Good job, April. I grew up the daughter of a hardware store owner, so I appreciate your work. What is the most important thing we learn? Watch your fingers!

I love my SIP system! I live in a 3rd floor apartment, with a small balcony, and not much direct light through any of the windows during the day. So my gardening is all in containers, but in less permanent, much smaller ones than this. Since container gardening requires more water than in-ground gardening, it's just responsible stewardship to use a SIP, since that keeps your plants at a better hydration level without needing quite so much water all the time. I use (at present) 3 plastic totes with recycled 1/2 gallon milk jugs as my reservoirs. Poke holes into all the milk jugs (5 per tote) and cut a slit in the side that faces down (to facilitate filling of the reservoirs), and add both drain and fill tubes. I use a hard plastic straw, about 0.5" diameter, as my drain tube, run into 1 milk jug through a hole in the back side of the tote. For the fill tube, I use recycled, straight-sided drink bottles. Cut the bottoms off, take off the caps & labels, nest 1 into the other, and then cut a hole in one of the jugs to fit the bottle top into. I just have to be a bit cautious when I first add my soil in, because recycled milk jugs are not the sturdiest things ever, and just dumping the soil in can crush them. So add slowly around the milk jugs to provide external support to the plastic before pouring in the rest of the soil on top of them. Capillary action lets the water wick up through the dirt that's pressed down around the reservoirs into the dirt above them, and keeps the soil more evenly moist without as much need for surface/top down watering, which can encourage molds or small pest growth in soggy surface soil if you live in a humid place. This year, in addition to my 3 big SIPs, I'm experimenting with turning plastic ice cream containers (Blue Bunny, for the curious) into mini SIPs, using old medication pill bottles as reservoirs (being chronically ill, I have a ton of them around) and 12 oz drink bottles as fill tubes, with just regular old straws as drain tubes. I've found SIPs to be especially helpful for growing really thirsty crops like tomatoes and cucumbers, where in the heat of summer I might have to refill my SIP reservoir every 1-2 days, instead of 1-2 times a week.

Will you please give us a follow-up on how well the lawn treatment works? thanks for your videos!

Until recently I was a professional gardener and this is really the most useful thing I've seen in my career. this will put many people with back pain back into gardening. The irigation system is also good and handy that will save a lot of time. Well done April

Tip: Add some marine grease inside the drawer sliders. They'll last longer since you're using them outdoors.

I can totally relate to this. I recently started doing the same kind of stuff and like you have to figure it out as I go. It does give me a sense of accomplishment when I do a good job.

Its beautiful. I've seen this technique with the water reservoir before but the drawers? Genius

And there I was thinking.. “a raised garden bed? I already made one of those, what is it I’m going to learn here?” Haha, next time I’ll keep my thoughts to myself. Great job April.

Beautifully done.. I so want to do this with upcycling old pallets..thanks

I look forward to seeing what you plant and how it grows!

Good job as usual. For me though, I built my wife a bed in the shape of a large U and we enjoy the process of watering the garden with a hose from above. Very therapeutic. But of course, we all have unique preferences.

Amazing job I love all of your videos

Another great idea build. I'm going to build one of these for my youngest, she is the gardener. Good idea for the drawers, now all her gardening equipment can be stored there instead of in the garage.

This is definitely the ultimate garden bed, and is exactly what I wanted to build with storage underneath. I'm planning to build one attached to the fence in my side yard. I'm in an urban area and this looks like a good use of space. And I like the watering system as well.

This is awesome! I plant gardens every year and this is something that I'd wished I'd built. But now, I am thinking about building one! Thank you so much!

I think it'd be better if you had some medium, like scoria or similar, between the soil and the hoses. The soil at the bottom of the bed is constantly gonna be wet and there's a risk of it becoming an anaerobic enviroment. By putting another layer between it'll allow the water to wick up to the soil leaving it moist/damp and not wet. Put a pice of weed fabric between the stones and the soil. This is just my thoughts :)

Another great video. I really love seeing all of your previous projects in the background as you move around the shop.

I am totally making this for my mom. She's been wanting one for a while and this looks perfect :)

Best wicking bed I've seen, great job April!

You are one amazing young lady, seems that you find nothing that is outside of your willing to take it on zone. You also pull it off wonderfully.

Great project and fantastic explanations.

I returned to see if there were any updates how the garden 🌱 is doing. Early morning is when pesky rabbits 🐇🐰prove just how high they can jump into raised garden beds. We have to rebuild a raised bed that fell apart after extreme snow & rain. Weather or critters....gotta love the surprises!

That is the Ultimate Raised Garden Bed! Thank you April!

I think the drawer slides will rust, either from moisture in the outside air or rainwater rolling under the lip of the drawer openings since there's no drip edge or other protection to prevent that from happening. Also for lack of a drip edge, water will probably get into the drawers. Even with a drip edge, a driving rain will get into the gaps between the drawers and the drawer openings. So it would have been a good idea to put some holes in the drawer bottoms for drainage. I'd like to see a follow-up on this project after it's weathered a summer and a winter.

I have built many of these for my customers, being an owner / operator of a landscape business. Along with a small intrest in horticulture, C.S.A, Aquaponics and self reliance living. I am a man of many talents master of none lol.

Really nice design! I made one of these, called a SIP (sub irrigation planter) bed a couple of months ago. A couple of things that I did differently, that I would like to if know how the changes affected your bed. First, I didn't use a layer of soil on the bottom. I've heard this creates an aerobic breakdown issue long term. Second, I actually had to extend the depth of my box to accommodate a minimum of 14 inches from the soil surface to the reservoir. That was a recommendation from the local extension office. I didn't wrap the or buy the corrugated pipe pre wrapped. The extension office advised that the soil would likely not get in the slits in the pipe, thus not worth the extra costs. Also, I've found that regular old peat moss works great for a grow medium. Cheaper and actually less dense, and can't beat the drainage quality. I didn't staple the pond liner in the box at all, I did staple the overhang on the outside. The weight of the pipe, soil and water held it down fine. Lastly, on the advice from several SIP sites, i put a thin layer of pellet lime about two inches from the top.

beautiful work! Happy gardening.

I love gardening. If it ever stops raining here in Minnesota, I'll get going. Good luck with yours.

Good project for this time of year. I love the drawer concept. Great video.

Great job. I’m finishing up my planter box and I saw some great tips to help me finish mine. 👍🏽

Parabéns ! Sou sua fã em todos os trabalhos que faz!! Te acho bem tranquila para fazer os trabalhos e sempre com alegria !

Looks beautiful and never heard of such a watering system! We're definitely going to have to try this system. Where we live, it's as if you cannot water enough to keep plants alive.

Everything went well and love the planter box. Only exception is that it is definitely leaking despite having used very few staples on the bottom and covering with duck tape. I’d definitely recommend NOT using any staples on the bottom. I just ordered a new liner and plan to redo it.

I'm glad you are getting into gardening April. I hope you enjoy it for many years to come. This is a great springtime project for any woodworker with a green thumb!

I built one with legs however, the drawers is a real nice touch for the stuff you use when growing things. Nice job April!

Great job! Looks great! Thanks for sharing!

This is a really cool project and it looks fantastic! I think I will being building a few of these for my garden. Great job!

You will love that watering system ,I grow peppers using two 5 gal. buckets per plant it makes it easy grow and your watering regiment will be very forgiving .

Great looking bed April. I built one last year without the drawers and it's been awesome. Though I would recommend all staples be above the drain hole. The dirt will keep the liner in place. Also, don't worry about anaerobic or too wet issues. The drain hole and the French drain prevent a soggy mess and the "soil" should only wick up what it needs. Your roots will grow down to the water and do great. NEVER let your bed go dry or you plant's roots will be damaged and likely die. A top off every few weeks should be plenty. Adding mulch around the plants will help retain water even better. Fertilizer, whether made synthetically or organically, are chemically the same for plants. (It's the pesticides that are dangerous in produce)... You can add your water soluble fertilizer into the water below and on top. I successfully grew lettuces in the middle and used a wire fence material arching over the top (3 feet on center) to create a tunnel. I grew cukes and created a shaded tunnel with the foliage for the lettuce and the cukes hung down and I harvested them inside the tunnel. Worked great!. Other options are green onions, string beans, garlic and lots of herbs ;) Marigolds for cross pollination and pest control. Basil is good at that too. I've added pond liner to lots of containers and made SIRs for nearly all my veggies. You probably only need to add water every 3-4 weeks. For great tips, check out the Rusted Garden with Gary or Calikim. Lots of other great gardeners out there too ;) Best of luck gardening. Great job on the new shop and really like your builds!

Absolutly love it, draws are a positive touch

Great job April! Quick tip for those slide, or any moving metal, in outdoor environments. Try applying a generous coat of "plumbers grease." This is specially designed to repel and displace water and acts as a heavy duty lubricant as well. It tends to remain temperature stable in both the heat of USA deserts and the cold of Alaskan blizzards (A godsend for those of use that have 95+F summers followed by -30F winters). For me the best part is that the thick clingy and water repellent natures work together to reduce negative effects on the environment at we (i.e. it wont run off or partially dissolve in water. I, and many of my students, have long used it for outdoor projects with excellent results. Again, great job! It has been a wonderful experience to see you evolve from a beginner to an accomplished craftswomen over these past few years. Your infectious joy of discovery, learning, and accomplishment, along with you consistently humble and caring attitude, are a bright ray of hope in today's world.

As always, looks great and another wonderful presentation. A couple suggestions personally and from Leon, the godfather of SIPs. He’s a hoot to watch too. 1. If you want to hold down the plastic before adding the soil, just put some weight on it, like a scrap 4x4. The duct tape will seal it until the adhesive deteriorates and then you have a leak. 2. The soil that extends into the water reservoir area should only be about 15%. This is about the difference in area between a circle and square so the pipes should fill the bottom of the reservoir area. This is per Leon and something that seems to be missed by many. 3. The overflow tube doesn’t need to go into the pipe, but it does need to be lower than the top of the pipe. This is to create an air gap in the reservoir. Roots need air as well as water and will drown or rot without it. Also, plastic is mils not millimeters. 6 of the former is heavy paper, light cardboard. The latter is 1/4” thick (25 mm per inch). So much for metric in the USA. 😉

I built this watering system in some window boxes a few years ago. It worked great! I ran a few strings into the pipe and out to the soil to help regulate the water, giving the soil a wick to pull water up as needed or if over watered to send it back into the tube. Also, added some orbies in both the soil and the tube to help retain the moisture as a slow release because it was just a window box and to much water would kill the plants. Obviously not needed here... Lol also, use flex tape not duct tape next time over the staples. Seals much better and won't leak or leach!

Nicely done. My wife has been asking me to make a raised flower bed, this has helped a lot!

Nice Build - love the drawer idea. Would not have stapled the bottom however, and also would have used thicker liner. You may want to check your drawers from time to time for leaks, don't think that duck tape will hold for very long. Also I agree with others about a different medium around the tubes like river rock (something smooth) but allows water flow.

Great build April. I love that watering system I might need to give that a try on my raised beds i plan to build here soon.

Came out great April! 😍 ..... Besides for knees, it's definitely going to be a back saver as well! 😃 "Ultimate" for sure! 👍🏻👊🏻

Great work! Thanks for taking the time to make, film, edit and share.

Turned out beautifully!

Wow, for some reason i have missed out on all of your projects. i love your projects. i only wish i had the resources to build some of your projects. but its fun to watch you build them. i remember you just starting out your dream. you have come so far. i am amazed at what you have come to. i saw your other post about the sectional gardening boxes.. awesome... outstanding. keep up the outstanding work. thanks for sharing.

Great build! Gave me inspiration for my own high raised beds!

Thanks for sharing that, that really big Garden bed!

That looks great April and what a great idea to have the drawers to store your tools in.

Really love your channel ❤️❤️❤️

Wow! Great work and very beautiful!!!

What a great idea! Love it!

Brilliant job April I like the drawers at the bottom and the irrigation system will save a lot of watering it will be interesting to see what you plant in it.

Great job April I really love it thank for share it

looks really nice

raised beds are great as in winter things can be done to protect crops from frost

Loved the planter!

Amazing work like always!!!

Thanks for letting us know about Sunday and providing the discount code. I just placed my order. I've never been this excited about my lawn before.

So, what ya going to grow? Great job, your video's are wonderful! Peace

I have to say that my Mom would love this in her yard👍😉 Gr8 build👍👍✌

Made one of these geez almost 12y ago, it did great, only difference was I used continous hose not 3 sections. Also put a quick disconnect on the input.. All the pants did great, and only had to water 3-4 times the whole season.. Great build

Looks great! I love “after I killed my stubbornness” 😂

We used a metal horse trough for the raised garden bed. It works really good!

Nice work April! that has to be the biggest planter I have ever seen. I would love a workshop like yours

Very talented and beautiful!

Nice work. Enjoy the produce.

By far my favorite KZfaqr right now

Nice Project and beatifull Garden.

This looks great. I have a 3'(W) x 14'(L) x 5'(H) raised garden bed using sub irrigation. It has been working really great in the past 5 years or so. It doesn't look so great as this one though. I've been thinking about adding drawers forever and it is great to see some experts got it done. Only one thing that you might want to change before you put plants in: the drainage hose is way too high. The idea of sub-irrigation is that bottom of soil always touches air, not water. So the drainage hose should be lower than the top of the big water pipes at the bottom. My drainage hose is connected to a pipe that waters other plants nearby. Also I used thick EPDM fish pond liners instead of thin piece of plastic.

great job!

Pretty awesome idea! I have made my own raised beds several times but never anything that fancy. Also haven't ever seen that irrigation system. Pretty cool! I was wondering about it being to wet but you mentioned using a specific soil. I will have to look into that. Thanks for sharing!

Awesome project April!

Well done. Nice creativity.

April, awesome work as always. I'm looking forward to a follow up on that Sunday product. Been having issues with my lawn for years.

Brilliant idea!

Well done, very cool!!

Your raised garden planter is awesome. 👍🏻👍🏻

I have seen other gardeners on You Tube use this same idea for container gardening they didn’t have the drawers on the bottom like this particular design. It’s beautiful wood.

Im a new subscriber and i loved your works. Keep it up. I love your ideas in building or creating those things.

I really like your planter, April. I suspect you're going to enjoy how that works. I've been a subscriber for several months now and really enjoy your ideas. That shop is just beautiful but to me something that nice has to be paying for itself. Mine is a "bit more modest." ;^) I built 2 outdoor planter boxes but they're a bit different than yours. They're 4' X 8" boxes built with 2 X 12's, with 4" X 4" posts inside the corners to secure the sides to. I pre-drilled the corners and used a 1/4" impact driver to run the lag bolts into them. The bottom has 2 layers of weed cloth, covered by 2 staggered layers of "aviary-wire" (about 3/8" squares) to keep the gophers out. We've raised 2 kids here, 4 dogs, 2 cats, and about 4,000 gophers! The bottom layers are fastened by an electric staple gun. When they were finished, I picked them up with the bucket on the John Deere and set them in place. I laid out a drip system controlled by a 4-valve manifold that's fed by a 3/4" garden hose from the house. These boxes have been providing tomatoes, various types of squash, basil, cilantro, and whatever else my wife thinks should be there for 3 or 4 years now... I'm just the shovel driver!! ;^)

I just built my own 12'x4'x30" bed today. Stupid heavy all out of 2x10 & 4x4. I too am stubborn so I fought that monstrosity by myself. Yours looks more goodlier than mine. Well done

Excellent play by play video. I have never seen a garden bed with drawers. Well done!!!

Great job April! Sub-irrigated containers are fantastic. You will love this method of gardening! Email me when you're ready to automate the watering. 😊

Adorable dog! Drawers are a great idea, too.

it is really good for me to get the rest of the day off plants ❤️

To be clear soilless mixes (no organic life) are peat moss/coir + sand + vermiculite/perlite and plants are fed through chemical means typically even though you can feed with compost/worm tea. If I was you I'd go with an organic fertilizer and worm tea for long term success. Great idea with the self watering system in hot Texas.

Just brought the plans for this! cant wait to build it!!

Great to meet you recently ♿ enjoyed this video April 👏👏👏

Fantastic!! Oh girl do I wish I had your workshop 😊

Hi I had a great time meeting you at makers central and thanks for the pictures and autograph I hope you liked the chocolate 😃😃

Great idea. I am planning on building a bunch of raised garden beds for our yard since my wife and I both have knee amd back issues; plus we have a bunch of rabbits, gophers and ground squirrels that would otherwise make an in groundbed harder to maintain

Another great project

Great DIY video!! A raised bed has soil in contact with the ground... so yours would be an elevated bed, since there are drawers and space underneath the soil. :D

I've been debating about whether to do another raised bed. I think this sent my decision over the edge.

My regards from Nicaragua, I love your place of work. I wish you succes in the future.