New Raised Beds

Jason is out of work and needs something to do. I recruited him and his buddy, Michael Bolen, to build me three new raised beds for the garden. Last week, they spent about 12 man hours clearing the spots and digging level trenches for the wood frames to set in.


This morning, I went to buy pressure treated wood (ACQ: Alkaline Copper Quaternary). This is a version of pressure treated wood that can be used for gardening. The biggest problem I have had is finding wood that isn't terribly warped. I went to the Kernersville Lowes and, of the 30 or so pieces of 4x4x12 they had, just one wasn't warped. (The employees there didn't seem to have a clue that they really needed to junk it.) I eventually found what I needed at the I-40 Lowes.

I forgot how slow the process of building a raised be was. We started about 12:30 (just after noon). It took about half an hour to measure and cut the wood for the end pieces. (This process could be streamlined; the major time consumption was given to moving wood and explaining the process to Jason.) We use the full 12' for the side pieces and cut the end pieces to be 4'3.5". This allows the interior to be 11'8.5" x 4', good enough for square foot gardening in my book.

It took at least an hour to set up the wood and drill holes. I followed the process we have used in the past. I build the bed in the garage where we can keep things level and control things and then reassemble the unit in the garden.

We drilled the 14 holes we need to guide 1/2 inch rebar stakes to anchor the wood. We drilled 3 holes at each corner, 1 at the very corner and 1 to secure pieces that butt up against the corner, and 2 holes midway down the side pieces to keep the side pieces from warping. The challenge with the drilling process is that we need to use two different bits. The first goes through three layers of wood (about 12 inches) very nicely because it is fluted, but it is too short to make it through the fourth piece. For this, we use a flat wood drill bit that is long enough, but not efficient. Changing the bit adds extra time to the process.

By the time we got things to the garden, it was around 3:00 or 3:30. When we set the first row of pieces into the bed, it was clear that additional work to level the dirt and get the trenches right needed to be one, so we stopped for the day.

One thing I learned for sure. At 60, despite my general good health, I am very grateful for young accomplices. My lower back takes a real beating with lifting the wood and is really sore now.