Ever since starting a family, six years ago, Glen has wanted to have a raised garden bed. My mother-in-law has a total green thumb and has passed it down to Glen. We have always lived in extremely new developments without a yard and in the city and up until recently never had time to make a garden. Well enough was enough. With the climbing prices of electricity, heat, food and basic life, why not grow you own veggies & fruit?
I made this super easy raised garden bed without Glens help. It’s a basic box just screws together and I’m pretty happy with the end result. So lets get started shall we?
These beds might not be the most amazing looking beds. But let me tell you, they will cost under 30 dollars for a 5×10 bed & they will take you under 15 minutes to assemble! Talk about great bang for your buck!
What You Need For Your Raised Garden Bed
-Three 2″x10″x10′ We used pine, and they cost 9.44/board
-One 2″x2″x8′
-Stain of choice, or you can leave plain. We already had stain so this cost us nothing
– Sixteen 2″ Screws
How To Make Your Raised Garden Bed
Yayyyyy! So lets get started on the easiest project of all time. I mean, do you really need a tutorial? I’ll share anyways. So cut your third 2x10x10 board in half ( make sure you measure to make sure each length is exactly 5′ in length ) Sometimes they can be slightly longer or shorter than 10′.
Once you’ve made that cut. Cut your 2×2’s into four 8″ lengths. Now it’s assembly time!
Here’s a shot of me putting the box together.
Once you’ve screwed all four 2×2’s onto your two end pieces, you want to screw the long pieces on. I drove four screws into each 2×2 and it was very strong.
Here’s the finished box, I then stained it in Early American. The sun will fade the color, but if you’re using builder grade pine, anything will look better than faded pine.
Our bed doesn’t sit totally flat on our ground as our yard is very unlevelled & lumpy. You can put down cardboard or newspaper prior to putting the soil in the box.
We used a 50/50 mix of fish fertilizer & top soil. A great mix for feeding your plants the nutrients they need. This is the tiring part. We had to fill 11 wheelbarrows with soil. We have a pretty big yard so we had to wheel it around the entire yard to the right side. Phew! Great workout though.
I also made some cute little markers out of some scrap in our scrap pile. I just picked up a sharpie and wrote on the wood. The boys loved sounding the words out to find what one belonged to what seed. They’re 4&6, it’s so fun to see them read. Yes, I’m totally aware I put an apostrophe on the “peas”… ugh.. it was hot in the sun, okay?!
Then the fun part began! Planting all the goodness in our new raised garden bed! Your seed packets & plants will tell you exactly how far down & how far apart to plant them. It is really made so simple these days to grow your own food. We purchased organic plants & seeds for our garden. Even if you don’t buy organic seeds, growing your own produce is literally 99% better than purchasing from a store.
Hope your enjoyed our easy DIY for a raised garden bed. It was so fun teaching the boys how to live off the land with their hands.
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Beautiful picture of your son with his little boo boo on his knee!!! Awesome post!
Thank you so much! He was riding his bike earlier – boys live hard!