I should add: Both raised beds in the picture are 12" sides. And what I'm wondering is if I will increase my growing area if I combine these two smaller beds into one bigger bed.

--Katy

It's going to depend on how the one large raised bed is consructed. If you use all the lumber to construct the new bed, then yes, you will have a greater soil area because the combined bed will cover a larger footprint and have greater square footage then the two small ones individually. Are you with me?

Say for the sake of argument the smaller bed now measures 4'x2' or 8 square feet and the longer one 1'x6' or 6 square feet for a total of 14 square feet. If you rebuild into a single bed measuring 8' (2'+6') by 4' wide (or 5' if you use the smallest pieces too), that's already 32 (or 40) square feet, more than double what you had with the individual beds.

Does that help?

I have a degree in math. And I promise no algebra is needed. In fact, no numbers even! And yes, you could build a single bed larger than the two beds.

Just imagine, if you could, pushing the two rectangular beds next to one another, so that they share one side. Since you haven't changed the beds at all, they will still have the same area. Now, you see that you have two walls which are inside the bed, which are not needed, If you removed this wood, couldn't you use them to enlarge the beds? (yes, I know this might be an "l" shaped bed, but that is not important right now.

It happens that the largest bed that you can make for a given amount of wood is a square bed. However, since your wood is already of different lengths, and you have a certain space in your yard that you are working with, you probably will want to build a rectangle in the easiest way. Just build the "fattest" rectangle you can using the wood you have.

But you already knew all of this, right? It just takes a certain way of looking at things. And it is this way of thinking that is the essence of math. Yes, math allows us to calculate areas and draw graphs, and do algebra. But it is the way we THINK about things that is the essence of math, not merely the equations.

So don't let memories of algebra class scare you off. Besides, one of my university math professors often said that he tried to figure out how to build a door for his barn using calculus, and it didn't work! (Well, of course, the math wasn't wrong, but somewhere he made a mistake, by making it too complicated.)

But if you really want to know how much bigger you can make your beds then you may find this helpful:

The perimeter is the total amount of wood you will use and is equal to the length of all four sides added together (or sum the width and length, then double the sum.)

The area is the width times the length.

And remember that one square foot is (12 inches by 12 inches), or 144 square inches. So to avoid confusion, stick with either inches or feet in your calulations.

And WHY might you want to do this? Because a pencil is a lot easier to push around than a raised bed!

And if you want to post back here, I would be glad to check any calculations.

Good luck!

Thanks, planetlover! The part the helped me the most was when you said 'imagine putting the two beds next to each other.'

So is there a math rule that says, "Two smaller things hold less volume that one big thing?" I know, it sounds like I'm dumb (I have a degree in philosophy) and I kinda am with math. But me like to grow stuff! :P

-Katy

If I go back to your original question which deals with putting together the "long" sides to make the two into one box, the answer may be slightly larger.

If the sides of one box are shorter, you may have to shorten the sides of the other.

One box is narrower, and if you want to match the ends for each added level of height, you may need to narrow some ends to match the shortest.

It depends on if you are just using the lumber shown there in the existing planters. If that's the case, and you want all sides and ends to be even, the result should be larger, but maybe not much bigger.

M. D. Vaden of Oregon

C'mon M.D......this is basic middle school math, not rocket science! Did you read the previous posts? If you reuse the existing lumber to construct a single new raised bed, you will increase the available soil area and by a significant margin. Using as much of the lumber as you can, any simple rectangular configuration will result in a larger surface area. From my example above, you could extend the 6' length by an additional 2' and use the 4' pieces as the short ends and you have more than doubled your surface area (32sf compared to 14sf). An alternative is to use the 6' lengths as-is and increase the width by combining the 2' and 4' pieces - this will bump you up to 36sf.

Katy, determining square footage (surface area) is simply multiplying the length times the width. Volume is different and is 3 dimensional, adding depth (the height of the lumber/soil) as another factor. If square footage increases, volume will increase as well, and you will need to add more soil to maintain the same level you have now.

The major obstacle I see to any of this is the ability to join the pieces of lumber effectively to construct a larger bed. You may need to use the shortest pieces from the long narrow bed as ties to secure the joints on whatever side you intend to extend.

Thank you all!! I'm gonna go out there with my cordless drill and mess around, probably one of these sunny cold days. Fun, fun!

-Katy

Okay, I went out there today with all my tools...couldn't budge a thing. All frozen. That's unusual around here, eh!

:)

-Katy