How to Build Garden Boxes for Plants

There are many types of planter boxes you can build in many different shapes, wether for a raised garden beds or planter boxes for flowers. This "How to" will cover specifically 4x10ft raised garden beds but the basic idea can be used for many different sizes and shapes.

Things You'll Need

• Hammer
• Hand or circular saw
• Nails (3 inches in length)
• Tape Measure
• 2 (2in x 12in x 14ft) (per box)
• Top soil (~35-40 Cubic Feet per box)
• Garden Fabric (optional)

Instructions

1. First get your supplies together. Go to your local hard ware store such as Lowes or Home Depot and get a box of galvanized nails (they wont rust) your lumber and top soil. A 14 foot long plank of lumber is obviously very long so getting it home may be a bit difficult if you don't have a truck with a ladder rack so, you can get it delivered by the store (which could be up to $80) or you can get the pieces cut at the store to make them more manageable (usually $1 per cut).

2. Don't forget before you leave the store you will need soil to fill those new planter boxes. With a 12 inch tall planter box all you have to do is multiply the length by the width to come up with how much cubic feet of soil you will need. For our purpose it will be 4 x10 or 40 cubic feet. Subtract 3-5 cubic feet because you want the dirt level 1-3 inches short of the top of the box. If you are planning on building more than one box then it would be best to buy the dirt in bulk rather than individual bags of something like Miracle Grow Top Soil.

3. Now that everything is at home Pick the spot you want your boxes and assemble them where you want them so you don't have to worry about moving them later. From your 2in x 12in x 14ft board cut it into two pieces one 10ft long and the other 4ft long. Repeat with the second board and now you have all of the sides to make one planter box. Standing the boards on their sides nail them together to from a rectangle. Use 3-4 nails per joint.

4. Your planter boxes are now finished but you are not ready to fill them with dirt quite yet. Though you don't have to do the next step it will save you a lot of work later down the line. Placing some kind of barrier at the bottom of the planter box like weed or garden fabric to keep grass from growing up into the boxes does not take much time but will help a lot. Make sure you are using a fabric like material an not plastic, As this will not allow the soil to drain properly.

5. The only thing left is to fill the planter boxes with dirt and condition the soil for the plants you will be planting in them. Have fun and enjoy your plants.