Building Raised Beds

2. Planning and site preparation

The first step was planning out the size of the beds. It may be helpful to find out the lengths that the material you are using is sold in, to minimize cutting and waste. The timbers we used are sold in 8 feet lengths, so we decided on dimensions of 4 feet by 6 1/2 feet. We had the timbers cut at the lumber yard for a nominal fee. As you can see in the photo, they are layered log-cabin style, alternating the overlap end for stability. They are held in place with 6 inch galvanized nails. But I'm jumping ahead of myself here.

Before we could put the timbers together, we had to clear the spot where the beds were going to go. I removed the sod, but I probably didn't need to. I think it would have been enough to dig it up and turn it over, where it would eventually break down. Next, the ground had to be levelled so that the timbers would lie flat. This meant digging out channels at one end, because we have a slight slope along that stretch of yard. After all that heavy work (whew!) it was time to start building. We worked on one bed at a time, starting with the ground layer, and building up. It reminded me of a wooden toy log cabin set my sister and I had as kids, only these logs were a lot heavier. The first layer was the hardest, because it had to be levelled. We used sand under the timbers to make levelling a little easier.

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