrown vegetables is easier than you think with a raised garden bed to house just the right mix of soils
If you’re dreaming of growing your own vegetables, then building a raised garden box is the perfect project for you. With a few supplies, tools and these easy-to-follow instructions, you’ll be slicing into your very own homegrown tomatoes before you know it. Not confident about doing it yourself? Ask a local carpenter to help.
A raised garden offers a great way to control the quality of your soil, as you can fill it with a mix of topsoil, planting mix and compost. This deep, rich soil mix will allow you to grow more vegetables than you could in the same square footage of regular garden soil.
Here’s how to build your own raised garden bed
1. Gather your supplies. To build one 4-foot by 4-foot planting box you will need:
1. Gather your supplies. To build one 4-foot by 4-foot planting box you will need:
- Two 16-foot wooden boards (reclaimed wood is a good sustainable choice)
- 6 feet of 2-by-2 timber
- Galvanised screws
- Saw
- Power drill and bit
- Tape measure
- Clamps
2. Cut eight 4-foot lengths of wood and four 1½-foot lengths of 2-by-2 timber. After you cut the 2-by-2 to length, cut one end of each of the four pieces at a 45-degree angle. The slanted ends will help hold the finished planting box in place.
3. Lay two wooden boards together and grab one of the 2-by-2 pieces of timber you’ve just cut.
4. Drill two pilot holes into the treated timber (one near each end of the piece). Be sure not to drill into the redwood boards yet.
5. Using your drill and galvanised screws, attach the treated timber to the redwood boards. Screw through the pilot holes to prevent the wood from splitting.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the remaining boards.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the remaining boards.
6. Once you have a 2-by-2 piece of timber screwed to one end of the redwood boards (giving you the four sides of your box), clamp together the four sides of the box.
When everything is clamped together, there will be a 2-by-2 piece of timber in each corner of the box. At this point, each 2-by-2 is secured to only one side of the redwood boards. To secure all the sides together, drill more pilot holes and screw the galvanised screws through the 2-by-2 to the opposite redwood boards.
Tip: To keep from seeing the screws on the outside of your box, attach the four sides together by screwing from the inside.
The angled end of the 2-by-2 is used to keep the box stable when it's placed in the ground.