Veggie Garden: raised beds

Instructions

Because we have clay plus rocks soil, we decided to build raised beds for our veggie garden. My husband goes to the local hardware store and has them cut 2x8 boards, not treated wood, into 4 and 8 ft lengths, 4 each for each bed. The final bed height is 16 inches. He buys right angle brackets, 16 for each bed, plus straight joiners, 8 for each bed. The right angle brackets are used in the inside corners of each bed to join the 4 and 8 ft boards to each other to make a 4x8 ft box. He doesn't use nails, just the brackets screwed into the boards. He makes two boxes, then stacks them together and joins them using the straight joiners. The wooden boxes, now 4 ft x 8 ft x 16 inches high, are very sturdy, however, they are flexible enough to be used on slightly uneven or sloping ground, avoiding the necessity to level the ground. He also applies a water sealant to the boxes before filling with the composted manure and leaves to within a couple inches of the top. We used to kill the grass before we filled with dirt, but there is such a deep level of dirt that there is no need for that. I should add that we tried another method (commercial brackets that you just dropped the boards into) that didn't work well with our uneven ground and was much more expensive before hitting upon this method. Also, because the beds are so deep, it takes quite a bit of dirt, but we figure we'll be using these beds for years, and the extra height sure makes it easy to plant and work in the beds. Because we have clay plus rocks soil, we decided to build raised beds for our veggie garden. My husband goes to the local hardware store and has them cut 2x8 boards, not treated wood, into 4 and 8 ft lengths, 4 each for each bed. The final bed height is 16 inches. He buys right angle brackets, 16 for each bed, plus straight joiners, 8 for each bed. The right angle brackets are used in the ...
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Difficulty:

Category: Home & Garden

Type of item: Plant or Flower

For: Garden

Style: Outdoorsy

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Materials

boards: 2x8 cut to 8 and 4 ft; 4 each of 4 and 8 ft lengths for each bed; right angle brackets and screw hardware; composted leaves, composted manure; battery powered screw driver; sealant for the wood

What was your inspiration?

I took the course by Doug Jimerson and realized that we needed a lot more raised beds! The course gave me confidence to try other vegetables, like potatoes, asparagus, and others, and we needed more beds. Last year we built 4 4x8ft beds, using a special bracket that I found on the internet. Unfortunately, the brackets really work well only on VERY level ground. Our beds made with these brackets are sorta lopsided. So my husband decided there had to be an easier way. This method makes a terrifically stable raised bed for sloping and uneven ground. The first two beds he made this spring we joined end to end, making a bed 4x16 ft. In one of the beds I planted asparagus, onions, and climbing beans. In the other, I planted potatoes, onions, and climbing beans. I am shocked by how well the plants are growing!

What are you most proud of?

I am really proud and pleased that my husband, who is self-admittedly not a handy-man, came up with his own design that used exactly the skills he has (how to get boards cut at the hardware store, use a battery-powered screwdriver, and dump and mix dirt) to make a wonderfully stable and terrific raised bed for vegetable gardening.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Once the dirt is in the bed, it's not moving, so decide where your sunniest location is, convenient to a water source, and lay out multiple beds with at least 4 ft between for ease of use. We are building 2 beds at a time, laying out in a large square so we'll have room in the middle to move around and place tall planters for flowers. to do this, place 2 beds end to end, making a large bed that is 4x16 ft, place 2 beds at right angles, 4 ft away from the 1st long bed, lined up with the ends so there is 8 ft between these 2 beds, then 4 ft away from these beds, repeat the 4x16 ft arrangement. Now there is a mini piazza in the middle, for a bench or tall flower planters.