1. Gather Your Tools
You can choose from a wide variety of material to build your raised beds. My favorite materials are reclaimed ones–my family purchased composite decking that was salvaged from a home deck remodel. Wood, stone or brick are all good options, too. You’ll also need some hand tools to construct your raised garden beds including a saw, level, tape measure, pencil and screws.
2. Select a Space and Design for your Raised Garden Beds
Choose a location for your raised garden beds based on the type of vegetables and fruits that you plan to grow. Do they need full sun or do they love the shade? Also, keep in mind that the area should be level, near a water source and have room for you to move around while you work.
Make sure to choose a design that allows family members to reach the middle of the bed. We designed our garden to include three raised beds, one for each member of our family. Two of our garden beds are 103 inches long, 50 inches wide and 12 inches deep and one is smaller to accommodate our son, which measures 63 inches long, 50 inches wide and 12 inches deep. To help you plan sizing, map your garden beds with string, for a visual of what it will look like before you break ground.
3. Get Building
First, level the ground where your garden bed will soon be. Then, dig 12″ holes to put your posts in. Bury and secure the posts. Next, build the sides of the garden beds using your materials of choice–we used 8 pieces of composite decking. Attach the garden bed sides to the posts with two 6-inch screws at each corner, first pre-drilling and then screwing them together.
4. Level it Out
Use a level to make sure the frame is level on all sides. We made sure that each section was level before securing the screws all the way. You don’t want water running into one corner or pooling in your garden beds. Once the sides are securely attached, you can cut the tops of the posts so they are level with the sides.
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Thanks for sharing the article blogs..I fine that very useful.
I would say it’s important to get the children learning & watching how to do gardening work when they’re still young. The least parents can educate the green concept to children:)
Jay Chua
Publisher, PorchSwingSets.com
We did square foot gardening last year but it did not work out very well…not enough soil This year we did container gardening and it worked VERY well! We didn’t do a raised bed but just planted veggies/fruit in our flower pots instead of annuals. BUMPER crops of tomatoes and cucumbers and tons of lettuce and herbs too!