Building a raised bed garden

Good morning, SuperKasey!  The weather is really cool around here right now, but the pollen levels are out of control.  Apparently this is the one of the worst years for pollen ever. I won’t even comment on someone with my amount of sinus, allergy and lung issues digging around in a garden under a canopy of healthy maple, oak and ornamental trees.

I’m jealous of your well-planned garden.  It looks so organic and like it fits right in.  I think mine is going to look more like someone dropped a garden in the middle of my yard.

Speaking of which, I built myself a raised bed.  Booyah.

Check this out.

I drew sketches of my beds and was very meticulous about how much lumber I would need. Then I went to the hardware store and pulled the lumber I needed.  Then I bought the lumber.  Then I got a call from my man with a truck (I don’t own one) only to discover that he would not actually be transporting the lumber back to my home.  So.  I drive one of these:

Not good for transporting lumber.  Luckily my back seat folds down, though, so I figured I could maybe make it work.  I called a family member to come help me before realizing that I had purchased the wrong size lumber.  I purchased lumber that was 2″ x 12″ x 10′ rather than 2″ x 8″ x 8′.  This meant two things.

A) My bed sizes would change, thus altering all my soil and budget numbers.

B) My car would definitely not fit lumber that was 10′ long rather than 8′ long.

I pondered these hurdles after calling a family member (thanks, Dad!) to come help me haul the lumber in our compact cars.  I ended up making a last-second decision to return half the lumber and just go with one bed that would be 5′ x 10′ x 1′ rather than two beds 4′ x 8′ x 16″.  The lumber cost me $105.38, and I actually have enough lumber for a second bed if I choose to make one (since this bed is not as tall as my original plans).

I went home and built that sucker like there was no tomorrow.  No, seriously.  I dug holes well into the night.  But now I have this!

It turned out really well.  The construction was very easy.  I just cut one of the 2″ x 12″ in half for the shorter sides and used two full-length 2″ x 12″ for the longer sides.

I cut one long 4″ x 4″ x 8′ into 4 pieces for the corner posts.

The posts extended a full foot down below the frame, so I dug down roughly 16″ and sited the thing.  The ground is uneven in places, so there are little gaps here and there at the base of the bed, but I’m not too concerned about that.  I might pack some dirt in there, and if it ever becomes an issue, I can always futz around with extending the base of it here and there later.

The point is: IT IS DONE!  And sited.  And situated.  With the new (improvised!) bed size, I had to recalculate the dirt.

5 * 10 * 1 = 50 cubic feet of dirt.

50 / 27 = 1.85 cubic feet.  I can round-up to 2 cubic yards to fill the corner post holes (I dug a few extra ill-placed holes on accident…), and I’ll bump it up to 3 cubic yards to fill some other little containers and to place around the yard in some flower beds.  3 cubic yards of soil at something like $30/cubic yard puts me at $90 before tax and delivery.  I’ll just factor those in mathemagically!

I project my dirt and frame cost at $245.38. That is not bad for an initial capital investment, right? Now I just need to order the dirt, and then plant things.  Yeah.  That.

That’s all for now, SuperKasey.  I hope your day is as awesome as mine.  Happy digging!

Advertisement