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Square Foot Gardening

Raised Bed Construction

20 years ago

Given uneven soil (though generally rocky), I am using a series of raised beds for my vegetables. I constructed four 4' wide beds (each about 32' long) last year and am building another half dozen shorter beds (each 14' - 20') this year. I use rough-milled 2" x 8" lumber for the sides, and 20" sections of rebar sunk into the ground outside the bed to keep the long sides vertical. On my first four beds the short sides are 4' and are nailed inside the long boards. I am considering making the ends of my new beds 4'4" and nailing them as caps to the long sides to help keep the long sides from tipping outwards. Any thoughts of downsides to this arrangement?

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jimla
20 years ago
I don't see any downside but 14 or 20 feet is long enough that I don;t think end caps will prevent outward tipping.

If I were using standard dimension lumber, I would make the caps 4 feet even so I could get 2 caps from an 8 foot board.

Caps on the outsides are how I made my 12 3x8 foot beds. I also used 6 inch landscape screws rather than galv spikes to attach them. It was easier to drill and drive than nail since I had no one to hold the boards steady during assembly. I figured that since I was drilling (or nailing) 3/4 of an inch in from the ends of the cap board (into the solid end grain of the 8 foot side)the wood would be weakened somewhat and overtime pull apart. If that time comes it will be easier to replace the 4 foot end rather than the 8 foot long side.
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