How to Build a Raised Vegetable Garden

By: Alexandra Bandon, This Old House television

Shopping List

Supplies You Will Need

1. One 8-foot length of 2x10 cedar

2. Two 10-foot lengths of 2x10 cedar

3. Two 10-foot lengths of 2x4 cedar

4. 3-inch deck screws

5. Garden soil

6. Compost

7. Starter fertilizer appropriate for vegetables

8. Vegetable seeds or seedlings

9. Grass clippings for mulch

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Tools List
Tools You Will Need
- Jigsaw or circular saw
- Drill/driver
- Framing square
- Edger or spade
- Sod cutter or grub hoe
- Pitchfork or rotary tiller
- 4-foot level
- Sledgehammer
- Wheelbarrow
- Reciprocating saw or handsaw
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Roger Cook and kids around the completed raised vegetable garden

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Photo: Ask This Old House TV

Introduction
Overview
Steps:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12

11: Water and mulch the bed

2 hours
About $225

Difficulty: Easy The frame is simple to assemble, but you’ll need an adult to run the power saws and fill the bed with soil.

Age Range: 6 and up

Here’s a great project for the budding gardener in your family. This Old House TV landscape contractor Roger Cook recently built a raised garden with a few young friends. It’s a simple frame of rot-resistant lumber that holds soil in place and brings it to a height that’s easy for everyone to reach without stepping onto precious plants—plus no more dirty knees (or at least fewer dirty knees).

Plant a vegetable patch in your new garden. Kids will have tons of fun caring for their seedlings as they mature. And what better reward is there for a garden well tended than a crisp carrot straight from the earth (washed, of course) or a nice ripe tomato right from the vine.