In this video, This Old House landscaping contractor Roger Cook helps an elementary school build and plant a raised-bed vegetable garden.

Project details

Skill

Cost

Estimated Time

Installing a raised vegetable garden

  • Use a circular saw to cut to length 2x10 rough-sawn spruce boards for the frame of the raised bed.
  • Screw the boards together using 3-inch galvanized screws.
  • Square up the frame by measuring the opposing diagonals from corner to corner. When the two dimensions are equal, the frame is square.
  • Temporarily screw a diagonal 1x2 brace across the four corners to hold the raised-bed frame square.
  • Use a small sledgehammer to pound a 20-inch-long 1x4 cedar stake against each of the long sides of the raised-bed frame.
  • Tap the stakes flush with the top of the 2x10 frame, the secure each stake to the side of the frame using two 1⅝-inch galvanized screws.
  • Fill the raised-bed frames with a 50/50 mix of loam and compost. Unscrew and remove the 1x2 braces.
  • Use the posthole digger to dig 20-inch-deep holes in the corners at one end of the raised-bed frame. Dig two more holes outside the frame, 4 feet from the first two holes.
  • Stand an 8-foot-tall 4x4 cedar post in each hole inside the frame.
  • Check the posts for plumb with a level, then drive 3-inch screws through the frame and into the posts.
  • Install 4x4 posts into the remaining two holes outside the frame. Check each post for plumb, then backfill around them with the excavated soil.
  • Screw a horizontal cedar 2x6 across the posts, connecting the outer pair of posts to the inner pair.
  • Next, use 1⅝-inch galvanized screws to fasten cedar lattice panels to the 4x4 posts.
  • Spread wood chips between the beds to create pathways.
  • Rake the planting beds smooth and flat.
  • Plant the vegetable seedlings into the raised beds.
  • Water thoroughly, then spread 1 to 2 inches of leaf mulch over the entire bed.

Tools:

Tools & Materials

  • Circular saw
  • Cordless drill/driver
  • Framing square
  • Sledge hammer - 3-pound
  • Post hole digger
  • Level - 2-foot
  • Wheelbarrow
  • Garden rake
  • Garden trowel
  • Shovel
  • Three-prong cultivator