Our raised bed of lettuce and parsley is about 8 feet long and 4 feet wide; the middle is easily reachable from either side.
Photo: Norm Plate
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Step-by-step: How to build the ultimate raised bed
The perfect home for your summer garden
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Raised beds make gardening easy. Filled with soil mix, they provide the excellent drainage needed to grow picture-perfect vegetables and flowers.
You can build the basic raised bed pictured above in a few hours, then add versatility by mounting PVC pipes inside to hold hoops that elevate bird netting or row covers over your crops. Orient your bed north-south for maximum sun exposure.
Use redwood or cedar ― both are beautiful and rot-resistant. You’ll need a table or power saw to cut the wood; after cutting, paint the wood on all sides with an oil-based sealer. An electric drill is helpful, though not required.
Our total cost: $187.
DESIGN: David C. Becker
Get our step-by-step instructions
Materials
- One 6-foot-long 4-by-4 ($15)
- Six 8-foot-long 2-by-6s ($75)
- One 10-foot-long 1-inch PVC pipe ($3)
- Two 10-foot-long ½-inch PVC pipes ($6)
- ½ gallon semitransparent exterior oil stain ($15)
- 32 3½-inch #14 wood screws and 16 ½-inch #8 wood screws ($29)
- One 4- by 10-foot roll of ¼-inch-mesh hardware cloth ($15)
- Eight 1-inch galvanized tube straps (semicircular brackets; $3.60)
- 32 cubic feet (1 1/5 cu. yd.) planting mix ($25 in bulk or $100 in bags)
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