Tuesday, April 28, 2020

DIY Raised Garden Beds

Earlier this year, I built this Walk In Garden with raised beds so that I could comfortably garden without hurting my back or knees. I left the center bare with the intention of building a different version of raised garden beds. This is so I can still be above the rock, which my land is on. But also be low enough to the ground so I can plant taller items like corn or raspberries.

In this video, I’m going to be showing you exactly how I built these center beds. This project is very easy so if a garden is on your list of projects, I recommend trying to tackle it.

If you are interested in plans for either one, I have them here:

Things I Used in This Project:

I started off going to get all of my material. And here’s a tip: whenever I am loading stuff, I’ve been utilizing the heck out of the Simple Strap. When I’m haling long lumber, I use the red strap. Not only so I can bundle it together and secure it, but so it can double as a red flag.

There is no knots, hooks or ratchets. You tuck it in to itself and cut it to the length you need. It’s reusable and even works when it is dusty, dirty or even wet!

I started this project processing my material and cutting all of the boards that I could up front. I pushed my mobile miter saw stand outside, set up a stop block with clamps and started cutting my boards to length.

For the much longer pieces, I moved out to the job site and set up on sawhorses to use a circular saw instead of my miter saw. These are going to be the side walls that make up the planter. A tip for you when using a circular saw to get a straight line is to use a speed square as a guide.

Also, if you are able to get two boards out of one board, go ahead and pull your measurements from opposite ends of the board. That way when you line up the cut, you can make both cuts at the same time.

Now we just need to put the two main components together to start assembling the raised bed.

I’d start by placing two of the long 5/4 boards next to each other and then use one of the short boards to screw them together. These are placed relatively close together because it is crazy how much pressure the dirt (when placed inside) will press the boards out.

To make this go a little faster, I recommend cutting a spacer board to length. That way you can move along quickly without measuring.

After getting all four of the short sides done, I repeated the process and built the long sides. I used a longer spacer on these sides.

After getting all of the sides in place, I could then clamp them together to attach them to each other. I made sure the tops were lined up. I’m going to come back with a top cap and I want the tops to be nice and flush.

I used gravel to fill in the sides (because I had it) but you could very well use dirt.

Now that the main body is built, it needs to be capped off with a top cap. This will not only give it a finished look but it will also stabilize the wall from leaning out.

You could ver well set these in place and just cut them at 90 degrees. However, I went ahead and mitered them so that both pieces could be secured to the corner piece right underneath it.

Ok and the last piece. This might not be necessary, but I had it so I thought I’d throw it in. This is a cross member that will stretch across the center of the bed. I was worried about the top of the walls wanting to bow out from pressure from all of the soil.

I decided to go ahead and line the inside with plastic to keep water from sitting against the wood and deflect wood rot.

Be sure and watch the video above to see more detail on how I built these beds! I hope this tutorial has helped you out. I’m really enjoying gardening!

Be watching for another video I’m going to release soon that will cover installing the drip hose irrigation system that I’m installing.

I’ll see you guys on my next project!

Don’t forget I have plans:

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