Most people don’t think about starting a garden in October. When we look around at nature in the fall, we see dying leaves and flowers, plants going dormant to protect themselves from the cold, and fewer hours of daylight.
However, when I decided to plant garlic this fall, I realized I needed an additional garden bed dedicated to growing it for the next nine months. Many people have asked me over the years how to build a raised garden bed, and for the first time I’m sharing the simple process I use for building one.
If you’ve wanted to try gardening in raised beds, these steps will guide you through a straightforward, affordable way to begin. With this method, you’ll build a cedar raised bed that is approximately 3 feet wide by 6 feet long.
We’re using our new cedar raised bed for garlic plants, but you can use a bed like this to grow almost any kind of garden vegetable that is suitable for your growing zone.
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Why Use Raised Garden Beds?
Raised beds aren’t a requirement for gardening in your yard. However, there are several reasons why many gardeners choose to use raised beds rather than planting directly in the ground.
The most common reason a gardener might choose to use a raised bed is because of the quality of their soil. In the South, some people struggle with red clay soil, which is known for poor drainage and restricting root growth. Other gardeners find that they have poor-quality soil, and using a raised bed allows them to improve the growing conditions by using the soil of their choice inside the beds.
We like the neatly manicured look that raised beds create in our garden. We can easily step through and around our beds without walking through dirt.
Regardless of whether you need raised beds for a specific reason, or you simply like the look of them, an important thing to consider is where to put them.
Where to Put a Raised Garden Bed
If you’ve decided to use raised beds for your garden, there are a few things to consider about where to place them.
Most vegetables and pollinator flowers like to grow in full sun. If you have an idea of what you’re going to grow, do a little research to see what kind of sun exposure you’ll need. In most cases, you’ll want to avoid using a spot that gets too much shade.
For the type of garden bed that you’ll find in this article, you’ll need a relatively flat spot. Our yard is already flat, so we didn’t need to do any preparation to the ground beforehand. However, if your yard is sloped or uneven, you will need to do some prep work to even it out first.
We like raised beds because they make gardening more convenient for us, so it’s important that you don’t place your garden bed in an inconvenient spot. Make sure that you can easily get to it with water and gardening tools.
If you’re using more than one raised bed, consider how to place them in relation to each other. Allow enough space to walk between them and to reach into them. Consider if you’ll need to have enough space to maneuver a wheelbarrow between garden beds. We spaced our raised garden beds 3 feet apart from each other and 3 feet away from the fence, which allows plenty of space for our needs.
Why We Chose Cedar Fence Pickets
The internet is full of creative ideas for ways to build raised garden beds. In the past, we’ve used kits from the store, and one year we even used concrete blocks. We’ve seen other people who repurposed animal water troughs or corrugated metal for garden beds.
For our garden beds, we decided to use untreated, dog-ear cedar fence pickets. We chose these for several reasons. One reason we like to use these is because they’re similar to the wood used in many garden bed kits, but they’re more affordable.
Other benefits of using cedar fence pickets are that cedar is naturally resistant to decay and insects. Some people consider it safer for growing food than pressure-treated wood, and cedar is a lightweight wood that is easier to work with than other species.
We utilized the full six-foot length of the cedar fence pickets, and we did not cut off the dog-ear ends. The finished dimension of our boxes are 3 x 6 feet and 16 ½ inches high.
Combining the cedar fence pickets with one cedar 2x4x8 per bed, cost of wood ends up being around $55.73 per garden bed.
Materials and Tools for One Raised Garden Bed
You will need the following materials to build one raised garden bed:
- Nine untreated cedar pickets, 5/8-inch x 5 ½ inches x 6 feet
- One untreated cedar 2x4x8 board
- Sixty 1 5/8-inch wood deck screws
- Cordless drill with the appropriate driver bit
- Circular saw, or your preferred cutting tool
- Measuring and marking tools
- Safety goggles and gloves
Cut List
- Leave six of the fence pickets uncut
- Cut three of the fence pickets in half, approximately 3 feet long each
- Cut the 2x4x8 into six even pieces, each approximately 16 inches long
How to Build a Raised Garden Bed
1. Measure and Cut the Wood
Set aside six cedar fence pickets for the two long sides. These will remain their full 6-foot length, including the dog-ear ends.
Measure and cut the remaining three pickets in half to create six approximately 3-foot boards for the short sides.
Cut the cedar 2×4 into six approximately 16-inch pieces, allowing for the small amount of wood removed by the saw blade. Four pieces will become corner supports, and two will support the middle of the long sides.
We used a circular saw, but a handsaw will also work.
2. Assemble the Two Short Sides
Lay three short boards on a flat surface with their long edges together, forming a panel approximately 3 feet wide and 16 ½ inches high.
Position a corner support at each end, with its broad face against the boards. Keep the supports aligned with the ends of the boards and just below the top edge.
Using 1 ⅝-inch wood deck screws, drive two screws through each board into each corner support. Each short board will have four screws, for a total of 12 screws per short side.
Repeat to assemble the second short side.
3. Assemble the Two Long Sides
Lay three full-length pickets on a flat surface with their long edges together. Position a support at the midpoint of the panel, with its broad face against the boards and just below the top edge.
Drive two screws through each picket into the middle support, using six screws for this step.
Repeat to assemble the second long side.
4. Join the Sides to Complete the Bed
Stand the panels upright with all supports facing the inside of the bed. Position the long sides so their ends overlap the ends of the short boards.
Attach each long picket to the narrow face of each corner support using two screws at each end. Together with the two screws already securing it to the middle support, each long picket will have six screws.
Repeat at all four corners to complete the box. The finished bed measures approximately 3 feet by 6 feet and 16 ½ inches high.
How We Filled Our Raised Garden Bed
Once you’ve built the box for your raised garden bed, you’re not quite ready to use it.
The internet is full of just as many opinions on how to fill a raised bed as there are ways to build one. We’ve come up with a method for filling a garden box that has resulted in healthy growth and productive harvests for our plants.
We like to use a hügelkultur-inspired method of filling a garden box. First, we lay down a layer of plain brown cardboard as a base to block existing grass and weeds. On top of the cardboard, we create a layer of old sticks, small tree limbs, and logs we gathered from our property. This is followed by a layer of old leaves, and the final layer is a mixture of garden soil and compost.
We ended up using six 2-cubic-foot bags of soil and one 1-cubic-foot bag of compost per garden box. If you use this method to fill your boxes, the amounts you use for each layer will depend on what you’re able to gather from your yard. We spent about $57.79 on dirt and compost per box.
Whether you’re learning how to build a raised garden bed out of necessity or because you simply like the look of them, the steps in this article provide a straightforward and affordable way to get started.
Check out these other reader favorites:
- How to Plant Garlic in the Fall in the South
- Fall Garden Prep: Essential Tasks for a Beautiful Start to Spring
- How to Grow Zinnias in a Southern Cutting Garden
- How to Grow Herbs in the South: A Guide for the Southern Kitchen
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