How to Build A Raised Bed

so raised beds can be a lot of work when you first build them however once you get the initial work done they can make the rest of your gardening a whole lot easier now I've gotten a lot of questions over the last couple of years since I've built my big beds on exactly what process I took to build them so today I figured I'd kind of give you a quick run through on what I did to build these beds that are 24 feet long by four feet wide and they're made out of wood and corrugated metal so we'll take you through the process and kind of show you what it's all about to start I cut my four by fours and a half these are eight foot long four by fours so that I have four feet per one of the four by fours that I use in the bed this gives me the basically two feet that I can sink into the ground to give me support as well as give me the 26 inches needed to attach the corrugated metal to the corrugated metal panels that I'm using are 26 inches wide by 8 feet long I then notch out my four by fours and I just measured down the 26 inches so I know where the bottom is gonna be and then I use a just a piece of 2x4 to make my measurements on for the width and the depth of the 2x4 I just use a sawzall to start cutting out and the notches that I need I do one on either side and then I do a third cut just inside maybe a few inches or a couple inches actually that's wide enough from my saw blade to fit into once I've got those three cuts in I use a chisel and a hammer and I notch out that smaller section where I just made the two cuts as you can see here normally once you get a few clicks in there it pops right out once I've got that smaller part removed then that gives me the ability to put my sawzall down in there and start cleaning out the section that I've marked off to make my notches where my two by fours will fit into [Music] [Music] once all the four by fours are knocked out I lay my two by fours into the notches and I use another smaller piece of 2x4 to mark the ends for where I want you know to give me enough width there to fit the next board into and then I screw those in to the four by fours then I lay out the sheet of the corrugated metal and get it lined up so that I can attach it and I just screw them into the four by four sections and normally I put one screw in every other divot there in the corrugated metal that seems to give enough support [Music] once the first section is together then I'd bring that down to the garden area I find it easier to do it in 8 foot sections than trying to do the whole 24 feet at one time I just assemble each 8-foot section in the garden once I have them put together and I get it lined up to where I know where I want it to go into the garden and line it up so that four by fours are matched up where I want to dig the holes to sink them into into the ground once I have it lined up then it's just digging out the post holes for a 24 foot long bed it is seven seven posts that you have to dig out per side once the holes are dug I think of each side into the holes and then I attach one end of the bed but I leave the other end open to allow me to bring wheelbarrow loads of dirt to dump in it's much easier than doing it one shovel at a time also just for some additional support about 3/4 of the way up the sides of the Dead at each 4x4 section I attach this metal strapping this is the same strapping that plumbers used to hold pipes up so it should last a while and it just seems to give a little bit more tension prevent the sides from bowing I don't know if this is really necessary with each post sunk in the ground 24 inches or so but it makes me feel better so you decide on what you want to do but I attached the one side and then pull it across and then screw it in to the 4x4 on the other side and you get a pretty good amount of tension to hold it up [Music] so once I finished filling the beds with the dirt and I get kind of down near the end I will put the end the final end piece on and then I will come down with the wheelbarrow and top it off the diffuse plan'll loads of dirt by the shovel full then I top it off with these top boards here that you can kind of see that go around the top and it's just makes it easier to set a basket on to sit on light or maybe picking or doing a little bit of weeding and then it also it will cover the metal edge that you know might stick up in a few areas plus it just looks nice overall once I get the dirt in here and I get things planted I normally give it a week or two to let the soil kind of settle down in and then I top it off with mulch which will help you know keep the moisture in so I have to water less and it also helps keep the weeds down plus it another thing that's an aesthetic it just looks nice overall overall some of the benefits of building a raised bed after you get through the initial hard work of getting a root of getting it built and filled is that you know you don't have to bend over any more to pull weeds it's especially with these are 26 inches high it's more at a waist level when you're picking as the plants grew up you're picking more right here at your waist or higher level sometimes with the hoops that I put in that you know it even you're picking overhead you're not crawling around on the ground anymore you have more control over the type of soil to keep it in one place you have more control with your watering and you know how to deal with some bad soils like we have here with some heavy clay which is you end up it's like you're growing and concrete half the time now I filled these beds with eight a 50/50 mix of topsoil and composted manure I think it's a horse and cow manure compost you can mix with whatever you want if you want to do a type of like Hugo culture where you start off with leaves and sticks and branches to kind of start filling your bed and then top that off with dirt that might save you some money if you're purchasing a lighter topsoil depending on the size your bed I wouldn't recommend necessarily filling it with bagged soil from a big-box store like Lowe's or Home dito Depot you might want to look into a local landscaping company that can maybe deliver dirt to you and get it in bulk it's it's much cheaper especially with the bed this size this these size beds took about nine cubic yards of dirt to fill because I didn't put any type of sticks or anything in the base so it's really up to you there's a lot of different options how big into a four by four you can do 8 by 4 16 by 4 you know anything in between with these I build in sections it's a lot easier to do 8-foot sections at a time and I just love having these beds the final thing that I did and I got this from roots and refuge website was to start using cattle panels for my trellising it is the best trellis thing that I've ever used for tomatoes peppers beans cucumbers whatever I grow up it alls I do it's like for the these middle sections as I get an 8 foot long section and I just zip tie it to the east he stakes that just stick right down the ground for the hoops that you saw on if you can see it in this camera shot but the hoops that I have gone over the beds those are 16 foot cattle panels and they just bend right over I mean it's it's helpful if you have two people to do it because they get a little wonky when you're first setting them up but again I just bend them over put them on either bed and then zip time to tee States tee steak stuck in the ground and I'll show you a picture would have a garden look like last year with everything growing up on it really came out really nice and I'm hoping for the same result this year which is why I put in a third bed so I hope this video you found helpful to give you some ideas for building beds raised beds in your backyard and I'd highly suggest trying it out if you don't I have good soil or just don't want to bend over any more build a raised bed you won't regret it after you get the initial work done so hope you all are having a good day 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Channel: One Seed, One World

Views: 143,740

Keywords: raised beds, raised bed gardening, how to build a raised bed, organic gardening, gardening, homesteading, raised bed with corrugated roofing metal, raised beds with metal and wood, cattle panel, trellis, raised bed with trellis, raised bed trellising, diy, how to

Id: Xb4Z0OwenRQ

Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 04 2020