11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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Raised beds can be made of many different materials
•
Lumber is probably the most common, due to initial cost and
length of life
• White oak
• Cedar
• Locust
• Pressure Treated lumber (new materials no longer use
arsenic)
• Composite decking material (brands such as TREX®)
•
Straw bales
•
Concrete blocks
•
Stacked stone
This tutorial will be using pressure treated lumber
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
2
There are many reasons gardeners make their garden beds 4’ x 8’ :
1. 4’ is the maximum recommended width, as this means you will have to reach 2’
to get in to the middle of the bed. Some find this too much of a stretch and will
make their beds 3’ wide.
2. 8’ is the maximum recommended length for garden beds. Longer than this and
the pressure of the soil may cause the sides to bow, requiring additional
support to the sides.
3. Most people can find a way to haul 8’ long lumber without having to pay a
delivery charge.
4. An 8’ long board can be cut in half to get two 4’ pieces for the ends of a bed.
5. Home Depot and Lowes, and others will make free cuts.
6. Three pieces of lumber will make one 4’ x 8’ raised bed.
7. At 4’ x 8’, there will be no scrap lumber left over.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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I planned to make six garden beds, each 4’ wide and 8’ long.
•
I decided to document the process as a tutorial for others who are
interested in building their own garden boxes.
•
When I buy pressure treated lumber from Home Depot or Lowes, I
pick through the inventory to find boards that are not warped, with
no cracks, and minimal knots. This is usually a #2 select grade of
lumber. This takes some time and effort. But I never have to buy
extra lumber. I purchase 8’ boards, and have their staff cut some in
half (4’) for the ends of the beds. This saves me time in not having to
cut lumber, and it makes it easier for me to transport the lumber in
my vehicle (a Scion xB – you’ll see it later)
•
When I buy pressure treated lumber from a commercial entity, such
as Christmas Lumber, I get a #1 grade lumber that has been treated
with copper. They will deliver in the Knoxville area at no charge. The
tradeoff is that I do not get to pick the boards. So to cover the
possibility of a warped, cracked, or knotty board, I purchase 10%
more than my calculated need. And they will NOT make any cuts.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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Each bed that I’m making will be 4’ wide and 8’ long.
I will need three 8’ boards for each bed.
Two of the boards will make the long sides.
The third board will be cut in half to make the two ends.
As I plan to make six beds, I need 18 boards in total:
12 boards will be 8’ long -- for the long sides
6 boards will be cut in half – to make the ends
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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I purchased 8’ long boards of 2” x 8” #1 grade pressure treated
lumber from Christmas Lumber. I needed 18 boards, but since I
didn’t get to pick the boards, I ordered 10% extra and got 20
boards delivered. Here’s my pile of lumber. Now let’s get busy!
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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If you
purchase
from Home
Depot or
Lowes, have
them cut your
end boards
for you -- and
you can skip
this step.
1
2
3
4
First, I laid out four boards, which appear numbered in the photo.
This is to support the 6 boards that I will be cutting in half .
I used a board on the side (see the arrow) to line up the boards
that I will be cutting. I used this board on both sides, going back
and forth until I was sure that I had the boards aligned.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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6
If you had
Home Depot
or Lowes cut
your lumber,
you can skip
this step,
too.
5
4
3
2
1
These are the six boards that I will cut in half to make the ends of the boxes.
After getting all the ends of the boards aligned (prior photo), I measured 48”
(4’) from both ends and found the middle of the boards. I marked each
board, and then used this piece of lumber to draw a straight line across all of
the boards. My pencil line didn’t show up well in the photo, so I inserted the
dashed yellow line.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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If Home Depot
or Lowes cut
your lumber,
you can skip
this step, too.
Using a circular saw, I cut the six boards in half – following the line that I had
drawn. It may be obvious now why I had four boards lying flat under the six
boards to be cut. The boards underneath provide clearance for the saw blade
(I didn’t want to hit the concrete) and I wanted to support the boards so that they
remained flat while making the cut. Just be sure that you don’t cut the
underlying support boards! And voila – the six boards are now twelve end pieces.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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If you had
Home
Depot or
Lowes cut
your boards,
this is your
first step
I used 4 lag bolts to connect each end of the bed to the sides of the bed, or 8 lag
bolts per bed. (If your beds are more than 8” deep, you will want to use 6 bolts on each
end or 12 per bed.) I chose lag bolts that are 5/16 “ in diameter and 3.5” long.
What I’m doing here is marking where I will drill holes in the end boards for the
lag bolts. I used my quick square to mark in 0.75” from the end of the board
(half the thickness of the boards -- a 2” thick board is really only 1.5”) and then
marked 2” from the top and bottom of each of these pieces.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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Here’s what it looked like after the marking.
I want the lag bolts to easily go through these end pieces, so I used
a drill bit that is the same diameter as the lag bolts ( 5/16 “ )
(Note: I will NOT be drilling the long side boards – just the ends)
You can use other diameter lag bolts. Just don’t go smaller than
0.25” ; and there’s no need to go larger than 0.5” diameter.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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When drilling, be sure to keep the drill level and square to the board, so that
the lag bolt will go squarely through the end board and into the long side
board. Use a drill bit that is the same diameter as the lag bolts that you
purchased. Remember: we are only drilling these holes in the short end
boards.
If you purchased lumber from Home Depot or Lowes, this is the only
power tool you will need – a drill.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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The end boards are now all cut and drilled. Time to do a little cleanup.
I simply used a broom to sweep the boards to remove the sawdust
created by sawing and drilling. Nothing more than that!
I swept the sawdust into the grass. Sometimes I save it for sopping up oil
spills. As it’s pressure treated, it should NOT go to the compost bin.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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This end board is swept clean. You can see the line that was drawn
0.75” from the edge (half the width of the board we will be
attaching to) and the holes that were drilled.
I easily inserted the lag bolt into hole, as it was drilled at the same
diameter as the lag bolt. (this was a test fit, without the washer)
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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The lag bolts that I purchased are 3.5” long.
I wouldn’t recommend anything shorter than 3.0”, as 1.5” will be used to
pass through the end board, leaving only 1.5” penetration into the long
side board. At the same time, anything longer than 4” in length is
probably a waste of money.
I will also add a washer to each lag bolt before inserting into the board.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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Quick
Square
Note the lag
bolts with a
washer on
each. This
gives an idea
of how
much of the
bolt length
will be in the
end board
and how
much will
end up in
the side
board.
It took me 30 minutes to cut and drill the end boards.
Now starts the more time consuming steps: assembling the boxes.
The most important thing is to get the boxes square – each corner
must be 90 degrees. You will want a quick square, as shown here, or
a T-square or a woodworking square.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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Oh yes, remember to remove the tags and staples
from the boards. Even the thickness of a staple
can interfere with getting the corners square.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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I used both a quick square (shown in prior photo)
and a large wood working square that I have in my
shop. Having two squares was really helpful.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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Using the squares, I got the first corner square . (The first corner is
always the easiest.) I added a washer to each lag bolt and inserted
it through the end board.
I used a hammer to tap it into the side board, just to get it started.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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I used a ratchet wrench to finish the insertion of the lag bolt into the long
side board. As you can see, I did this manually. You might have an
attachment that lets you use a power drill to do this step. If you have it,
use it, as it took a lot of pumping to get that 3.5” lag bolt fully inserted.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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The second corner that I connected is opposite the first corner.
It was as easy to square as the first corner. Repeat the process of
squaring and inserting the lag bolts (with washers).
I have now completed two halves of a box, each shaped like an
“L”. The third and fourth corners will be a bit more challenging.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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On the third corner, I used both of my squares. It was a bit
more challenging because the other end of the long board
was already attached and there wasn’t as much give. And
the fourth corner will let me know whether I got the first
three corners square!
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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How did I know that all of the corners were square BEFORE I fastened the
fourth and final corner?? I measured the diagonal, as shown here.
In order to be square, the diagonal measurements MUST be the same. In
my case, it was 110 5/8 inches. I walked around the box making minor
nudges, adjusting little by little, until the two diagonals were the same
measurement. Then I drove home the final two lag bolts.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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It took me one hour to assemble the first box, and I had five more to go.
What could I do to shorten that time?
Get out the tape. I chose to use painter’s tape. (I have also used regular
masking tape.) I placed tape both inside and outside the box, at each
corner, and approximately midway on each side and end of the box.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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Here’s what it looked like when I removed the box.
This will provide a great starting point for each of the five
remaining boxes to be built.
I will still use the squares, but the set up will be so much
faster with these markings on the garage floor.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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This shot shows how I used the tape markings to help line up the boards
when assemblying the remaining five boxes.
While the first box took one hour to build, each of the remaining boxes
took 25-30 minutes. That’s the value of the tape markings on the floor!
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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This is my Scion xB,
in which I often haul
8’ lengths of lumber
and all sorts of
garden tools and
supplies. At the
time of this photo, it
had six bales of peat
moss in it – just part
of what will go into
these new garden
boxes.
6
5
4
3
2
1
Here are the six finished boxes, stacked and waiting for my hubby to help
me carry them to the back yard to set in place.
My total time, from start to finish, including cleanup was four hours:
30 minutes of cutting/drilling, one hour for the first box and tape
marking, two hours to build the remaining five boxes, and about 30
minutes for cleaning up and putting away tools. And yes, I did all of this
by myself. You can do it, too. And it’s even more fun with a helper.
11/02/2014
Copyright 2014 Marsha Lehman
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