There are a lot of benefits for having a garden, especially an edible one. You get to control the chemicals you expose your food to, and thus restrict the amount of chemicals you consume. From the garden to the table–you cannot get any fresher (nor greener) than that.
I had some success in planting directly in the ground. What I find troublesome about that is the weeding required. The buggers grow everywhere. The solution is to isolate the plant… a garden bed, aka an oversized garden pot. I did some research and decided to take this on as my next DIY project.
There are a lot of raised garden bed build types. You can construct it from stone, brick, wood, or simply a mound of dirt. For my project, I decided to go with a wooden bed. I was dissuaded from using pressure treated wood because of the likely hood the chemicals can leach into the soil and onto the plant (there’s a lot of debate about that NOT being an issue today, but I’m going to err on the side of caution). Cedar and redwood were highly recommended for its longevity. Redwood won out because I can easily find it here in the Bay Area. It is expensive though.
For the build, I wanted to keep it simple. I’m lacking in wood working tools and some of the plans/designs would be difficult for me to execute. A very typical and simple design just uses the planks/boards that comprise the width and length of the garden bed and scrap pieces of wood or posts (usually a 4×4). The posts or scrap wood would be used in the corners as nailing anchors for the sides of the garden bed. I didn’t want to go this route because I didn’t want to buy extra wood just for nailing purposes. It just seems like a waste of wood and more importantly waste of money. My solution was to use pocket screws. I saw them being used on PBS woodworking shows. They used pocket screws to join pieces together in furniture and cabinets. I figured why not for this application? After finding out they make weather resistant pocket screws, I green lighted this option. I decided to go with the Kreg pocket hole system because that was used on the PBS shows and it’s readily available online (links below) and in big box stores.
I did more research on pocket screw joinery. Knowing the thickness of the material you’re using is very important. For optimal bite, the screw should leave the board (that has the hole bored out) at or near the midway point of that board (https://www.kregtool.com/store/c13/kreg-jigsreg/#tab1394). Therefore, positioning of the jig (device used to bore the pocket screw hole) is important. The thickness of the work material is also important in selecting the right screws to use. It needs to be long enough to bite into the connecting board. It is also important not to over torque the pocket screw. You don’t want to strip the wood threads. This is crucial info. I would hate to spend all the time and money to have the joint fail because I drilled the hole in the wrong position, stripped out the threads, or use the wrong size screw to connect the pieces together.
The material cost is approximately $65. The screws and plugs were relatively cheap. The large chunk is due to the wood choice: redwood. The cost can easily be reduced by using more common cheaper wood. The compromise is the longevity of the garden bed. A cheaper wood, like pine will rot faster.
The tool cost is hard to factor in. Yes, I did buy the Mini Kreg Jig, and the driver bit specifically for this project. However, its use is not only restricted for building raised garden beds. It’s a joinery system. I can use it to repair drawers, chairs, tables, etc. As with the bar clamps and combination square, it’s not a must have in the home DIY tool box, but there are multiple uses for those tools and therefore, it’s a safe buy.
Here’s the video I shot of the project and price breakdown (located below the video link):
Project tools & materials
Wood:
2x6x16 untreated redwood
- I purchased two pieces
- cut to four 4ft lengths
- cut to four 2ft lengths
- durable
- common in California (where I’m from)
- I paid approx $35 for both boards at Home Depot
Kreg:
- Mini Kreg Jig ($20)
- Square Driver ($5)
- Weather Resistent Screws ($6)
- Pocket Hole Plugs ($5)
Clamps:
- Irwin Quick Grip ($20)
- I used 2 clamps to lock the jig to the board when boring out the pocket holes and to lock the wood together when assembling the levels together
- alternative: Kreg Locking Face Clamp ($20)
- this type of clamp will lock the jig to the board better than the bar clamp
Combination Square
Soil:
- top soil
- 3 cu ft
- $8.25 total
- garden soil
- 3 cu ft
- $8.50 total
- manure
- 1 cu ft
- $1.50
Would like to see the end result of the video you posted on Youtube at the end of the season. At least some updates on how the raised bed did and the out come of that which you planted.
Would also like to recommend that you look at a more efficient recipe for your soil in your upcoming planting season. One that incorporates more nutrients available for the food you are growing and will largely reduce the amount of watering you have to do on a regular basis. In addition when you improve the contents of your soil and provide what your plants are needing you will in turn reduce the amount of pest and other man made chemicals you have had to possibly add to the soil during the growing season. In addition you will also increase the amount of food production each plant will do for you. Thus your harvest will be larger and longer.
Sorry, I didn’t take any photos/video of the harvest. The Shishito peppers were harvested when they were large but still green in color. They were also consumed when harvested. The Thai Dragon chilis produced a lot. I ended up drying most of the harvested chilis. It was a pretty good hall. When dried the Thai chilis filled two 16 oz jars.
The material cost for the project was high, so I went cheap on the soil mixture. To save on cost I did 1/2 top soil and 1/2 garden, instead of all garden soil. Manure was cheap, so I bought 1 cubic foot. The output was good, but I will take your advice and do some research on a better soil mixture.
As for pests, I had an ant and aphid (or scale..?) issue. The bugs were found under the leaves. Those litter buggers were also on the mandarin tree and tomato plants near the raised bed. I didn’t want to use insecticide on the plants, so I bought ladybugs. Results were meh, most few away by the next day. Any pests found on the peppers weren’t consumed and thrown out.
Thanks for sharing these plans, mine turned out great! This was my first project with the Kreg Jig. I decided to use cedar wood for mine. Pressure treated wood would have been a lot cheaper but I wanted to avoid the chemicals and I think cedar looks and smells really nice.
Besides the type of wood the only thing I did differently was to put the holes on the inside of my bed so they are hidden from view.
Awesome! Placing the screws on the inside is a good idea… eliminates buying cover plugs.
Learn how to build a raised garden bed out of 4 and 6 boards. The garden bed is about 2 feet tall so you will be able to garden comfortably without getting on your knees. This is a quick weekend project that will spruce up any yard.