Build a Raised Garden Bed on a Budget
It isn’t too late to build yourself a raised garden bed, and get in those late summer bloomers, or your dream tomato and herb garden!
You can easily save more than 50% of the cost of purchasing a raised bed kit, by buying and cutting your own wood, and building the bed “from scratch”. Use a pest and moisture-resistant type of wood, such as cedar. This will ensure that this raised bed will give you years of gardening enjoyment!
Just follow Leah’s instructions below, including this materials list:
Materials Needed for Raised Garden Bed
- 6 pieces of 4′ 2×4
- 6 pieces of 32″ 2×4
- 4 pieces of 14″ 4×4
- stainless steel deck screws
- 4 copper post caps (optional)
The ideal wood type for this project would be cedar or redwood.
Note: The above cut list is correct. In the video version of the cut list, there is a typo, where it lists just 4 pieces each of the 4′ and 32″ 2×4. There should actually be 6 pieces of each, as noted above.
Cost of materials: We used cedar for the raised bed in the video. The total cost of the materials in the list above was $80 USD. Depending upon where you live, you should be able to build this raised garden bed for under $100 USD.
You Can Do This!
by See Jane Drill, Copyright 2016, All Rights Reserved
What is a good kind of lubricant for the screws? Would WD 40 work? Love the instructions!
Hi Del, WD40 might stain the wood. We used a product called “screw lube”, which is available from woodworking stores. But you know what, a lot of people just use a bar of soap, and it works just fine.