This year I decided to try gardening in a raised bed. I decided to keep it simple and only make one bed, just in case things don’t work out the way I’d planned. I’m hoping this post may inspire others to do the something similar.
Supplies Needed
- 3 – 2 x 8 x 8′ construction grade boards
- 3 – 2 x 8 x 8′ pressure treated boards
- 2 ½” deck screws (I don’t remember how many I used)
- 1 – 8′ 4×4 (optional) helps to improve sturdiness of raised bed
The design that I ended up using requires three boards per layer. I used 2x8x8′ boards, but you could use 10ft. boards as well. If you use 10ft. boards, your beds will end up being 5ft. wide–not necessarily a bad thing, but while deciding on a design I thought that 5ft. might make things a bit harder for my kids to reach.
For each layer, I started by cutting one of the 2×8 boards in half. That gives me two 4ft. boards and two 8ft. boards.
I decided to use pressure-treated lumber for the bottom layer. It seemed like an easy way to increase durability of the setup. The bottom layer is going to have nearly 8″ of dirt in it so I wasn’t too worried about any chemicals leeching in, but my family and I start going loopy around harvest time next year, you’ll know why!
Once assembled, the two layers should be almost 16″ tall. I feel like that’s a pretty good height to keep the critters out and also a comfortable height for working in the bed while on your knees.
If you’ve got an 8′ 4×4, you can cut that up into 15″ pieces (doesn’t have to be the exact height of both layers) and use those pieces in the inside corners to make your box even stronger. I wasn’t going to use a 4×4, but I have a friendly neighbor who gave me some extra pieces that he had leftover from a deck project.
I bought all of my supplies at my somewhat-local Menards. In all, this raised bed design cost me a little over $50. I’m actually a little surprised. I went to look at their website now and prices have gone up again.
I got a lot of inspiration for this from the Gardener Scott YouTube Channel. If you like what I’ve done here, you should definitely go check out Scott’s channel!