DIY Raised Garden Bed Ideas

Last year we totally dropped the ball and missed our opportunity to plant our gardens. When we moved into our house in 2016, one of the first things we did was install our DIY raised garden beds. We had an idea of how we wanted to build it, but looking back, I wish we had spent a little more time researching ideas before we built them. There are so many good DIY raised garden bed tutorials out there and I wish I had seen them sooner. If you are thinking about making your own raised garden bed, check out some of these ideas.

Basic Square/Rectangle Garden Box

If you want to most inexpensive DIY garden box, just buy four boards at Home Depot and screw them together to make a square. We actually made this style garden and made rectangle boxes. We purchased two 2 x 10 x 12ft cedar boards and two 2 x 10 x 8ft boards. This is how we made our first raised beds, but next time we would do a few things differently. At first we had trouble keeping the sides screwed together. I would suggest buying metal brackets or buying a 4 x 4 board and screwing your side boards into that. Then, we lined the bottom with garden fabric to prevent weeds from growing. Lastly, fill it with soil!

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Planter Box with Deep Sides

If you want to be able to grow vegetables that require deeper roots, then you will need to make your garden boxes deeper. You can do this by screwing together multiple 2 x 10 inch boards until you get to your desired height. Then line the bottom of the box with garden fabric and fill to the top with soil.

Garden Planter Box with Legs

If you don’t like to bend over while planting, weeding or harvesting from your garden, then build them to your height. You can build garden boxes with sides and a bottom, then just add four legs to get the desired height. You will need to make sure that the water can drain out of your boxes. Also, make sure that the legs can support the box full of soil.

Raised Bed Garden Box with Metal Sides

This is similar to the planter box with wooden sides, only now the sides are made with corrugated metal. Build the frame out of lumbar and then use metal sheets to make the sides. These boxes look really nice! Next time we decide to make more garden boxes, I am going to use this tutorial to make my own corrugated metal raised garden beds.

Tiered Garden Planter

I thought tiered planters were so cool! At Home Depot or your local hardware store, you can purchase the sides used to make steps and build your own tiered garden box. This allows you to grow plants with different root lengths in the different tiers. Having tiers also helps keep the animals away and makes it easier to pick your vegetables.

Giant Plant Pots

If your plan is to just grow a few different vegetables, I have had great luck with giant plant pots. Typically, I grow cucumbers and tomatoes in plant pots and use stakes or chicken wire to support the plant as it grows. Make sure that you water these pots frequently because they have less soil available to hold onto the water.

I hope that this post encourage you to build your own home garden and gave you some raised garden bed ideas. Choose which style garden bed would work best for you and then choose the best location in your yard. You can easily build any of these options, or buy them online. If you click on the images, you will find the link to purchase these planters. Growing fruits and vegetables can be time consuming, but there is nothing better than fresh veggies in the summertime.

If you are looking for home projects to do this summer make sure you check out some of my tutorials

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Easy Mudroom Bench Tutorial

How to make Industrial Pipe Shelving

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