I decided to start a garden this year, so the first thing that we needed were raised garden beds. These DIY raised garden beds are easy to build and inexpensive.
We made ours out of cedar fence pickets and cedar 2x4s from Lowe’s. Not every Lowe’s sells cedar 2x4s – ours were unlabeled and found in the garden section.
Cedar is naturally rot-resistant, so it’s a great choice for outdoor projects. We opted for the cedar 2x4s over treated pine 2x4s because we didn’t want the chemicals from the treated pine to leach into the soil. Using treated pine 2x4s will make these planter beds even more cost-effective though.
Alright, let’s dive in and start DIYing!
How to Build a Cedar Raised Garden Bed
Recommended Tools:
- Miter Saw (we use this blade with ours)
- Drill
- Brad Nailer
- Optional: table saw or circular saw (see step 4)
- Clamps
- Measuring Tape (new to DIY? Be sure to check out this post with measuring tips)
- Safety Equipment
Shopping List:
- (1) 2x4x8
- (8) cedar fence pickets
- Exterior wood glue (we like Titebond 2 – Titebond 3 is even more water-resistant, but it is a lot runnier/harder to work with in my opinion)
- 1 ¼” exterior wood screws
- 1” nails
- Tung oil
- Optional: Landscape fabric
- Optional: Steel Hardware Cloth Rolled Fencing 1/4-in x 1/4-in – Mesh Size
- Optional: ⅜” staples
Dimensions + Cut List:
The final dimensions for this DIY raised garden bed are 72 ¼” L x 32” W x 11 ⅝” H.
To make your own raised garden bed this size, make the following cuts:
- (4) 2x4s at 11” for the corners
- (4) cedar fence pickets at 71” for the long sides
- (4) cedar fence pickets at 32” for the short sides
- (4) cedar fence pickets at 11” for supports
- (2) cedar fence picket cut to 2.5” wide and 69.75” long for the top
- (2) cedar fence picket cut to 2.5” wide and 29.5” long for the top
We always recommend cutting the boards for your project as you go along rather than making all of the cuts up front. This allows you to make adjustments based on the cuts you actually made and the real thickness of your boards. Cedar fence pickets can have more variation than typical wood from Lowe’s!
STEP 1: MAKE THE LONG SIDES
Using exterior glue and 1 ¼” exterior wood screws, secure two long cedar fence pickets to one of the 11” 2x4s. We used (2) screws per fence picket to go into each of the 11” pieces.
The top and bottom of the fence pickets should theoretically line up with the 11” piece, but the cedar fence pickets are pretty variable in their actual width. As you’re assembling the planter bed, designate one side to be the top. Make sure all of the fence pickets line up along the top of the 11” pieces.
If your cedar fence pickets are too long or too short on the bottom, it’s okay. When you put them in the ground, you can bury them slightly (like less than 1”) and all of those imperfections will magically go away!
As you’re assembling everything, we also recommend taking a moment to dry fit the cedar fence pickets together before adding your glue. Then you can test out how different cedar fence pickets fit together. Ideally, we don’t want there to be noticeable gaps between the fence pickets. Let me tell you now, it won’t be perfect. Minimal gaps is what we’re going for!
After securing the long fence pickets to one of the 11” pieces, secure a second 11” piece to the other end of the fence pickets.
Repeat so that you have two long sides built.
STEP 2: ATTACH SHORT SIDES
To attach the short sides, use glue and 1 ¼” wood screws. The cedar fence pickets for the short sides will be flush with the front and back of the long sides.
STEP 3: INSTALL SUPPORT
Using glue and 1” nails, secure two 11” cedar fence pickets to the inside of one of the long sides. These pieces should be roughly evenly spaced between the sides, but it doesn’t need to be perfectly measured.
We added (4) nails to each of the cedar fence pickets.
Repeat with the second long side and remaining 11” cedar fence pickets.
OPTIONAL STEP 4: ADD TOP FRAME
Structurally, this top frame isn’t adding much. We just added it to give the beds a more “complete” look. We didn’t want a full 5 ½” wide slat on top and we didn’t want to pay for a cedar 1×3, so we cut some cedar pickets into two 2 ½” pieces.
I’ll give you the reasoning on why we opted to install the top frame the way we did, but you can always do it differently.
Since we maxed out the length of these planters on the base, we couldn’t use a 6’ cedar fence picket and have it extend all the way across the long side of the planter.
We decided that rather than the side pieces extending to the front on both sides, we wanted every piece to be really secured into at least (1) corner 2×4. Using glue and 1” nails, secure the top frame pieces to the top of the raised planter box. Each piece should line up with one corner and then be 2 ½” short of the next corner.
If you wanted to miter the corners instead, you can, but you’ll need to make your planter base a bit shorter.
STEP 5: SEAL YOUR DIY RAISED GARDEN BEDS
Typically, we use a more heavy-duty exterior stain and sealer for our outdoor projects, but since this one will potentially be holding vegetables, we opted for a pure tung oil for the finish.
Tung oil is food safe and great for outdoors, so it felt like a win-win. The downside is that it does require reapplication every 6 months to a year.
Obviously we won’t be dumping out the dirt on an annual basis, but we will try to reseal the outside every year to hopefully keep the planter beds looking fresh.
We’ve never used tung oil before, so I don’t know if it will keep the cedar looking new or if it will quickly gray and weather. TBD!
OPTIONAL STEP 6: ADD LANDSCAPE FABRIC AND MESH
At the time of writing this, I am brand new to gardening, so I’m definitely not an expert in terms of what’s necessary. We did decide to staple some landscape fabric to the inside of the planter bed.
Honestly, I don’t really know if the landscape fabric on the sides is beneficial, but we stapled it around the edges so that the wet soil isn’t coming into direct contact with the cedar sides constantly. Our thought is that it might help the beds last longer over time.
If you have a lot of burrowing animals that you fear will steal your veggies from the bottom, you can install ¼” mesh steel fencing to the bottom of your planter bed before installing.
We opted to not install it for these in-ground beds, but we did install it on our tall raised planter beds! We’ve had trouble with mice living under the large slatted planters that flank our outdoor staircase, so we’re hopeful that this might help keep them out from the planter bottoms.
To install, use ⅜” staples. We cut the steel mesh with Fiskar PowerSnips.
There you have it! Now you know how to build your own DIY raised garden beds! These garden beds are great for veggies or flowers and are fairly quick and inexpensive to make.
If you want to add some tall raised beds to your garden, check out our post on how to build some TALL DIY raised garden beds! Okay, they aren’t that tall, but they are tall enough that you don’t have to bend or crouch down too much to garden!
