How To Make Raised Garden Beds

We've had a few people ask us how we made our raised beds for our vegetable garden so I've asked the hubs to take a few minutes and write a guest post on how he put them together...

Hello, huband here! Start off by deciding where you want to place the bed in relation to the how the sun crosses the sky, making sure the beds get as much light as possible during the day. Also have it accessible to your hose or your water-recovery pipe from your house gutter.

Lowes sell 2x12x12 treated planks, which are used for outside decking, for about $20 each. You will need two of those plus one 2x12x8 plank, about $15, which you'll cut in two so that you beds are 12'x4' in size. I used three timber screws at each end, two 9" ones near the top and bottom and a 6" down the middle. I also hammered in standard 9" wooden stakes every two feet down both outsides of the 12' planks. This will help keep them from bowing when you fill it with soil.

We filled the boxes 3/4 deep using mostly top soil, tilled with three bags of building sand and two bags of compost. Good Luck!

I hope this helps give you a few suggestions on how you can make your own raised beds using cost effective materials! We'd love to hear about your own gardening adventures!