I currently have 1 large raised vegetable bed. It’s 3 X16 I think ~ or however long the boards were I was using. I decided to create one more of these, the same size. I will also be building a few 4×4 beds for some new “experiments”.

I have a lovely helper in my building projects. She is terrific at holding and counting out screws while I work, as well as posing when we are done.

Step 1 to building a raised vegetable bed.

Where to get the wood?

I got my wood from a demo my husband did of an old porch. Yep, I know it’s probably not the best thing to use for a vegetable garden, but we’re all still here. If you don’t have access to any previously used wood you can get some at a local lumber yard. Make sure you don’t get treated wood, as you don’t want the chemicals to leech into your soil and your plants.

You can also use plastic, in fact, you can get raised vegetable bed kits from many different places. These are nice because they are all precut and you just have to slide the corner pieces on and you’re done. If you have the cash I’d  go for those ~ save you time and they will last forever.

Step 2 to Make a Raised Vegetable Bed

Measure out the length of boards you want to use. Make sure you can reach the middle from both sides. This means usually not going more than 4 feet across. Cut all your pieces and lay them where they will need to be.  You will also need to cut 4 posts for the corners. The posts are what keep the bed together.  I used 4×4 posts for this part. I did a terrible job cutting them, but hey ~ it’s not a beauty contest.  I have read you can use a height of 6 inches for your bed, but I always use two 4×6s on top of each other. Since I use lasagna gardening the materials shrink substantially through the year, and the 12 inches we start with gives me plenty of planting material at the end of the season.

Step 3  Connect Your Raised Vegetable Bed

Connect the pieces. We used screws, but you can easily use nails as well.  We connected the end pieces first, since they were smaller and easier to handle. Once we had the ends all put together it was easier to position the longer boards so we could screw them together.

Step 4. Shore up the sides of your Raised vegetable bed

My boards had been laying around for a while and were pretty warped. I used a 2×4 cut to the length of the 2 boards to pull them together and strengthen the long sides.  I did this for my first one and his has held up quite nicely.

I did one on the inside and one on the outside only because one set of boards was VERY warped and doing it on the inside was the only way I could get them to go together. I generally put the support boards on the outside of the bed.

So there you have it, how to put together a raised vegetable bed. Here’s our final project, with a proud toddler in the middle.

When you use raised vegetable beds you can put them wherever you want them, wherever you have room (as long as there’s sun).

You can also make the soil just the way you want it. You don’t have to worry if your soil has too much clay or too much sand.

It’s raised which means you can actually have it at any height you want it. If you have bad knees or a bad back you can put your raised bed as high as you want it, even on a table.

I personally put my raised beds on the ground and eventually the plants work their way into the real ground ~ at least that’s what I imagine happens at the bottom.

You can easily rotate crops.  This year I am added a couple extra raised beds to my garden. I have been using one raised bed about 16 foot by 4 foot for the last couple of years. I am adding a couple extra beds this year because I want more produce to can and give away. I have been making sure I switch up where I plant the tomatoes and squash, so each year  I switch which end they are planted on.

I also use containers for some fruits and veggies. I had great luck last year with sweet potatoes in a half barrel ~ it used to have oil in it. My husband just cut it in half. The big hole in the bottom where the oil used to pour out was perfect for drainage.

I’m digressing I see.  As you can see there are quite a few benefits of to the raised vegetable garden. Oh I forgot the biggest one ~ WEEDS.

In a raised vegetable garden, especially if you put something like cardboard or newspaper on the bottom of the bed, the weeds are almost non existent. I love that. So if you are thinking an in ground garden seems overwhelming ~ you don’t have access to a tiller or something to turn the soil a raised vegetable garden might be the perfect option for you!

A raised bed is also a very easy way to begin an organic vegetable garden. With the ability to easily decrease the amount of weeds, and add compost to the bed instead of fertilizer it is a great way for beginners to test the organic waters.