I built one that is 42' long, 2' tall and 4'wide (inside measurements) using concrete blocks. Didn't mortar the blocks but did stagger them. The blocks were donated as was the compost and horse manure - the dirt came from a big pile.

It wasn't really HARD work, even for a 55-year old, out of shape guy!

Mike

Now that I've settled on a specific kind of material and look, the price to build them has ended up much cheaper than buying them pre-made. I built my first bed out of redwood, so that cost me nearly $100 for a 4'x8'x14" bed. After that initial expense, I thought it'd be a better deal to buy them pre-made, so I purchased 2 of the garden collars for around $35 each, and they were each a little less than 4'x4'x6". Eventually, I found the landscape timbers at Home Depot that are almost always on sale for $1.98 each. I was able to build a 4'x8'x9" bed for around $20, including the rebar to hold them together. Sure, they look a little like Lincoln Logs (ok, a lot...), but they work great.

Unfortunately, landscape timbers don't last very long. (Especially here in the south where we have so many termites and carpenter ants.) If you plan to be in your place for a long time, I would go with a more durable material, like concrete, brick or stone, or even cedar or redwood.

My next raised bed, if I ever build one, will be made out of the composite decking planks. At $20 for a 12'x6" plank, It will cost about $100 + tax and hardware for a 12'x3'x12" bed, but should last for darn near forever.

It's NOT cheap! But it is worth the $!!!
Just do a bed or 2 per year and you won't have to worry about gophers!

If the soil in your area is 'rich' in rocks, that is an excellent planter-building material. Dry-laid if your ground doesn't freeze/heave in winter. Otherwise, laid with mortar. The rustic look of rocks is pleasing to my eye, and I had a plentiful supply, and a scarcity of money, so 30 years ago started building terraces and planters out of my rocks and my neighbor's rocks.

Whatever materials you use, if you plan on gardening on into your older years, raised planter beds are the way to go! My rocks will outlast me.

So glad I found this forum. Been vegie gardening forever... Raised beds are well worth the initial effort of building. Growing food is growing soil and you can concentrate your effort in raised beds. My current ones are 26 years old and I only dig with a fork cause there are so many worms. I just put 3 inches of mushroom compost on the bed every winter, turn it in in the spring (tho the worms have done most of the work already), and plant. Material is to suit your eye and $$ so have fun..

We use pine trees that had to be cut (for power lines, or neigbors clearing trees for construction, etc). Good physical work-out moving 15-20 ft logs into location - for DH that is!
You have to wait few months to let the bark fall off, then use two trunks to get the depth needed. We average one bed a year, 16 ft x 4 ft, plus separate beds for melons, and separate for raspberries. They all look like a mini log houses. The only thing that holds them together are large spikes driven thru two trunks just enough to hold them. They are so heavy that they dont move at all. Lizzards love living in them - they run between the small cracks and enjoy the shade.

Sure, they will eventually fall apart, but for now that looks like a long ways away. As long as the dirt is not falling out of them - they are going to stay. And when they do, they will end up used in the soil mix anyway - ashes to ashes.

If you live in city, I guess you could talk to tree service companies to see if they would drop logs at your place?

Hi,

We used 2 x 10 x 16 inch lumber from Lowe's. Lowe's cut the boards into 4 equal boards of 4 feet long. DH used 3 inch decking screws to join the boards at 4 corners. We set the 'box' on top of landscape paper and filled it in with soil from bags and old container mix (EarthBoxes). The 16foot long board was about $20 and the cuts were free because Lowe's cuts them for free. We did not use treated lumber - I figure the raised bed will last 5-6 years and for $20 that's good. DH has promised to build me some taller raised beds from cinderblocks so bending is not so much a problem (arthritis ya know).

DL

{{gwi:54499}}

It's not that hard to build them. You pretty much need a saw, measuring tape, drill & level. When I build for my garden, I don't get too hung up on perfection. I scrounged free lumber (old decking on Craigslist), scrounged organic materials to fill them & have very little $$ in the actual building of the beds themselves (which is good b/c I seem to keep spending $$ on other stuff...).

I'm linking to what I think is the first post from my blog with an overview of building the first 2 beds. I'd probably skip the plastic lining though, it ended up crumbling around the top and is kind of in the way now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Building the Raised Beds

And if you want to see what I added last year...

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Expansion