A rule of thumb in construction is to always get about 10% extra to cover "oops" moments without running to the store in the middle of a project.

Though 6 inches is *enough*, if you *want* 9 that's probably better anyway.

As an alternate to drilling holes and driving rebar through, you can use three bits of rebar at each corner; one inside the bed to serve as a corner pin and the other two one on each side of the corner to hold the wood in place against the pin from the outside. That should work of log cabin style.

I would not piece the boards together. Looks better in decorative beds, but requires drilling and internal pinning plus this bed use is more functional in nature.

Building longer beds gets you a lot more gardening area for the same $ spent on edging materials. I personally think ~16'x4' is ideal; long enough to hold plenty but not too long if I need to walk around to the other side real quick.

Awesome. Now, with the rebar, how long should I get the pieces (I have no idea if you can get them certain lengths, I'm no carpenter) for a 9 inch tall bed? What I mean is, how much should be in the ground, especially if I do the alternate to drilling?

Mickie, I have used 1/4" rebar in 24" lengths to support very heavy railroad ties that are 8"x8"x8'. It works, but my subsoil is hard clay and I drive all but 6" of that into the ground.

If I were to do it over again I would probably go with the same length, but a little thicker diameter as the RR ties over 5 years or so have bent the rebar slightly (a couple inches of movement). Keep in mind this rebar is used to hold heavy RR ties which are stopping erosion on a slope. In a raised bed the 1/4" is probably ample. You can always add additional pieces later on if need be to increase the strength.

You generally can find the rebar in various diameters and lengths at a hardware store.

Mickee you can likely get the rebar at the same place you bought the timber. I would ask before I bought it. Tell them what you are trying to do, they may have a class or be able to explain how to use the pins Ray mentioned.

Since I have not yet used the timbers, I won't be of any help there. But I do know Ray is a gentlman and wise beyond his years.

Howdy Ray ;-)

Good Luck,
Gumby_CT

My husband just made my first raised bed three days ago using cement bricks we already had. It looks really good and though it was backbreaking work to carry the bricks, husband said it was very easy. Lacking easy access to many of the materials in the sq foot book, we used black silage plastic for the bottom and covered it first with straw seeped in horse manure then a layer of garden grit followed by four bags of compost mixed with grit. The depth is about 12 inches which should let us grow almost anything if it works. My family is very found of American veggies that take up a great deal of space and or grow vertically. So I'm working out ways to get our Three foot by Nine food bed with as many things going up as possible. I'm only 4'8" so the child sized width works perfect for me, but we made the bed longer to conserve bricks.

I used old rusted steel beams for the horizontal makers and bamboo stuck under to mark the vertical squares.

No link yet as we are just starting - good luck with your bed!

Disaster Cat - ex-patriot Californian living in rural Ireland with husband, dogs, new garden plot and many, many cats...