Sam's Club has one that is 42" x 84" for $53. Made from recycled materials in the USA.

If I was building a small garden, this is what I would use but since we are working on a fence for an area that is 60 x 30, we will go with lumber for now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sam's raised bed

I wouldnt do it. This past weekend my husband built 4 beds (4ft x 10 ft and 10 inches deep). Even with buying all the lumber and screws, it was about $100 for everything. We had the store cut the pieces to size. At home it took about 2 hours for everything to be built at a leisurely pace. And it's super simple. But thats just me and I'm always down for spending less.

I just got a FarmTek catalogue today and their price sans shipping for a 4x8x12" is US$249.00.

Dan

I haven't tried these (built mine last year using the Sunset diagram), but if I'd found it first, I would have ordered this one for the price. But, I love Costco.com.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kiwi Collars

Hubby and I just moved to a new house. Had to leave my old raised beds behind. So we built 6 brand new 4 X 8 x 1 beds at the new location. We used landscape timbers (9 per bed). Materials alone were around $30 per bed. However, I was in Sam's yesterday and noticed they had 3.5 X 7 foot beds made from composite (like Trex) material that were going for $49. only about 10" deep but they looked amazing. They had one assembled for display. It kind of depends on your style and taste. We have more rustic taste so the cherry landscape timbers fit our "style". If my yard was more modern and less "displaced farm girl", the Sam's club beds would be fantastic.

One thing I was thinking about is that it is difficult to move the timber beds. But this bed it could be disassembled and moved to a different location fairly easily. That would have been nice when we moved to have been able to bring my garden with us.

I think you need to ask yourself....if we don't buy this, will we find the time to buy the materials and make one ourselves, or will we just give up and not start a garden after all? This was us the past two years. We had all intentions of starting a garden but never actually got it going, mainly because of the cost of building the beds (and because we had newborns at home). If we would have found kits, we probably would have bought them.

This year, we planned ahead, saved some of our leftover Timber Tech decking (which we got for only $5 for a 20 ft board!) And it was a family activity to build the beds together. It was actually fun to do together. And honestly, I've never put a nail in a wall (my husband is the handyman) but they were super easy to put together assuming you have electric drill.

If you think it's worth the little bit of extra money to save you time for building and buying materials, I say go for it!

Thank you all for the reply.

Castoral is right. I need to admit the fact that if I don't buy this, I won't have a garden this year. Just too much barrier for us to build it by ourselves.

I will check Sam's club around the area. It sounds like they might have something that is affordable and easy to assemble.

Thanks again for your help. Happy gardening!

Hi Epark,
I bought the 4'x8'x12' from costco just a couple of weeks ago. Despite what it says on the costco page my kid didn't come with any instructions. There are some limited instructions on the manufacturer's website. Despite this it's very easy to put together. It doesn't mention it in the instructions but I found it necessary to drill pilot holes where you screw the connector pieces onto the board, the screws they supplied would not bite into the composite material otherwise. It really wasn't a big deal though. Once I got all the end pieces screwed on it took less than half an hour by myself to put together in the yard. The staking system is very easy to use & seems very sturdy, the whole thing was very easy to put together. The only tools needed were the cordless drill and a rubber mallet to pound the stakes into the ground. I'll link the manufacturer's website below where you can find the instructions and also somewhere on there is a video. You'll also notice Costco's price is lower than on the manufacturer's website.

Here is a link that might be useful: frameitall

Am I missing something on these links? It looks like the Costco bed is around 250 and the Sam's bed is bigger (except in height) and is only 50. Is that right? It sounds like the Costco is not a good deal, then (that is why I am asking).

I have the sam's club kit, and it just snaps together. I used a rubber mallet for ease on a couple pieces, but it wasn't necessary. It looks practically identical to the Costco version, at a fraction of the price. I love mine, and think I'll pick up a couple more before they're gone.

I need to make an adjustment. I was just in Sam's again this week (here in Utah) and the raised bed it was $39 NOT $49. I seriously don't think you can beat that! (Well I guess you could beat it by getting it free, but that's not likely.)

I have found one at Lowe's for $39.98 here in Clyde, NC. It is a Suncast Raised Bed Kit Item #: 48276 : Model #: RB44812PK.

They only have 6 left - I am rushing down to buy 2 or 3 tomorrow morning - I'll let you know how it goes :-)

Mandy - Thanks for another great suggestion. Do you know what size the bed is? the Lowe's website doesn't say.

The Costco one is expensive, the Sam's Club one seems too good to be true! Can it really be stacked? That is what I need - a deeper bed, and the Sam's club one is recycled, USA-made plastic, so it is better than the wood ones I build.

BTW: I checked the Kiwi Collar site - cheap beds, BUT a warning - it says to preserve the wood with Linseed Oil. DO NOT ever use Linseed Oil on ANY outdoor wood - it will grow mold! Apparently Tung Oil is not a mold food, and I've never Tung oiled anything outside (that's all I use inside), but I've never read of any tung oiled outdoor furniture molding, but I did read about a house that was sealed with Linseed oil and it grew mold. Normally I'm all for the natural products, but for this I'd probably use a deck sealer. That is the one benefit of the recycled plastic boards.

Do you have to be a member to shop at Costco / Sam's Club?

There's a real bargain hidden deep in the Costco.com web site if you've decided to buy a Frame It All system. The 4x8x 12" is $199.00 and so is a kit call something like Bi Elegance which contains 20 timbers (4 curved) compared to 12 in the 4x8 kit. You have to keep clicking on the garden bed kits pictures.
I havent gotten my kit yet but the Frame it All products seem to be in many places on the web with decent reviews and for me it looks like the solution- I'm pretty lazy and not very strong!

Here are some links to the ones I just found at Sams.

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=434312
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=433850
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=485290

suzyq - i think this is the link to the page you're talking about.

natschultz - i haven't had any problems with linseed oil. i used it on the beds i built last summer and they're still holding up well. no mold, no bugs, etc. i think there may be different kinds of linseed oil.

Here is a link that might be useful: Costco Raised Beds

I wanted some additional planting space in my garden and I'm always game to try something new so I ordered one of the kits (curved front, two tier 4x8) from Costco--I remembered this thread and liking what I saw in the link. I did look at quite a few raised bed kits--online and in person--and even though this one is more expensive than some of the others, it seemed to be better designed and much more substantial (plus it's expandable both up and out) so I went for it. I've already got 4 4x4 cedar beds and an L-shaped two level Trex bed plus numerous SWCs, so this will add something new to the mix. I'll let you know how it goes.