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First of all, you must decide how big your raised bed garden should be. While it is best to not make it more than 4 feet wide – so you can easily water plants – you can make it as long as you wish. The most popular design is usually 4×4, but it really can be any length you choose.

Use lumber to build the frame. Most people use 2×6 lumber for shallow-root vegetables. If you want to grow larger vegetables like corn or tomatoes, you’ll need 2×12 boards, so your soil can be at least 10 inches deep.

Opinion varies on whether or not you should use treated lumber. Since untreated lumber will only take a few years to rot, you will soon need to build a new bed. If you use treated wood, it has a small potential to leech toxic chemicals into the soil which might be picked up by your plants and passed to you.

Untreated wood is definitely safer. But treated wood is very convenient, and many scientists claim the chances of anyone actually being harmed by the small amount of chemicals that might leech into the soil would be minuscule. This is indeed a personal choice.

Have the store cut your lumber for you. The ends of the boards must be completely smooth, so that your bed won’t leak once it is built. You will probably have a hard time doing this yourself. A handsaw or circular saw will not do a good job.

You can use three 4-inch ribbed deck nails to connect the joints. Those are the best type of deck nails to use to avoid the bed falling apart.

You should assemble the frame on a flat, level surface, not directly in the garden if you can help it. Your frame will be much sturdier if it’s assembled on your deck or driveway. It is going to be very heavy, so make sure you have some help when it is time to move it to the garden.

Leave at least two or three feet between boxes. You will need space to move around when you take care of your plants. Be sure to choose a good location right from the start, because once they’re filled with soil, they’d be impossible to move without emptying them!

Dig or till the soil if you wish, but know that it is not necessary to do. The plants do perfectly fine in the 6-12 inches of soil inside the box. If your soil is rich in nutrients, the plants shouldn’t need to root past 12 inches.

Your soil should be top quality. Don’t trust commercial potting soil as being of good quality. You will probably need to add extra nutrients. Rich organic materials such as home compost, manure compost and other organic add-ons can really make your soil of superb quality.

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