I have been building raise bed recently. I buy cull lumber from Home Depot at a seventy percent discount. I build four beds 4' x 8' x 12" high for fifty dollars. To grow the number of vegetables you want, I would use two of this size. If you get the book at the library, Square Foot Gardening By Bartholomew. He will show you what you can grow in one square foot.

Len

Well, most of my beds are 4x8 and hold about 5 tomato plants that typically get 4-6' high. My Sungold cherry tomato gets it's own 3x3 bed. My peppers haven't performed as well and 4 go into a 3x3 bed.

I don't think pallet wood will last very long. Maybe a couple of seasons at best according to my wood-smart hubby.

It might be better to start smaller with better materials, depending what you can afford and how much energy you have! It's no fun having to dig everything out and re-do a bed!

Also, if you or your neighbors have ever had a gopher anywhere NEAR you, be sure to line with hardware cloth! Those little puppies can get through anything bigger than 1/2 inch! Nancy

I can almost guarantee that no matter what you build, you will end up wanting more...:) It takes less materials to build fewer, but longer, beds, thus saving the ends. But, it is easier to manage sucession crops if you plant one crop per bed at a time. I have nine raised beds, all 3.5 feet wide. Some are 8 feet and some are six feet long. If I had had the room in my garden area, I wish they could all have been 8 feet long, though the six footers are ok for most things. I am very glad I didn't compromise on path space. All my paths are 3 feet wide and that is perfect. Even if cucumber vines break out of a bed I can still get my wheelbarrow in to work.

There's no ideal spacing; just plant things a couple of feet apart and see what happens for you, in your climate, in your neighborhood, with your energy levels. There's no real advantage in having your dirt formed into a solid block with boards at right angles. Go ahead and use whatever wood you want, from cedar to old oak skids, but no matter what you use raised beds can become a PITA after three or so years as rot rears its ugly little head. You can just remove the wood planks, let things slump a little, and the garden will usually NOT go to dickens. I have everything in raised beds, but only because it's convenient.

tomatoes (cherry and regular) peppers basil cukes and zucchini - 3 of each.

For the tomatoes it depends on the variety, not the type, as some cherry tomato varieties get 10' tall and 4' wide. Peppers normally need about 2 sq. feet each but again the variety can make a big difference. 3 cuke vines on a trellis would need at least 3 feet, sprawled would need 8-10 feet and again the variety makes a difference. Most zucchini plants need at least 3 sq. feet each but more would be better. Basil takes a sq. foot each.

2 pallets aren't going to make a very big bed at all. Standard pallets are 40"x48" and most of the wood in one is 1x4" (that are actually only 3.5" wide) boards. You need at least 8" of depth so the biggest bed you could make would be 4'x8' total. in a 4'x8' bed you could get approx. 1 plant of each with a little room left over for an extra pepper plant or more basil. Can you get more pallets?

Plus keep in mind that pallet wood rots pretty quickly so another alternative would be longer lasting.

Dave