We made our of either pine or doug fir planks and it's holding up very well. I chose 4'x6' but am not sure there was a particular reason. Maybe because the planks are 12' long. did not break the bank to build them (3).

Hope this helps.

I am starting the same project for this spring and would be interested to see what answers you get. Ive been adviced to use Cedar or Redwood for the beds due to the fact they "last" longer but boy are they expensive. They are having a sale on planks at our local hardware store ( pine, fir , or spruce) and ive been told they will just rot eventually but they are fairly inexpensive so I need to decide if I want to invest now or later when I need to rebuild. Im planning on (3) 4x8 boxes and (2) 4x6 boxes for my main garden and a couple 4x4 boxes for smaller things like herbs or my aspargus bed. I look forward to seeing what others have to say since I too am just starting the raised gardens this year.

This is the second year on two of my beds and we rearranged the layout so had to take up the frames for both beds and I can say that we saw absolutely no deterioration in the planks. I love redwood and cedar and if my budget allowed, that would certainly be my choice. But - I'm limited in what I can spend. Organic Gardening magaize last month had an article on building raised beds, let me see if I can find it and link. brb........one was so cool, twined brances - free but time consuming to build.

Found it!! Enjoy.....

Here is a link that might be useful: 5 Ideas for Raised Beds

I actually just used the cheapest 2x12 pine I could get from the Home Despot. The trick, is that I coated everything twice with linseed oil before assembling the beds. Coat everything, including the ends which will wick up the oil very quickly, let sit for an hour or 5, and then wipe off any excess oil. Repeat a day to a week later, and then assemble the bed. Several of my beds are over 10 years old. I am however, in a dry area which might add to the longevity of the beds.

I was also lucky enough to get some 4x8 sheets of expanded mesh steel from somewhere when I started. The mesh holds up over time better than the hardware wire, since it's a lot thicker.

Thanks all for your suggestions,

I finally go with cedar, which is available in Homedepot 1"x8"x8' ~ $9.25.

Will stack them to 16" height, so for 4'x8' box i need 6 (1"x8"x8') cedar. Will add oil to it.

I will dig 6" below raised bed. Can you pls suggest me, if i want to plant tomato, paper, okra, cucumber, eggplant etc, do I really need 16" height? Or 8" will do?

Thanks,
Jay

Mine are about 13". A 10" wide plank plus a 2"x4" plank on top. 8" might be too shallow. What's under the bed? Native soil?

Since this is the Growing Tomatoes forum your question isn't relevant to this forum.

You'll find much more detailed information on the Soil & Compost forum, the Sq. Foot Gardening forum (they even have a FAQ on the subject of how to build a raised bed), and even the general Vegetable Gardening forum here.

Dave