My Birthday Present - Raised Bedding Box

For months,I've been asking my hubby to make me some raised bedding boxes for the backyard. My girls have been begging to plant a garden, and I wanted to spruce up "the jungle" a little bit. I searched the internet for different plans and styles and chose one that was easy, cheap, and would fit the ideas I had in mind for them.

Here is the current condition of our backyard - don't judge, it's not bad, but it is our first summer in our new house and there is a lot of work to do. On the left side over by the bedding box, is what we used to call "the jungle." It was the only spot that grass wasn't planted and was way too overgrown for my lawnmower. So, this weekend we finally got it weed-eated. It looks soooo much better, but now we have to do something with the backyard. The grass is a whole other project, but well worth it to have a place for my kiddos to play.


Before


Before


After (weeks of countless hours spent outside. It's huge, you know!)


Before


After

So, we just made the first one and we'll be trying it out soon. The plan is to eventually, probably over the next few years as money allows, to line the back of the fence with these boxes and make one a sand box for the kids and more space for the garden and flowers, etc. It is my birthday this week so I think he finally got around to building it, instead of doing more of his own projects, just for that. I'm so excited, either way.

I researched how they were made and made my own dimensions and "instructed" my husband how to do it. I haven't felt like using the power tools lately, with my stomach getting in the way and all. (30wks now!).

Our bedding box ended up being 8' x 4'. "They" recommended the widest you make a box as 4' so you can reach the middle from any side of the box.

Also, we used 8' x 2' x 12' for the edges @ approx. $10 each, and 4' x 4' x 8' (with half left over) for the posts @ approx. $10. Plus, about five dollars extra for screws and bolts to make it extremely sturdy. So, total, the one box cost us about $35 to build. Not too bad when you look at some of the prices they charge for the pre-made kits. I don't even think we had to do any of the cuts ourselves. We just had them cut to the right sizes at the Home Depot where we bought them, which makes it a whole lot easier to fit in the back of our short bed truck. Really, the only things you need besides the wood are screws, bolts (optional, my hubby is just very OCD), a drill and screwdriver to put it together. Not too bad.

Here are some of my favorite plans/pictures from different sites that might be helpful in your search if you want to build some, too.



Knock-Off Wood - I love this blog! She is soooo talented and even if you've never picked up so much as a hammer and nails, she inspires you to build all sorts of stuff, and makes it look so easy, and its all FREE! Here's the link to her version of raised garden beds.



Sunset.com has this really great picture and instructions on how to make one, but the price was way more than I built mine for.



My high school friend Whitney made some great-looking raised beds for someone and they turned out great. This is also another way to build them.

Better Homes & Gardens has a little article on how to build raised bed gardens.



This Old House has a nice design and plans for one here too.



Popular Mechanics has a really detailed article on how to build them, too.

Hopefully this has served as some inspiration and you'll go out there and build your own raised garden bed. DIY and cheap!