I'm a new gardener and I've been looking at plans online. So far I like the one from Sunset magazine

Here is a link that might be useful: Perfect Raised Bed article

Much of my back yard is raised beds, some simple and some a little more intricate. The last ones I built I used 2x6 and 2x8 treated lumber (stacked) and redwood paint. I'm sure this will stir up the OG pot but there may be more harmful ingredients in some manures and OG fertilizers than in some treated woods, and the biggest caution is towards root crops anyway, not fruiting above-ground veggies like tomatoes & peppers & cucurbits.

Anyway, I simply nailed the ends on all 4 corners and then stacked the beds and toenailed them together with screws.

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Previously, I made my beds of Western Red Cedar 1x12's and used 4x4's for the corners, plus a 2x6 across the bed to tie it together to keep from bowing out in the middle. While they are still in use, they are starting to bow a little now, so I'll probably redo them in the next couple years with the current 2x6/2x8 stacked method.

Whatever you do, don't fill them with topsoil. Use a good mixture of components like soilless mix, compost, etc.

Hope this helps.

Actually, my mistake in the above post... I actually connected the corners/ends together with 3 or more screws, not nails.

I made raised beds for my blueberries, and stacked two 2x6 frames on top of each other, so they are a foot tall. The beds I plan to build for vegetables will probably be 18 inches or 24 inches tall. I used pressure treated wood, but I lined them with plastic on the inside, to prevent chemicals from coming in contact with the soil and plants. I also put hardware cloth in the bottom to prevent rodent damage. I secured the corners with 2x4s and used 3 inch long screws.

Good luck and have fun!

Hilde

Hi, I think most of the fuss over pressure treated (PT) lumber has to do with the old arsenic stuff (CCA). The arsenic treatment was discontinued years ago for everything except maybe dock pilings.

All the standard size lumber that you can buy now will have no arsenic in it. The treatment uses ACQ

http://home.howstuffworks.com/question278.htm
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The most common chemical used to treat lumber used to be chromated copper arsenate, or CCA. In 2003, however, the Environmental Protection Agency restricted the use of CCA in residential settings due to health and environmental concerns about arsenic leaching out of the wood. The most widely used alternative to CCA is alkaline copper quat, or ACQ. Copper is toxic to various insects and fungi that might cause decay. ACQ binds to wood fibers very well and allows wood to last decades even when it is in contact with the ground.

There is another common treatment used but I can't remember what it was called. I think it used boron or borate. When you go to buy the lumber check the label and see what it was treated with. When I researched ACQ I found it is not suppose to be much of problem. If you are concerned run some google searches and see what you can find.

Check out the link below for some nice design and landscape ideas. Who said raised beds have to be a boring box shape ;-) With just a little more work very interesting designs can be built (or bought from the link below.

For growing tomatoes in a backyard garden were looks do not matter my favorite size is 6 foot x 2 foot rectangle. This size will plant 3 tomatoes if the Florida Weave is used and the support posts are dug outside of the bed on each end.

If you want to make a front yard garden much more interesting shapes can be made. I will try to post some pictures.

BTW - I used long 3 1/2 inch exterior (dry wall like screws) to hold the beds together. Install them using a drill and a small bit to make a pilot hole so the wood does not split. Do not use nails! Use a good screw gun to zip the bed together. It is well worth the effort to do this as the screws hold much better then the nails.

Later, DC

Here is a link that might be useful: Very nice cedar beds and design ideas

I used 2X8 PT YP (with borate - no termites please-). Nailed them together, I used Simpson Strong tie corner brackets on the inside for extra support. Covered the ground with carboard, filled them up with mushroom compost and mulched in between beds.. Easy project, and so much more enjoyable to garden in!

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Austin,

I'm assuming PT YP = pressure treated yellow pine. Your set up looks very well planned and orderly. Please post pictures of the beds in full blown growth. I'll bet they will be beautiful.

Bill

Hi Austin and the group, I love your raised bed layout. It looks really nice.

Here are a couple of pictures, one showing my more complex front yard bed. It has flowers in it now but will be used for the fall tomatoes because it's the only spot I have that gets enough sun in the late fall and winter.

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The next one is a very simple 2 foot by 6 foot bed that works great for tomatoes. Note the two post at each end and the use of the Florida Weave. Works well and helps keep thing in place on those windy days.



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This should help give some ideas.

Later, DC

A couple summers ago, one of my sisters and her DH wanted to make a couple raised beds - her for veggies and he for some of this miniature garden plants. They had removed what the previous house owner had put in a larger bed. ~15ft x 25 ft, with a big chicken wire fence around it). Their yard is in full south sun and slopes down towards a creek. They got some lumber:

and Gardener's Supply's corner posts and made a couple assorted-sized beds (my BIL likes dwarfs, miniatures, and creepers in his little beds, although he didn't realize that the tiny dawn redwood that he bought and planted last year wasn't a "dwarf" and it is going to have to move!!! LOL):

The corner posts have a cap over a center hole in the hinge that posts can be driven into if desired. The large bed is an odd size - something like 5ft x 12 ft. The beds were filled with something like 2/3rd of a yard of a topsoil/compost mix delivered and dumped in the driveway by a local nursery. The first planting was setup like this (the poles are 8ft as a reference):

They then put some plastic mesh fencing around it:

By July, it looked like this:

Last year, my BIL's buddy wanted to make them a more substantial structure to put around the veggie bed and he even had the post hole digger going and poured footings, etc.. Now they simply wrap the fencing material around the whole thing and can supplement with fence posts in between to hang the mesh on. The mesh can then be taken down in winter:

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This year I started and planted some 'maters for her and also started some corn. She had some deer netting this year so I put that around it and this year that is secured by some landscape "U" stakes as the groundhogs managed to pull the bottom up all last year despite rocks keeping the fencing down. Of course, they could always tunnel under if they wanted but... sigh... She put in some peppers this past week and wants to get a cuke in there.

They have a known deer run along the creek at the bottom of the property and there are many nuisance groundhogs and bunnies all around so crops have to be fenced. In any case, I usually try to sneak my excess in there somehow. LOL

I agree with delta charlie. New "preserved" wood isn't like the old stuff. Actually, I like the new composite decking woods... It needs some outside support though.

But if you don't like that, use bricks, wall stones, unframed beds with the soil just raked up to a mound, or dig down to amend the level soil.

My beds are made from cement blocks. A bed 16 X 4 feet can be built for about $50. Takes 30 blocks - 12 on each side and 4 on the ends. 8" high and will last forever! No leaching of dangerous chemicals to worry about either. I plant herbs in the holes.

I used the composite lumber to build mine. Half wood and
half plastic. Cuts and nails just like real wood. It's not
supposed to rot.

I got it at Lowe's. I used fascia boards. They're 1/2 by 9 inches.
Fairly expensive and really heavy. I had them
all measured up and they cut them there for me so I could
get them in the car.

I also used ballisters of the same material (1 X 1) for stakes.
Worked out fine.

I'll post some pictures of them soon.