How To Make A Raised Garden Bed For Beginners

Garden beds are super easy to make, they look great in the garden, and you have better control of your soil. Learn how to make your own raised garden bed, especially if you’re a beginner, in this post!

I shared in my last post how our gardening journey wasn’t done in just a year. I’m sure if you ask any other gardener, they’ll have the same response.

My ultimate goal for our yard is to have eight garden beds total. Last year we built two and this year we’re building another two.

Baby Steps Is Key In A Garden

There are a few reasons for this:

1. It can be expensive buying the lumber for the garden beds and the soil. Since 2020, making our garden beds doubled! Luckily it’s a cost upfront and not necessarily yearly.
2. Starting off with a big garden can be overwhelming if you’ve never grown produce before. It’s a big learning curve that you’ll soon discover.
3. The more you grow, the more you’ll have to harvest. Consider that as well if you’re just beginning.

With all those things in mind, you can start to make plans for your garden. And if you are still serious,keep reading because I’d love to share with you how we built our garden beds.

Benefits of Raised Beds

• It’s easier on your body. With the beds higher up it’ll feel much better to harvest and weed.
• Experience less weeds.
• It keeps children from running on top of the garden.
• You can pick the soil and have more control of what you want to add to the garden bed.

Plan Ahead With Your Garden Bed

What we ended up doing for our raised garden beds was we rented a sod cutter and cut the sod underneath the beds to ensure no more grass would creep in. Then we added weed fabric to the area.

In the middle of our beds, we added cardboard. Cardboard will decompose, but before it does, it should kill everything underneath it. Added bonus: it’s great for the worms.

Another thing to note is: I understand soil can be expensive, especially if you’re making a tall garden bed, so get creative with filling it up. We started our first layer with topsoil but you could also use to save money.

Gather The Supplies To Build Your Raised Garden Bed

My husband has mise en place tattoed on his arm. This is a french phrase used in the culinary industry meaning “putting everything in its place.” This term can certainly be applied to much more than that and I’m stressing that for our garden beds as well.

Ironically, even though he has that permanently placed on his body, we somehow make ten trips to Home Depot on any given project. Not efficient at all! Learn from us and don’t let this happen to you. Below you’ll find what you need just to make the garden beds.

Barrier For The Weeds

We cut out the sod, added weed fabric to the area, and put cardboard underneath each garden bed to ensure grass and weeds would have a harder time growing through.

Choose Your Soil

We used Soil 3 and it’s parent company is Super Sod. They are local to North Carolina, South Carolina, & Georgia and will deliver straight to your door. Their soil is OMRI listed for certified organic gardening. It’s listed on the OMRI website so you can see for yourself!

Help The Wood From Your Raised Garden Beds Last Longer

The wood I use for my garden beds are untreated for health purposes. But I do want the wood to last long term. The wood stabilizer I went with was from Timber Pro Coating. I used their internal wood stabilizer. It’s a non-toxic alternative with zero VOC’s and zero hazardous ingredients. It MUST be applied to bare, unsealed, and untreated wood. This description is from their website:

“Internal Wood Stabilizer absorbs and a chemical reaction occurs when it combines with the free alkali that exists naturally in wood. A waterproof gel forms deep within the pores. The gel hardens to hard silicate-like glass crystals which remain permanently imbedded deep within the wood which becomes so dense it can absorb little to no water. IWS does not wear off, never needs re-application and does not attract dirt and spores.“

As you can see, I do my best to support small business whenever possible. I know exactly where my money is going and feel good about giving my money to them because I know every sale means so much to them. You can’t beat the customer service with a small company. In fact, when we ordered the wood stabilizer, we spoke directly to the owner.

Products

• 14 – 2″ x 4″ x 8′ (untreated)
• 1 1/2″ deck screws

Tools & Equipment

• miter saw
• tape measure
• drill

Cut List

• 8 – 2″ x 4″ x 4′
• 10 – 2″ x 4″ x 14″

Instructions For How To Make a Raised Garden Bed For Beginners

1. Cut (4) 2″ x 4″ x 8′ boards in half, making (8) 2″ x 4″ x 4′ boards for the short sides of the bed.
2. Cut (10) 2″ x 4″ x 14″ boards for the braces.
3. Lay out boards as show in the picture

Then screw the 14″ bases on the boards as such:

For the long sides: 24″ on center

For the short sides: even with the edges

4. Screw all the sides together.

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Yield: 1 garden bed

How To Make Raised Garden Beds For Beginners

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Materials

• + 14 - 2" x 4" x 8' (untreated)
• + 1 1/2" deck screws

Tools

• + miter saw
• + tape measure
• + drill

Instructions

1. Cut (4) 2" x 4" x 8' boards in half, making (8) 2" x 4" x 4' boards for the short sides of the bed.
2. Cut (10) 2" x 4" x 14" boards for the braces.
3. Lay out boards then screw the 14" bases on the boards.
4. For the long sides: screw bases 24" on center.
5. Screw all the sides together.

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Let’s Chat

Gardening is so therapeutic for me. If you agree, I’d love to chat with you all on what you’re plans on for your garden this year. Share in the comments below.