For years I’ve had the most ragged garden, one which I apologize periodically to my neighbors.  This year it was, “I’m sorry my mint is appearing in your lawn.” and “Sorry about the raspberries looking so messy right near your garage.” But they’re nice about my urban gardening experiments, plus I always give them fresh produce!  So to curb the chaos, I’ve teamed with my husband to build three raised garden beds.

Here are instructions for building a wooden raised garden bed, plus tips on how to set it up in the garden space.  I think it’s much easier if two people work on the project together.

Supplies (for building the wood square):

tools for building bed

-4 pieces of wood per square.  Mine is 6″ tall 2″ deep, and cut to 4′ long, so my box is 4′ x 4′ square.  You can change the size, but keep in mind that you need to be able to reach all plants from the outside perimeter.  Ideally, I wanted 5′ square, but the wood only came in 8′ pieces, so 4′ square didn’t waste wood.  By the way, the nice people at the hardware store only charged $.25 a board to cut my wood.  That saved so much work!  Also, I used untreated wood.  I don’t want those chemicals near my plants.

-8 wood screws per square.   Mine are 2 1/2″ long.

-drill, extension cord to reach your drilling area, a drill bit that’s a little skinnier than your screws (for predrilling holes), and a screwdriver bit for the drill (unless you want to hand screw them with a screwdriver instead).

tools for setting bed into the ground

-optional: tape measure (for marking where to drill holes, although we just eye-balled them.)

Supplies (for putting the wood square in the garden):

-shovels (a large one and a small hand-sized one), rake

-tape measure, level

-optional: additional dirt, compost

Instructions:

1.  Measure & cut your wood, or have the lumber store cut it for you.

2.  Lay your wood in a box shape, making the edges overlap like the diagram below.

how to arrange the four wood pieces

3.  Predrill two holes at each of the four places where the wood comes together.  The holes are vertical (one on top of the other), a few inches apart.   Next, use the screw attachment on the drill and screw into the holes.  You’ll make a total of 8 holes & use 8 screws.

locations for predrilling & screws

3.  Your wood square is now assembled.  Next you will learn how to place it into your garden.

assembled wood square

4.  Now for placing the wood square in the garden.  First figure out where the square should go.  Measure how you want it centered or lined up.  I also surrounded mine with stones, so I had to measure how I wanted these spaced.  Mark the spots with spray paint or stakes or whatever else you have on hand.  Also, jot the measurements down on paper just in case you need them.

5.  Next decide whether you’re rototilling or not.  My garden space was kindly rototilled by my dad, but if you don’t want to rototill & can wait to plant till spring, try sheet mulching.  I read about it in Organic Gardening Magazine (“Goodbye Grass, Hello Garden”, Aug/Sept 2010).  With sheet mulching, you don’t till the ground at all.  You just layer compost, cardboard, more compost, mixed organic material (uncomposted things like grass clippings, leaves, and veggie & fruit scraps) and place mulch on top and keep it moist.  By spring you’ll have plantable soil.  Another option is to put black plastic over the grass.  This kills the grass & weeds.  Then remove the plastic & add soil to fill the bed.

Either way, you need to prep the soil:  if you’re rototilling, do this before laying the raised bed in the garden.  If you’re sheet mulching or using the black plastic method, you could do these before or after placing the bed.

rototilled soil

6.  Decide whether you want to sink the wood square down a couple inches or leave it entirely above ground.  I sunk mine down about two inches.  If you’re not sinking the square, just fill it with soil & compost, and you’re ready to plant.

If you’re sinking it, lay the wood square in the location you marked.  Trace the perimeter with a garden tool so you can see where you need to dig.  Move the square out of the way.  Dig a trench in the entire perimeter area.  Dig just as deep as you want to sink it.

dig a trench a couple inches deep

7.  Lay the wood square in the trench.  Use a level on all four sides to make sure it’s sitting properly.  Use the small shovel to push dirt into low areas or to raise small areas.

level the wood square

8.  After all sides are level, use the large shovel to backfill the trench.

backfill the trench

9.  If you need additional soil, compost, or other soil ammendments, add them.  Then use the rake to level the soil in the bed.

level the soil

10.  Put plants in their new home, and fancy it up.  We’re also working on the stone walkway around the beds.  My neighbors will be thrilled!

*If you haven’t heard of companion planting, look into it.  It’s about which plants help or hurt each other when in close quarters.    Did you know tomatoes grow well with carrots, basil, and parsley?  But you shouldn’t grow tomatoes & potatoes neat each other because they’re both prone to the same blight.  Very interesting!*