Fresh food. Easy build. One of the best things you can do with a sunny Saturday.
If there's one project that pays you back every single week through summer, it's a raised vegetable bed. You build it once, fill it with good compost, and then spend the rest of the season growing tomatoes, salad leaves, courgettes, herbs — whatever you fancy.
The build itself is simple enough that complete beginners tackle it confidently. There's no complicated joinery. No specialist tools. Just some good timber, a drill, and a free afternoon. Here's how to do it properly.
Why Raised Beds Are So Good
Raised beds give you better drainage, warmer soil that heats up faster in spring, and a defined growing space that keeps weeds manageable. For beginners, they're forgiving — you control exactly what goes into the soil, which makes a huge difference to what comes out of it.
They're also genuinely satisfying to build. There's something about making a thing with your hands that then feeds your family that feels like a pretty good use of a Saturday.
What Timber Should You Use?
This is the most common question we get asked about raised beds, and it's a good one.
Our recommendation: untreated European larch or Douglas fir.
Both are naturally durable softwoods that hold up well in ground contact without any chemical treatment. This matters because your bed will be holding soil that food is growing in — so you want to avoid any risk of chemicals leaching into your growing medium.
Larch in particular is excellent for this use. It's hard, resinous, and resists rot well even without treatment. It weathers to a lovely silver-grey over time and typically lasts 10–15 years in a raised bed application.
What about sleepers? Railway sleepers look great and last a very long time. New softwood sleepers are fine for vegetable beds. Avoid old reclaimed railway sleepers for food growing — they may have been treated with creosote, which you don't want near edible crops.
For a standard raised bed roughly 1.2m wide x 2.4m long x 300mm tall, you'll need:
- 3 lengths of 150mm x 38mm (or 150mm x 50mm for something sturdier) board at around 2.4m
- 2 lengths cut down to around 1.2m for the ends
- 4 corner posts — 75mm x 75mm, around 450mm long (these get driven into the ground to anchor everything)
Pop into the yard and we'll cut these to size for you.
Tools You'll Need
- Drill and screws (stainless steel or galvanised — ordinary screws will rust quickly in soil contact)
- Saw if you need to trim anything
- Mallet
- Tape measure
- That's genuinely about it
How to Build It
Step 1 — Choose your spot
Ideally somewhere that gets 6+ hours of sun per day. Avoid directly under large trees — root competition and leaf drop will cause problems. A flat-ish surface is easier to work with, though you can level a slight slope with your timber height.
Step 2 — Cut your timber
If you haven't had us do it in the yard, cut your boards to the lengths you need. Two long sides, two short sides. Simple.
Step 3 — Build the frame
Lay the boards on their edges and screw through the end boards into the side boards at each corner. Pre-drill your holes to stop the wood splitting. Two or three screws per corner joint is plenty. You're essentially building a rectangular box with no top or bottom.
Step 4 — Fix your corner posts
The corner posts give your bed rigidity and anchor it in the ground. Screw them to the inside of each corner, flush with the top, then drive them about 150–200mm into the ground with a mallet. This keeps the whole thing locked in place through winter frosts and the weight of wet soil.
Step 5 — If you want more height, stack it
One layer of 150mm board gives you about 15cm of depth — fine for salads and herbs. Two layers (using the same method, screwed together) gives you a proper 300mm deep bed that works well for root veg and most other crops. Stagger the corner joints between the layers for extra strength.
Step 6 — Line the bottom (optional but helpful)
Lay some cardboard or a sheet of weed membrane over the ground inside the bed before you fill it. This suppresses weeds pushing up from below. Then fill with a good quality topsoil and compost mix — roughly 50/50 is a great starting point.
What Can You Grow?
Almost anything. But if it's your first raised bed, we'd suggest starting with:
- Salad leaves — fast growing, you can be harvesting within a few weeks
- Courgettes — hugely productive and hard to kill
- French beans — easy, reliable, delicious
- Cherry tomatoes — better in a warm sheltered spot
- Herbs — basil, parsley, chives and mint are brilliant for beginners
One More Thing
A raised bed is a great project to do with kids. It's quick enough to hold their attention, they can get muddy, and then there's the genuine magic of watching something they planted start to grow. We've had customers come back to tell us their children are more excited about their courgettes than anything else in the garden. We believe them.
Come and see us for timber, advice, or just to talk through your build. We'll point you in the right direction.
Now get digging. 🌱
