Inexpensive DIY Raised Garden Bed

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It’s easier than you think to build your own DIY Raised Garden Bed. And you can do it for very little money too!

Do you love fresh fruits and veggies? I do too! This raised garden bed is a great way to grow what you love at a much lower cost than going to a farm market.

I have a local market that I go to and last summer I bought everything I needed for salsa and the cost was a lot for it all. It came to about $6 a jar for the salsa which is so much higher than buying some at the grocery store.

I need to be able to can my own salsa because of an onion intolerance I developed so I decided to plant my own. Now I can have all the veggies I need for a much lower cost.

DIY Raised Garden Bed

The steps are really easy to build a raised garden bed. I used the same technique for this project that I did for my front porch planters!

Step 1 – find and cut your wood

I used cedar fence posts and 2×2’s to build my raised garden. You do not want to use anything that has been pressure treated because they have chemicals in them and those chemicals will seep into your food. So stay away from pressure treated.

I cut the long pieces for the front and back to 5 feet and the side pieces to 2 1/2 feet.

My 2×2’s I cut two 2 foot pieces. They will stand taller than the cedar pieces but that is so I can attach some netting to keep animals from getting into the garden and eating all my veggies.

Step 2 – Screw everything together.

My husband screwed everything together with 2 1/2 in deck screws which are galvanized so they won’t rust being out in the elements.

Simply screw the fence posts to the 2×2’s. We did the long sides first then stood the sides up and he screwed the short sides. I don’t have pictures of this part because I had to hold everything in place so it did shift. You definitely need at least two sets of hands for this part.

Step 3 – put your garden bed in place and fill with dirt

Choose your spot for your raised garden bed carefully so that the plants will get the right amount of sunlight. I had to place mine at my Mom’s house because my house has too much shade.

We put the bed on the side of the house where the sprinklers will hit the veggies.

I also laid some landscape fabric at the bottom and stapled it to the cedar so the grass underneath won’t grow up through my dirt.

Fill the bed with dirt. I used an organic soil from Home Depot. For my 2.5 by 5 foot garden bed we put in about 6 bags.

Step 4 – Add netting and plants

Now I picked out this netting from Amazon. It is a bit stiff but still pliable. I stapled it to the 2×2’s and the top part of the cedar boards.

Next, just add whatever plants you want in your garden! It’s that easy. Honestly, this whole project only took about 2 hours from start to finish. I am so excited to have fresh veggies all summer and be able to make salsa!

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• Simple and Cheap Front Yard Landscaping Ideas