DIY Raised Cedar Garden Beds & PVC Pipe Drip System
I built two garden beds with these materials. I’m gonna break it down for each bed so you can build the ones that you want. The procedure for building them is the same for both.
I’m NO pro, just a mom with the desire to build affordable, cedar raised beds for my garden. So this is a very simple tutorial, that should be do-able to most of you. If you need to, have Home Depot or Lowes make the cuts before you assemble.
6’ x 3’ raised bed - $23 each
6 — 5/8 in. x 5-1/2 in. x 6 ft. Western Red Cedar Dog-Ear Fence Picket ($2.97 each / $17.82 total)
2 — 2 in. x 2 in. x 8 ft. Furring Strip Board Lumber (2.28 each / $4.56 total)
12’ x 2’ raised bed - $37 each
10 — 5/8 in. x 5-1/2 in. x 6 ft. Western Red Cedar Dog-Ear Fence Picket ($2.97 each / $29.70 total)
3 — 2 in. x 2 in. x 8 ft. Furring Strip Board Lumber (2.28 each / $6.84 total)
Other Materials
200 pack of 1.5” screws
Drill
Miter saw
Tape Measure
Let’s Build it!
Cut off all the picket parts of the cedar planks
Cut the 2”x2”x8’ boards into 11” pieces
Situate your long and shortboards together and screw the corners of the cedar planks into the 11” pieces
After you have screwed in all 4 corners, add the second board to the top on all sides and screw those all in.
I had a fence built around my garden to keep our crazy hunting dogs out of there. Then filled the bottom each each bed with cardboard, top soil from a pile in our back field (hello heavy wheelbarrow…) and then this organic garden soil.
I’m gonna be doing “square foot gardening“
Zucchini
Artichokes
Bush Beans
Cucumbers
Pepper
Onions
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Beets
This is a trial and error year, so if the artichokes or beets or whatever doesn’t do well, it’s going to help me learn what to do next year and how to adjust and build it as we go.
Here are some gardening sources I have used to get started:
Growing Zucchini: https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/youve-been-growing-your-zucchini-all-wrong/
How many per each square: https://www.growveg.com/garden-plans/657188/
Local Northern Utah Growing Sources: https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/
https://www.andersonseedandgarden.com/
Here is the plan I made for my garden boxes
Strawberries in the 3x3, and raspberries in the 2x12.
DIY Drip System
Once I started planting, I started to feel a little stressed. What if I go on vacation, or wake up too late… and have to find someone to water for me…?? I felt like I had WAY too much to take care of all of a sudden. And knew I had to figure out a watering system that’s automatic.
So I made an automatic drip system!!!
Here’s how it works.
HOSE LINE to TIMER to HOSE to 4-WAY DIVERTER to DRIP SYSTEM AT EACH BED
For my 6x3 box I have 2 on the sides, and 2 down the middle. These lines each have holes with 1/16” drill bit ever 4” apart. In the diagram below you can see that the middle rows have 3 holes to water 3 different directions and the side rows have 1 hole every 4”
With strawberries, I did two holes in the middle 90 degrees apart.
With the raspberries, I just did one hole every 4”
Measure your boxes. Figure out how many “watering lines“ you want/need. I did a rough count of how many inches of PVC pipe I would need, then came home with 11 pipes, a PVC cutter, and all the connector pieces, 4 hose-to-PVC connector pieces. A 4-way hose diverter, a hose timer ($30), and 4 lead hoses.
You may or may not need the same supplies for yours. Maybe you need a 3-way diverter… or maybe you have all the hose leads. sketch it out roughly and see what you have and need to make this system.
Once I got home I laid out the pipes on the boxes to get my measurements and cut it all right there. Then I laid down each of my grid systems and drilled the holes with a 1/16” drill bit.
When I turned the water on and it worked, I CHEERED!
And this morning they were watered while I slept.
Thanks for reading! I hope all goes well for me AND for you.
xo,
Lauren
