What tools will you need?

Building a raised garden bed is a simple project and you likely already have all the tools you need, but here they are:

• Drill/driver

• Saw - to cut boards down to desired bed dimensions

• Level

• Shovel

What materials will you need?

The following materials are going to be needed:

• Pressure treated lumber for the frame (I went with 2x12-inch boards but you can choose a different board width based on preference)

• 2-1/2-inch deck screws (you’ll want shorter screws if you are using brackets)

• Weed/grass killer

• Weed tarp

• Optional: Raised garden bed brackets

Building the Frame

Before you actually begin building the frame, spend some time thinking about where you want the garden bed to be (keeping in sunlight requirements), what dimensions you want the raised garden bed to be, and what you want to plant in your garden bed. Once you have made these decisions, and gathered the required tools and materials, you are ready to build. The first step is cutting your lumber down to the required dimensions. I used 2x12-inch boards and made my garden 3’x8’ with the intent of putting another bed next to it.

If you elected to forgo the raised garden bed brackets, you’re going to drive screws from the shorter dimension board (3’ board in my case) into the end grain of the longer dimension board (8’ in my case). When putting screws into the end grain of a board, you should always predrill your pilot holes in order to avoid splitting the board. I would recommend using at least 2 screws at each corner joint.

Once the frame is assembled, get it into position in your yard and check if it's level. If not, use your shovel to excavate dirt at your high points. Keep checking if you’re level as you excavate until you are happy with it.

Prepping the Lawn

The goal here is minimizing the propensity for weeds to grow in our garden. But don’t be fooled. Weeds will grow in this garden bed, just like they grow in every garden bed, every square inch of the lawn, and every crack in the driveway. I just pulled a weed out of my gutter the other day. Nowhere is safe. This garden bed will just be another front in the everlasting war against the weeds. Godspeed soldier.

Our first step is going to be killing the grass and weeds in the bed. So, with our frame in final position, grab your grass and weed killer and spray it on the lawn contained within the garden bed. Follow the instructions on the bottle, but you’ll likely want to plan this task for a sunny day and you will have to wait some time until the grass is dead, and you may need to do a second application. Once all the grass is dead, grab your shovel and start digging out the dead grass and dispose of it.

Next, we will lay out our weed tarp, covering the entire bottom of the raised garden bed. This weed barricade will work to stop any weeds that we didn’t eradicate from growing up through the dirt. You may even want to staple the tarp to inside of the frame.

Planting

I am not going to cover the planting process in this article as it is going to vary significantly depending on the contents of the raised garden bed. In my case, we went for a variety of garden flowers including lavender, sedum, cone flowers, and aster. Good smelling, bee friendly, and easy on the eyes. My recommendation to you is do your research. Make sure your plants are going to play together nicely and you have the right soil for your plants. If you are buying potted plants to go in your raised garden bed, place the pots within the frame before you start dumping soil in your bed. Make sure you like the layout.

And that's it. You have a functional raised garden bed now. I hope when you’re reading this, it’s early spring and you can get out there and enjoy your hard work in the warm and sunny weather. Actually, by the time you’ve finished this guide, there are probably already weeds growing in your garden, so get off your computer or phone and go get those little guys out of there!