If you want to make the best use of the space of your garden, growing food and plants seems to be a good choice. However, it will not be so simple because you have to consider the size, materials, aesthetics of the bed, and some other aspects to build a beautiful one. So, let’s take a look at our article to find out how to build your own metal raised garden beds.
Plans For Metal Raised Garden Beds
Before The Process
The first requirement when building metal raised garden beds is that you need to have enough spacious areas in your garden.
In order to set up a suitable outline that can maximize the exposure to the sunlight, some bricks will be a big help. You only need to put them in your garden at different points at different times to mark which area is most shady or takes sunlight in the longest time.
Then, you can start to evaluate and level the entire garden to choose an ideal area that gives most of the shade to work.
After that, some specific tools will allow you to clear the soil through uprooting trees and weeding. In this case, a sharp hula hoe will help as it not prep the root only but can till the soil also.
Regarding the size, an ideal metal raised garden bedshould be 8 feet in length and 4 feet in width. Measure the distances between supporting legs with the bricks lying on the bed corners. That helps things be good-looking from every angle and allows you to have comfortable walking.
Plans For Materials
You must know what should be prepared before starting your work, and here is the list:
Wood frame
Based on the availability, you can use redwood, or cedar is also a great option. Remember that bringing down all the pallets by hand is a tricky problem, so you can buy 16’ pieces or 8’ ones and double the number of them appropriately. We also recommend screws with red star headed because they blend with the color of the wood.
Soil
With the dimension mentioned above, each bed needs 2.25 cubic soil. You can get a mix that includes organic topsoil, sand, humus, and lava fines.
Irrigation system
You might want to perform your irrigation yourself and reroute the underground water pipe for each bed. In this case, you need to buy cement and primer. Make sure that the cement is new and runny, and if it is in the form of jelly or gel, it can not go well.
Tools
Follow the list below to find out what tools and types of equipment you need for your metal raised garden beds:
- Electric drill
- Impact drill
- Pipe cutter
- 12-inch miter saw
- Reciprocating saw
- Carpenter’s pencil
- Tape measure
- Sharpie point
Build Your Own Metal Raised Garden Beds
Now, let’s move into the main part – step to step to build the metal raised garden bed:
Cut The Metal Panels
Cut three sheets of x9 8 foot panels into four pieces for the ends. Then put them on some small pieces of wood to ensure they lay above the ground with an appropriate distance that the saw works. Measure out and mark 4′ / half with a sharpie before keeping the reciprocating saw.
It would be helpful if you have someone to help. An extra pair of hands helping will stabilize the corrugated metals and keep them not to shake too much while the saws are reciprocating. Be careful because the cut edges are sharp and can cause accidental injuries.
Redwood Corners
When screwing two pieces of redwood, pay attention to the consistency of the wood sides. If they snug together, your metal raised garden beds will be more good-looking.
One of the most important steps is pre-drilling all the needed holes to prevent splitting. You need to have two drill holes, one for drilling and one for screwing.
Corrugated Raised Bed
With the above-screwed redwood corners, set the corrugated metal sheets on the top. Let’s begin with the longest sides of 8 feet and make sure again that all corners are consistent. If your sheets extend the length of redwood, we recommend that you cut the extra or bend them inwards.
Next, attach four or five metal screws to the inside. In this step, you might need a person to help, as he can deliver counter pressure and make sure the corrugated metal is all tight.
With all the assembled metal raised garden beds, they can easily be lifted and moved to another location.
Lastly, you just need to fill them with soil. Remember that you should spray water in the space between each layer of soil. That would help the soil not to go down when you have plants growing on it.
Final Words
That is all step by step of how to build metal raised garden beds. We hope you will have a better understanding of how to make DIY beds and enjoy your green garden. It is completely worth doing that. Thanks for your time!
