We’ve received quite a few questions and compliments on our raised beds over the years so we thought we’d use the opportunity to do our first build series. We felt these beds were a decent compromise between affordable and aesthetic. You could always get away with less but we liked how these turned out, and I like being able to sit on the edge of the bed while working the garden. We’ve got 3 of these in our garden, each giving about 32 square feet of bed. Depending on the quality of the wood you’re using, it might be worth taking the time to drill pilot holes for driving screws as the wood may split at the end. Let’s get building because Spring is coming!

Materials:

One 8′ 4×4

Two 8′ 2×4’s

Three 8′ 1×6’s

Two 8’x2′ corrugated metal panels

We first started by cutting the 4×4 into four 2′ sections for our corner posts. With the table saw set to 1.75” we ran each segment of 4×4’s through to remove material, leaving us an “L” shape. Save these pieces of scrap wood because we’ll use them as center braces later in the project. Then, with a handsaw we removed two cubes of about 1.75” from the top of each segment, leaving the bend of the “L” shape taller with the sides as a ledge to rest our cross beams on – visual aid below.

Next, we ripped one of the 2×4’s down the middle length-wise to make two equal 8′ pieces of 1.75″ square stock to be used to connect our posts. The second 2×4 we first cut in half to 4′, then ripped that board down the middle as well to make the 4′ edge of the bed. We then attached each of these to the tops of our corner posts. We also used two of the scrap pieces removed from the 4×4’s earlier and attached them in the middle of our 8′ segments, screwed in from the top (diagram 2).

After our wood frame was complete, we used an angle grinder to cut the corrugated metal sheets down the middle, making 1′ wide sections. We left one of the sheets the full 8′ long, then cut the other 8′ panels in half down to 4′ for the shorter wall. We attached each of these along the inside of the frame at the top, using the inner walls of the “L” shaped corner posts to anchor, and also attached the panels at the middle to the center supports. We liked the exposed metal, but due to the position of the beds, we ended up needing to spray paint some of the sides black as they were intensely reflecting the sun – a favor to our neighbors.

We used 1×6 for a finished looking ledge on top of the beds, mitered at the corners and centered over the frame with equal amounts of overhang on the inside and outside edges. This ended up being cut to fit and wasn’t a very efficient use of this wood, we ended up with some awkward length scraps but liked the overall look.

After this, the beds were pretty much done! We set them in their final positions, marked where each of the 6 legs would be, then dug holes around 1 foot deep to set the legs down in so that the bottom of the corrugated metal was even with the ground. We found this to be sturdy enough and did not need to cement in the posts.

This tutorial is a little out of order from our actual photos, but that’s because we learned some lessons while building and wish it had been done in this order we’ve described. We hope you enjoy this build and will try making some raised beds of your own!

-M&J