DIY Raised Garden Bed

This DIY raised garden bed is pretty simple to make. The best part is it’s made with 75% scrap wood. My husband and I were able to build it in just a couple hours and get it set up in our front yard. He was actually able to move it by himself 50 feet in one piece to its final location.

Finding Materials for your DIY Raised Garden Bed

We began our new year trying to figure out how we could add some more raised garden beds to our yard. I searched Google and Pinterest for ideas in what we could make for pretty cheap but stay together pretty well with out crumbling after one season.

My husband got thinking and said he was able to get some scrap wood from where he works. There’s a constant supply of wood that they toss in the recycling daily. He thought these would be perfect for a couple raised beds.

We decided to make the beds 24 inches high, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long. Most of the scrap wood that he got would be able to be cut in half for the walls, one being the proper length and the other just an inch or two shorter. Not ideal but it worked and only gave us just a few short pieces on each side.

Making it 4 feet wide is perfect for me. I can then easily reach the middle of the bed without having to lean too far over the bed and compress the soil.

Then having it 8 feet long to give plenty of gardening space without having to put a middle brace to keep it from bowing out.

We did end up buying some 8 foot long 2 by 4 pieces of wood for the framing.

If you would rather not purchase any wood you can take apart a bunch of pallets and make some raised garden beds with them.

Reasons to make a DIY Raised Garden Bed

No kneeling down

If you, like me, have issues kneeling down for long periods of time, certainly a raised garden bed is perfect for you. For whatever reason, kneeling down makes my knees make a good amount of noise when I stand up. Not comfortable at all.

Easier to tend to your vegetables

If you make your raised bed to the height that I made mine it is a lot easier to tend to the vegetables. Weeding will be easier because you won’t have to bend over so far. Another great bonus is that it will be easy to harvest your vegetables. Things like tomatoes and peppers, will be at eye level and you can easily pluck your tomatoes from the vine. So divine!

Protects your plants

Where I live we have a lot of underground and surface springs. This means any vegetables in the ground have a high chance of being washed away if not planted in the correct location. So when we get heavy rains we have streams that pop up around my yard. Then if it gets really bad we will have almost a sheet of water running over parts of our yard.

Also if you have wild rabbits in your area this will keep those cute furry critters from eating your precious vegetables. I’d be surprised to see them jump up into these raised garden beds.

How to make your DIY Raised Garden Bed

Equipment

Table saw

Miter Chop saw

Two by fours 8 feet long (12 boards)

One by fours 22 inches long (about 80 boards)

Decking screws about 2.5 inch length (roughly 200 count)

Electric screwdriver

Tape measure

Pencil/Pen

Directions

Frame out two, 4 foot by 8 foot frames.

Attach vertically your 1 by 4’s on all four sides on the inside. This way the soil pushes the boards into the frame instead of away from it.

We did have a few gaps that we needed to cut some boards to fit, we ripped them down with the table saw.

Along the top on your bed, lay flat a 2 by 4 on each side. This is to give you a nice spot to sit on. This also covers the raw edges of the boards below to prevent it from rotting away too quickly.

We also added some braces to each inside bottom corner with some scrap 2 by 4’s to keep the bed squared.

What to Fill Your Raised Garden Bed With

At the bottom of all my raised beds I put a layer of wood, about 6 inches deep. I have used tree bark and branches from cleaning up my yard. If you do not have any logs available you can also add leaves. You can then top it with some wood chips if you have that on hand as well.

Doing this is a great way to clean up your yard. Doing this will add some bulk to your raised bed so you don’t have to add so much soil. Though the best reason for doing this is that over time this will break down and add some organic compost to your bed and as it breaks down it will give off a little bit of heat.

A couple times I have added cardboard over the branches to hold them down so they don’t poke through the soil.

I was able to contact my local tree removal service to find woodchips to dump in my driveway free of charge.

Another thing you can add to your garden bed is peat moss. I added this to the top layer of my soil and mixed that in well. Then if you want to add an extra boost to your soil you can add compost. Your plants will love you for that.

If your looking for compost you can ask your local dump or water treatment facility if they have any. In my town they have some that you can go pick up.

Tips for making your DIY Raised Garden Bed

• You can line the ground with 1/2 inch or 1 inch metal fencing. This will help to keep any rodents from getting under your raised beds, then making their way into your raised beds. No one wants to find their root vegetables nibbled on by those furry creatures.

• You can also line the inside walls of your raised bed with gardening cloth to keep the wood from deteriorating so fast.

• If you want your raised beds to last many years you can use cedar wood. Cedar wood is naturally rot resistant so this would be a great substitution for regular pine wood.

Have you made your own raised bed before? Do you have any other tips to add to the list? Let me know in the comments below. I love to get your ideas!

Check out my previous post HERE on making soil block seed starters to get your garden started!

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