What you need to build a DIY raised garden bed

So excited I get to share more about our DIY garden project – building a DIY raised garden bed – thanks to the Home Depot providing a promotional item and compensation to help us with our backyard projects!

When it comes to building raised garden beds, the sky’s the limit. You can make them square, round, rectangular. You can add a greenhouse on top, animal barriers, or put them up on stilts. But even using a kit, you’ll still need supplies to build a DIY raised garden bed.

What you need to build a DIY Raised Garden Bed

For our garden beds we opted for a cedarwood kit in a basic rectangular shape. We have a lot of ground to cover (literally), so we purchased two kits sized 8’x4′ and fit them together with the tongue and groove construction that allows for multiple kits to work together! (how cool, right?).

We checked out lumber versus kits to see if it would be more economical to build our own raised bed from scratch. In the end, buying a pre-made kit is best because it cost about the same as purchasing lumber and hardware separately, plus it saved TIME cutting and measuring all the pieces. Time, my friends, is of the essence in getting a garden built and planted!!

I picked up a variety of seed packets from an Organic seed display: Peas, radishes, carrots and Swiss Chard! Shopping on a sunny spring morning was refreshing and exciting as we picked from racks and racks of plants – I even found an interesting sounding Grapefruit Mint plant that I’ll put in with the other herbs – I love collecting unusual herbs to try out!

DIY Raised Garden Bed Supply List

raised garden bed kit – you’ll find these near the trellis and fencing section.
peat moss to aerate the soil (we have very clay-like soil) and add nutrients
organic soil to fill in the beds – you may need quite a bit of this depending on what you already have in your yard for top soil
hummus for water retention and to aerate soil
compost / manure mixture to add nutrients
landscape fabric – because I hate weeding! Also the black fabric helps warm the ground, which is good for our New England climate. I think it also helps with lowering evaporation rates, so the soil retains more water.
plants! of course!
optional: if you don’t have tools already, you’ll want a shovel, rake, hammer, and possibly some twine to mark off the beds.

What are we planting? Well, first we want to discourage pests – like deer, woodchucks, rabbits and other nighttime garden marauders! I bought marigolds to border the beds as they help deter the deer. Plus they make a bright and cheerful edge around the garden!

The first part of our garden beds I’ve decided will be our “salsa garden!” No, we’re not doing Spanish dances in the dirt! Instead, we’ve planted onion bulbs, jalepeno peppers, parsley, cilantro and tomatoes – all the ingredients for whipping up a batch of homemade salsa when everything is ripe! Mmmmm-mmm!

The rest of the bed will be home to our greens and spring veggies like radish, peas, and Swiss chard. Plus beans, carrots and more tomatoes and peppers!