How To Build Raised Garden Beds

I’m show you how to build raised garden beds for easy gardening with lower maintenance!

Raised garden beds make gardening so much easier because: they’re higher making them easier to reach, they eliminate a large amount of weeding, (a real back saver) and they hold nutrients longer!

How To Build Garden Beds Step by Step:

1. Draw out your garden plan on paper… I like to use graph paper to keep measurements accurate and lines straight. Plan which beds you plant each type of garden plant in. You’ll want to keep this for future reference from year to year.
2. Shop lumber and decide what your budget will be. Traditionally garden beds are build with treated lumber to prevent termites etc. However, you can get landscaping timbers much cheaper now. (You’ll want your raised bed walls at least 8 inches high (I like them closer to 12 inches high). You can stack landscaping timbers 3 high to get the right height or stack 2×4’s to get the depth you want.)
3. Build Raised Beds – Cut your lumber to the length and width you desire. I like my beds to be 12 feet long and 3 feet wide. 3×12 is a good sized box for plenty of growing space for one, or a few, kinds of plants. At 3 feet wide, because you don’t have to go to the other side to get all the weeds in each garden box which makes weeding much easier. Fasten the corners together if needed. Home Depo has nice brackets that work well if you can’t nail or screw them together.
4. Lay your high quality weed barrier – (I LOVE THIS ONE) all over your garden space. (Make sure to buy the kind that has felt on the bottom. If you buy a cheaper kind, it will only last 1 or 2 seasons before you’ll need to replace it.) I recommend laying weed barrier everywhere before putting garden boxes down because we have morning glory here and it will come up in garden beds if you don’t. It will cost a bit more in weed barrier, but you’ll make it back in time saved from not having to dig as many weeds out of garden boxes. This also helps hold nutrients in garden boxes!
5. Arrange your garden beds on the ground according to your design on paper. Make sure to leave the area between beds big enough for walkways and your wheelbarrow!
6. Fill your garden beds with dirt and mulch. You can get as fancy s you want here. You can buy manure or garden dirt, you can just fill with dirt from your yard, or you can get mulch from your local dump.
7. This is also the time you’ll want to install a drip line if you’re using one. highly recommend using a drip system. With a drip system you will be able to go on vacation without asking someone to come water your garden while you are gone, and you won’t kill your plants… In fact, you’ll come home to bigger plants and food to harvest!
8. Cover the remaining weed barrier and walkways with rock or wood chips to prevent it from getting damaged.
9. Learn more about how to start a garden!

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