Raised beds need advice!

[californicus]

Welcome! very nice work. Whats the black covering on top of the square sections?

[urbangardener]

Just pieces of 1x4 treated lumber painted black, to tie it in with the fence. A little eyeliner with no structural purpose.

[JCT]

That really looks nice!

[maineorchard]

Nice looking house too!

[AngelOreo]

Forgot to attach pics…

[marknmt]

One other fly to throw into the raised bed design ointment has to do with height. When we first made our wooden raised beds they were only as high as a single 2x12. The idea was that we could stack more on top to get the level up to where it would more accessible for us in our senior years, which we will be etting to in just a few more years.

But now if I were doing it I would just make them taller in the first place, and I’d probably go with the corrugated. And I’d consider treating the corrugated but I don’t know what with. Galvanized steel has to be precoated to be painted, but I wonder if it would take the kind of sealant they use on below-grade foundations.

[Ruben]

In the beginning I was planning on going with the 2x12’s treated lumber because I already have the boards. I’ll be installing black fabric material to stop the weeds then placing the beds on top but the more I seeing the corrugated ones I might going with that design (also depending in cost), that was the whole purpose on using the lumber that I have siting around.

I still might consider to make a different ones just so I can use them with whatever I’ll be growing on them! Like I wouldn’t do corn on those two or three feet high because then I would need a latter to pick up the corncobs! Not really but as an example.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and your raised bed designs!

[GeorgiaGent]

@Ruben I saw your message but I’ll answer it hear in case others are interested.

A 4 x 8 ft bed needs:
(3) 8 ft Galvanized Panels 16$ Each
(8) 2x4x8 PT Pine 5$ Each
(56) Deck Screws (I had on hand already, 2.5 inch screws for panels and 3" inch screws to connect panels)
(14) Roofing screws for attaching metal to top of wood frame (I let the weight of soil hold the rest of metal to edges, less screws in the metal the better.
(1) 10 ft piece of corner flashing, this is cut into pieces 26" (height of bed) and placed in corners 5$

So you are looking at 90$ plus screws for the basics there. I actually pay about 20% less through various discounts (Lowes Military, Cashback site, Buying Lowes gift cards 90$ for 100). So maybe I’m paying 70$ or so I don’t know. I had flashing laying around too to use.

Optional:
8 ft of 1/4 galvanized mesh on bottom (works out to 1.50$ a foot if you by a roll off amazon)
(1) 8 ft piece of corner bead cut in half for internal braces 2$

To try and minimize bowing a few things can help:
1 - The corner bead pieces inside pulling the sides towards each other
2 - I stapled the galvanized mesh to the bottom of the bed. This keeps the bottom boards more taught to each other.
3 - Any bowed wood should face in towards the center of the bed
4 - You could use 2x6 instead of 2x4, or you could add more of the small 2x4 pieces on the side panel

Hope this info is helpful…

Edit: Just saw your above post Ruben. You could always rip the 2x12s to 2x6 or 2x4, just wear a mask.

[Ruben]

Thanks so much! I really like yours, I’ll keep you all posted once I’ll finish it mine.

[Carlin]

@GeorgiaGent @AngelOreo and others who have used the galvanized roofing how much support does it need (ie can a guy pound 1/2-3/4in rebar into the ground every 4 feet?) I have 3-4 50ft rows i currently have in french raised beds that im thinking of converting over

[AngelOreo]

Good Question.

My very first bed, a strawberry bed, was 2x24X2 (WxLxH) and I put 4x4s in the four corners and every 6 feet, with a piece of 1/2 aluminum conduit at the 3 foot mark. That was a fail. Not enough support on the sides.

My next 2, vegetables beds, were 2.5x12x1, which I built a basic frame for; I used 4x4’s in the corneRS and then every three feet, 5 total each side, no outside conduit supports and they are great. B

The next four, the ones I just finished, were built the same, except I used 2x4s for the 2nd and 4th supports, and used 4x4s for the corners and center only. These are also doing great, no bowing.

I am building 4 new strawberry beds next which will be 2.5x11x2 rather than the one at 24’. I’ll do those like the vegetable bed except they’ll be 2’ hight like the first.

I have some simple Visio drawings if you need or want a visual of them.

[GeorgiaGent]

I’ve seen some online made with just the rebar on the outside but the examples are few and they look to bow out a bit.

[AngelOreo]

A few pics where you can see the framework.

[DCinFLX]

I pretty much stole your build. Only minor differences were the paint, some very rednecky corners made out of gutter pieces, and I used vineyard wire and a gripple to keep tension (very easy to work with but you need a gripple tool).

[GeorgiaGent]

Looks good. I wanted to paint mine dark brown maybe someday I will. The white looks good though hadn’t thought of that

[DCinFLX]

It was the only exterior paint I had already open. I couldn’t find my waterseal which would have been a nice darker brown.

[DCinFLX]

I have a hard time leaving things simple sometimes, so I put a hinged top on the bed with 1/2" emt hoops and purlin. I’m not going to put any poly on now, since it’s already May, but will in the fall (maybe using wiggle wire and u channel). I’ll just use the purlin to string up the peppers for support.

[Ruben]

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I first started this thread asking about raised beds information, ideas and photos.

Lots of good ideas, really nice designs that a lots of people ware kindly to share their raised beds Pictures, videos and all kind of great information for anyone who’s interested in starting their raised beds! So I’ll thank everyone who posted on this thread.

I’m going to share some pics of my garden where I used to till the soil every year, my garden is surrounded by a fence which I installed the fence because of a reason but then tilling become a problem since I couldn’t till all the area and also I wanted to do something that would help me on not to pull weeds every day on the afternoons after I get off from work, I wanted to spend the time doing other things besides pulling weeds. So raised beds ware the option for me.

The first pic that’s the way used to be then I cover the area with landscape fabric liner then I made my first beds then I added three more raised beds thanks to some of the ideas that I got from some of you’ll.

Thanks to everyone who pitch in and hoping this would help others on their projects.

[moose71]

thats some nice black soil. well done!

[Ruben]

Thanks Steve, I order a truck load to fill those beds from a forest company it has wood chips, sand and compost manure.