Backyard Raised Garden Beds – Part 1

This time last year I was participating in the One Room Challenge, with our kitchen makeover. This spring, I decided to forego the Challenge. However, I wanted to give myself a little challenge of my own devising. Over the past few years, rabbits have invaded our vegetable gardens and devoured everything aside from a few vegetables and herbs. My tomatoes thrived since apparently, rabbits don’t eat tomatoes, but with the rising cost of fresh produce and my desire to eat more organic foods, I decided it was time to up my garden game. Over the past two weeks, I have planned the structure and placement of raised garden beds, purchased the building materials, and planned my plantings. In this post, Backyard Raised Garden Beds – Part 1, I’m sharing my complete planning process and garden progress with you. Part 2 can be viewed here and Part 3 here.

*This post contains affiliate links.

What Are Raised Beds?

Raised beds are garden beds that are raised up above ground level with the use of a structure to contain the soil. Raised beds can vary in size and height, from small 2′ by 2′ planters to 4′ by 16′ beds, with heights anywhere from 10″ above ground to 2′ or more above ground. The structure of the frame can be made of wood, concrete, or metal, and the thickness of the containing material can vary. You can even purchase affordable metal raised beds and wood raised beds on Amazon. Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages based on aesthetic characteristics, environmental considerations, longevity, price, and ease of construction. For my project, I decided on a wood frame for a traditional design, as well as ease of transporting the building materials.

I recommend doing some research on raised beds before you build. I found listening to podcasts and viewing YouTube videos to be beneficial. The podcast that helped me the most was the Grow Your Own Food podcast by Shanna Smith. The September 16 and 23, 2020 episodes specifically focused on building a raised garden bed. The podcast has also been a great help in planning my plantings for the garden and increasing my knowledge of companion planting.

Benefits Of Raised Beds?

Raised beds have many benefits, from keeping out pests to extending the growing season, to providing plants with a higher soil quality than you may be able to provide in the ground. They also can help to contain plants that tend to spread uncontrollably. Asparagus comes to mind! Raised beds also provide a neat and tidy footprint and I think they are attractive. An added bonus is that they require less back-breaking bending since the beds are higher and you don’t need to kneel on the ground for planting, weeding, and harvesting. As I get older, I know this is going to be a great advantage. However, building the beds, especially large ones can be back-pain inducing work, especially if you are doing the majority of the work yourself.

Planning The Raised Bed Frames

Two of the most important decisions to make before building your raised beds are deciding on bed size and placement.

Garden Bed Size

For serious veggie gardening, a good standard size is 4′ by 8′ beds. This size is cost-effective since wood is generally sold in 8′ long pieces so there is no construction waste. A 4′ width is perfect for a bed that you will be able to access on both long sides since 2′ is about the maximum distance you want to reach across in order to access your plants. For beds that are located against a fence or a structure, you will likely only want to build them 2′ wide.

The length of the beds could be greater than 8′, however, the beds then become almost unwieldy to construct and place. I recommend building multiples of the 4′ by 8′ size if you need more planting space. My plan consists of three 4′ by 8′ beds.

I decided on a planter box depth of 23.5″, almost two feet above the ground. This is a bit higher than the average planter height, but I will be placing the beds on slightly sloping ground, so some of this height will be lost as one side will be slightly below the ground surface. Also, I wanted the ability to include plants with deep root structures. Plus, I think that 2′ is a very comfortable height to carry out garden tasks like planting and weeding. Maybe I’m also envisioning myself sitting on the edge of the garden bed sipping iced tea and watching the butterflies.

Garden Bed Location

You will need to consider the location of the beds carefully to ensure plant success and ease of access to your gardens. Generally, you will want your beds to be fairly close to the house, perhaps near the kitchen or mudroom door. Also, make sure that the location is accessible to your watering source. Consider the types of plants you want to grow and plan accordingly for the level of sun you will need. Many vegetables require full or close-to-full sun to thrive, so choose a sunny location if you will be planting mainly vegetables.

I chose to place our raised beds at the back of our backyard in a sunny location not too far from our kitchen door and watering hose. I chose the back of the yard because our children often play in the backyard and I didn’t want to lose the wide-open space we currently enjoy.

When planning the location of your beds make sure to allow for about 3′ between multiple beds and between beds and other structures like fences to allow for equipment access. If the beds will be surrounded by grass, then you will want to ensure proper clearance for a lawnmower.

Building Plans For The Backyard Raised Garden Beds

There are many free building plans on the internet, so choose a reputable site and design that meets your criteria. I found a lovely and free plan at RealCedar.com. What sold me on their design was the beauty of the completed beds, simplicity of construction, and detailed plans. Plus they had a great video of the construction process. You can see the plans I used here.

I followed the plans exactly except I’m using four 2 by 6 boards on each side rather than three. The finished height will be 23.5″ including the top ledge. I loved the ease of using these plans since I could print the plans and use the handy shopping list provided.

Make sure to check with your local authorities to see if you need a building permit to construct your raised bed.

Planning The Plantings

After several decades of gardening and cooking, I knew what vegetables I wanted to include in my garden. And after listening to a few gardening podcasts I knew that I wanted to incorporate the use of companion plants to eliminate the need for artificial fertilizers and pesticides while yielding a healthy crop. If you’re unfamiliar with companion planting, it’s a tradition of planting specific plants together because of their ability to help ward off pests harmful to the other plants in the bed. Also, the nutrient needs of plants can be complimentary or detrimental to each other, so it is beneficial to look into this.

I had heard about the Old Farmer’s Almanac Garden Planner on the Grow Your Own Food podcast and decided to look into it. I was hooked within minutes of testing out their free trial. The ease of use is noteworthy and I loved the eye-catching visuals. This is what I had created in about half an hour. I didn’t include tomatoes, onions, garlic or most herbs since I have two in-ground gardens where I grow these plants.

You can view my planting plans here. The planner is useful as it includes information about the proper spacing of plants which really helps with the layout. You can click on a plant and discover a wealth of information about its properties and growing needs as well as find out information about recommended companion plants.

The Three Sisters

My middle garden is based on traditional Ojibway planting knowledge and represents the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) trilogy. This pairing is an excellent example of companion planting, where the corn provides a medium for the beans to grow on and provides shade, and the nutrient needs of the plants balance each other. I highly recommend the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer for its abundant Indigenous ecological traditional knowledge. My dad grew up on a beautiful Ojibway reserve here in Ontario and he often shares stories about the wild rice harvest and the gardens his parents and relatives had.

Plant List For The Backyard Raised Garden Beds

A wonderful feature of the Old Farmer’s Almanac garden planner is the plant list that is provided with every design. I used this list to purchase my plants and will use it to determine when to plant and harvest each crop.

Purchasing The Supplies For The Backyard Raised Garden Beds

I used the shopping list provided on the RealCedar.com raised bed plans, with the height adjustment I mentioned earlier. The only other adjustment I made was to use 2.5″ (size 8) deck screws instead of 3″ screws which I found were slightly too long. I purchased my Eastern Red Cedar from a local wood sales company called The Wood Source in Manotick. I recommend purchasing your wood from a speciality store rather than a big box store as the quality is much better and the price is nearly the same. For this project, I used 2 by 6 by 8 cedar boards for the sides, 2 by 4 by 10 boards for the tops, and 2 by 2 by 8 pieces for the supports.

Setting Up The Workspace

For this project, you could complete the work in your garage or outdoors if you know the weather will be good and you have time to finish the project in a few days. April in Ottawa truly is a month of rain (and snow!), so I chose to construct the planter boxes in the garage. I set up my compound mitre saw and a few other tools (drill, level, measuring tape).

Progress And Next Steps For The Backyard Raised Garden Beds

After purchasing all my supplies, I cut the pieces for my first box, mitering the ends, and will begin the assembly this weekend. I’m really pleased with the quality of the wood I purchased and how the wood is straight with no warping. My next steps are to complete the sides of all three garden beds. Then I will mark out the locations on our lawn and get some help to transport the boxes to the yard. Once in place, I will add the top ledges.

Stain/Wood protector

I’m not yet sure if I will be applying stain/UV protector to the completed boxes (exteriors only) or if I will leave them untreated to gradually age to a silvery grey tone. I’m still researching which types of stains are safe to use for organic vegetable gardening.

Soil

When I’m close to finishing the boxes I will order the soil. I have found that the best quality soil can be purchased economically from a local yard and garden supplier. The soil will be delivered to our driveway and then I will transport it by wheelbarrow to the backyard.

Plants

I purchased my seeds from the planting list and plan to start many of those seeds indoors this weekend. I was able to find organic seeds for almost all my crops. I’m hoping my planters will be complete within two weeks and I will have plants in the garden by mid-May, which is about when the last frost typically occurs here. I still have to purchase the nasturtiums as I was not able to find them in stores this week. I’ll make a trip to the garden centre for those! Many of the plants you choose to grow can be started indoors in April using seed-starting trays.

Summary

Thank you for reading my post, Backyard Raised Garden Beds – Part 1. I hope you found it useful and that you will check back for Part 2 of the post. Happy gardening! If you liked this post, you might like a couple of my other posts that have to do with plants and planters.

Summer Front Porch Decor For A Small Porch

Create An Inviting Front Porch For Fall

How To Care For Air Plants

6 Indoor Houseplants Perfect For Farmhouse Decor