Easy DIY Raised Garden Beds

Hi Everyone,

My name is Mario and I want to show you how I made these easy raised garden beds.

• Two 12-ft 2"x10"
• Two 8-ft 2"x10"
• Three 6-ft 2"x4"
• Eight post caps
• Wood filler (optional)
• Paint and brush (optional)
• Glue
• Exterior/Deck screws
• Pocket hole jig
• Exterior pocket hole screws
• Drill
• Miter saw

I decided to use posts at the corners just like you would if you're making a table with aprons. To make the posts, I could've used 4x4's, but I didn't want to incur another cost, so I decided to make my own out of the 2x4's. To determine the height of the posts, I took the height of the 2x10, which measured rough 9 1/4", then added 2" to allow a slight reveal after I added the post caps.That means that I cut a total of 16 11 1/4"-long pieces from the 2x4s, then I glued them in pairs and screwed them together using 1 1/2" deck screws to make the eight posts; four for each bed.

The size I was aiming for was 4 feet by 6 feet, so I purchased two 12-foot long and two 8-foot long 2x10’s from from the big orange store, but I had them cut in half so I can fit them in my car.

From one 12-ft board, you can get two 6-foot pieces, and from one 8-ft board, you can get two 4-foot pieces. I just trimmed them down a few inches to account for the posts at the ends. Was this really necessary? Nope, but just wanted the bed as close as possible to 4-ft by 6 ft. Plus, these cutoffs came in handy when it was time to paint the bed.

Ok. Now that the posts were made and the boards where cut to length, it was time to work on the joinery. I drilled two pocket holes on both ends of each board, and to keep the screws from hitting each other, I made the holes closer to the outer edges on two of the boards and closer towards the middle on the other two boards.

At this point this is what you should have before assembly of one raised bed:

• Two 45" 2x10 boards with pocket holes drilled at the end (four if making two raised beds)
• Two 69" 2x10 boards with pocket holes drilled at the end (four if making two raised beds)
• Four posts (eight if making two raised beds)

• Four post caps (eight if making two raised beds)

To assemble it, I moved the boards to a flat surface so it was easier to put together. I aligned the posts so that the seam was facing the sides if you were looking at the short end of the bed. I forgot to do this, but I'm sure if you add glue to the ends of the boards, it would definitely help increase its rigidity. Now all that was left of the assembling part was to add glue to the top of the posts and then add the caps.

This next step is optional, but I decided to cover the outer seams with some wood filler.

(Remember those 3"-wide cutoffs? I put the bed on them to keep the bed off the ground during painting.) For the type of paint, I used an exterior grade paint and just brushed it on. I had a little helper for this part, but she's normally part of the camera crew, which is why she thought it would be a good idea to finger paint while I painted. I waited a little while for the paint to dry before I gave it another coat of paint.

As for the placement of the raised beds, I wanted them far enough from the shed so they wouldn't block the door when it was open and also far enough from each other so there is room to comfortably move the lawn mower and snow blower in between.

Thanks for sticking around. These were really easy to make. As a matter of fact, if I wasn't recording this project, I could've had both beds completely finished in one day. I also could've left the wood unpainted, but we decided it would be nice to make them match the trim on the shed. This area is still not finished. We're thinking it would be nice to have a small potting table on the side, better organization inside, and maybe a nice walkway.

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