Creating a raised garden bed – in just a few hours

If you happen to have a couple of hours to spare, you can easily create your own raised gardening bed. Raised beds should not generallybe any wider that four feet, with a minimum of a two foot walkway in-between them. Common lengths are 4', 6', 8', 10', 12', and 16'. I based the steps below on a normal yard with semi- flat ground utilizing one simple 48 SF raised bed.
As I chose a 48 SF bed which was 12' long, I needed 3 – 2×12's @ 12' long (pressure treated), a 1x4x12 (pressure treated) for staking the box to the ground & 1 pound of 2 ½" deck screws. If you have an issue with gophers or other digging vermin, you may consider buying some chicken wire that can be placed at the very bottom of the assembly. Depending on the land & garden soil available you may need to buy some soil or compost (up to 36 Cubic Feet to achieve 9" of suitable planting material in the planter.)

Cut one of the 2×12's and the 1×4 into 3 – 4' segments – next cut the 1×4 section in half at a 45 degree angle – you may wish to make one additional cut to make a cut that looks like this ( > ). This will make it easier to pound it straight into the ground.

2 of the cut 2×12 sections are for the ends and the remaining one is for the center – keeping the pieces flush with each other, use three deck screws at each connection point. The 6 stakes, should be pounded into the ground at the 4 outside corners and on each side of the center support.

This post is based off our original one located here: http://blog.sls-construction.com/2010/creating-a-raised-garden-bed
The first step is determining where you want your garden to be & clearing it. The flatter the ground is, the easier the process will be. Even if you happen to have a slight slope this method will work
I generally always find it easier to precut the pieces elsewhere & then bring the materials over to the build area to start assembling
Check to make sure that the exterior of planter box is below ground level by at least one inch and that the box is level and square. If you are on a slope you can consider burying parts deeper or buildup the exterior
The final shot with mulch added – as reminder the object of a raised garden is not to hold water but rather to hold the soil which holds the water & help keep weeds out. If your garden dries out to quickly, consider adding mulch on top
Another raised planter bed made by stacking 6x6's. The biggest item with this is getting the base level. To secure it together we use timber screws & capped it with 2x10's
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