Step-By-Step Guide to Building a Raised Garden Bed

Welcome to another experiment by yours truly, building a raised garden bed.

When I decided to start a garden, I knew I would also be building a raised garden bed.

I don’t really have the space to plant things in the ground, plus when I decided on this little adventure, I had a large and adorable, yet slightly destructive dog. So planting in the ground wasn’t really an option.

I looked at some raised garden bed kits, and although it would have been easier and less time consuming, I am not rolling in money unfortunately.

I had to find a way to build a raised garden bed without breaking the bank.

So I started with what I do best, research.

Time For Research

I looked up tons of raised garden beds online to get ideas. Then, I watched videos on Youtube, scanned Pinterest, and Google images. I knew that whatever I did had to be affordable, as well as easy to put together.

On my way, I made a few mistakes, but I will share that with you so if you decide to follow my step-by-step guide to building a raised garden bed, it will go a little smoother for you.

This process really didn’t take that long, even with the mistakes I made. The longest part was probably my planning, and I took all of that out for you!

All you have to do is follow these steps, and you are good to go!

Raised Garden Beds

The beds I made were 3 feet by 5 feet, but you can make them any size you want, just adjust the measurements to fit your needs.

I decided I was going to make them that size for a couple of reasons.

I wanted them to fit nicely in my smaller yard, and I also read that a garden bed deeper than 4 feet may make it hard to reach things in the middle, so I thought 3 feet deep would be a good size for me.

Also, the wood that I bought was 8 feet long, so that made it really easy for me to just cut at the 5 foot mark and get both sizes I needed without any extra cuts.

However, feel free to make your beds whatever size you like. It is your life and nobody can tell you how to live it! Except maybe your mom…

So, without droning on and on, here is my step-by-step guide to building a raised garden bed.

Building A Raised Garden Bed

Materials

First, the materials and tools needed:  This is to make 2 3X5 raised garden beds. Adjust amounts and measurements as needed.

I’ll link what I used, but you can pick up anything you want from any store. It’s up to you.

8- 2X6X8

3 Inch screws

1 1/4 inch screws                        

16 L brackets

12 Joining plates

Tools

Chop saw

Drill

Level

 Optional

T-square

Heavy hammer/mallet

Cut List

8- 2X6 @ 5 feet long

8- 2X6 @ 3 feet long

Step 1:

Measure and cut your 8-foot boards at 5 feet. This will give you 2 pieces from each board, one piece is 5 feet, the other is 3 feet. Do this for all 8 boards.

Step 2:

Create 4 individual boxes with 2 5-foot pieces and 2 3-foot pieces. Screw them together with 3-inch screws.

**I put together all of the sides first with joining plates to create 12-inch sides before I made the actual boxes and I found that this may be a little bit harder. So I suggest making 4 6 inch high boxes first, then join 2 boxes together to create the 12-inch box depth we are looking for this raised bed.** (Let me know if this makes sense.)

I ended up having to use my hammer of persuasion to “gently” coax the boxes into place at times. If you build the boxes individually first, you shouldn’t need to do that. It did make me feel like Lady Thor though, so who is the real winner here?

By the way, if you do need to use your own hammer to coax some pieces together, use a scrap piece of wood between what you are hammering, and your hammer. This will keep you from damaging your nice pieces of wood.

Step 3:

As an optional step, you can add L brackets into each corner for added support. I did this just because I wanted all the support I could get. Use the 1 1/4 inch screws to add each L bracket. After you use the L brackets, the boxes should be square, however, now is the time to break out that T-square and double check.

Step 4:

Place one 3X5 foot box on top of the other. You now have a 3X5 foot box with a 12-inch depth. Perfect for a raised vegetable garden. Join the boxes together with the joining plates and 1 1/4 inch screws. I used 2 joining plates on the 5-foot sides, and 1 joining plate on the 3-foot sides. Each raised garden bed should take about 6 joining plates.

CONGRATULATIONS!! You just built a raised garden bed. Now time to do it again for the other one!

After you build them, you need to out them on level ground, put a weed barrier of some type in the bottom (I used a couple layers of cardboard) and fill her up with whatever dirt, or mixture of dirt you want to grow your plants in.

If you are interested in what I used, let me know and I can write a post about the mixture I made for my beds.

I will be writing another post on what I planted in my garden and updating you on how it is coming along. I am very excited, but a little nervous.

The only thing I have ever really had success with is tomatoes. I could grow those things in my sleep.

So far, I have yet to be able to grow a strawberry plant. I don’t know why, but they always die on me! I’ll be trying again though, so I will keep you posted.

You can check out how i planned out my vegetable garden, and maybe you can get a few ideas for yours.

Until next time,