You are welcome!

I came here to say just that...good job.

I use bull kelp I get off the beach and whatever else I can find

Agree with the higelkultur method (spelt wrong I’m sure!) as benefits and cost savings and long term healthier soil and retains moisture better too. They look good strong simple and stylish for any spouses that don’t want an ugly free-wood raised bed look!

I did that method with my raised beds, not only does it help with water retention and nutrients, it also help with not having to fill as much soil into the planters.

Thank you Mike

That's great!

So…not ‘exactly’

Awesome, I'm glad it came out well! In all the years I've used this style of bed, I've only had one start to fall apart, because it somehow became home to carpenter ants. The others are as sturdy as the day I built them.

I had a Home Depot person tell me yesterday that pressure treated landscape timbers shouldn't be used for vegetable gardens because the chemicals used for pressure treating can leach into them, compromising them as a food source (I'm paraphrasing). Just wanted to mention. I guess there are also untreated landscape timbers too, but obviously that won't last as long against the soil and the elements.

Thanks, I'm glad it helped you!

Thanks Ulrika, I'm glad you like it!

There's no better time than the present

Thanks. The thing about putting landscaping fabric down first, how much do you suppose that is going to help considering I then put 3 feet deep worth of soil on top to fill the bed? In my experience, nothing from below the bed can grow through all that soil, but all sorts of new weeds definitely get into the new top layer.

@@GreatLakesPrepping we have had some weeds actually come up through 12 inches of soil, so that's why we went with fabric. However, I would guess that 36 inches of weed free soil will stop almost anything

Thanks! No trouble at all with those. The first bed I made years ago is still solid as a rock. I walk around on the top edge of it when I'm tilling/raking and it doesn't wiggle at all.

I'm sure it could be built much taller than mine. These are very sturdy, especially with the rebar anchors. Just keep in mind how much dirt and stuff you will need to fill it up if it is pretty tall.

@@GreatLakesPrepping thanks! I'll post a video when I do it (not a KZfaqr will just be fun for the kids and I).

I have the same build in mind using landscape timers, and I appreciate your showing the method you used to attach each layer of wood timbers to each other. I should think the rebar will help deter the posts from twisting and warping over time as they weather. My good fortune is that a local fencing company gives away these timber posts that they replace in installing new fencing. It's also a good way of repurposing and recycling these products. Granted, these discarded timbers that I collect have rotted ends where they were placed in the ground, but there is still plenty of stable, solid wood beyond the rotted ends. They are all pressure treated timbers so they should last several growing seasons. My plan is to build these beds on top of a base of at least 2 inches of gravel and line the inner walls with 4 mil plastic sheets to keep moisture away from the wood, assuring that the slope of the ground allows for adequate drainage of runoff water.

Yes, this is correct. 15 total. 10 left uncut (8ft), and 5 cut (ending up with 10 3ft pieces and some scrap leftover). You'll have to let me know how they turn out!

don't need it

For one timber, you probably don't need to bother with rebar. But if you're going to add to it over time, your rebar should go up into the new layers... which would be tricky because you don't want rebar sticking out of the ground for years. I guess if you have to do it gradually like you said, just wait until you have 3 timbers in height and then put some rebar in. I just make sure mine goes at least a couple feet into the ground. Honestly, it's not likely to go anywhere once it's full of dirt if you omit the rebar, but I have a bad habit of running into my garden beds with the tractor so I like that extra measure.

Not especially. They don't use arsenic in pressure-treating lumber anymore. As far as anything else, I guess I'm operating with an "ignorance is bliss" philosophy.

Thank you. Yea, Lena is sort of awful at being outside. She's not supposed to run around much, and when she's outside she'll never sit or lie down. She just won't. Outdoor time is "adventure time" in her mind or something. If she would just lay around and hang out, she could stay out there all day with me. But she doesn't do that. What she does do is romp around and eat grass nonstop, even though these two activities lead to sore knees and sick stomach. There's no reasoning with her, so she stays inside anytime I can't keep my constant attention on her. But you're right that she should have at least made a cameo.

@@GreatLakesPrepping I truly respect the way you take such good care of Lena. How are you prepping for Lena in case SHTF, seeing that she is a special needs dog? That would make an awesome video!! No doubt, there are many people with pets with special needs.

Thanks Prax. I'm sure you could use long nails. I just suspect that they won't last as long or be quite as sturdy. What I mean is: as the wood gets wets, dry, warm, frozen, etc there will be some expanding and shrinking, and with nails it may allow the wood to become a bit more loose over time compared to good screws. Also, I countersink the screws pretty far so they go a bit deeper into each lower timber. With nails you're not really going to have any countersink because of the flat head.

@@GreatLakesPrepping Thank you for your quick and detailed response. I appreciate that. Good point about nail heads sticking out on the surface of the timber. I plan to use the scrap timbers from fence posts that were replaced with Metal Poles. I will experiment with nails in a smaller bed and use screws on larger ones and see how they hold up over time. I plan on doing 3 stack as opposed to the 5 stack you have made. (cost and material availability).

That’s what I was thinking. And they would all like identical.

15 timbers total. They're 8' long when you buy them. The sides are 3' long so I was able to get both sides out of 5 timbers. They cost around $4 on average, though they go on sale in the spring every year. So about $60 for the timbers, $5-10 for the 4" screws, and maybe around $20 for the rebar. That puts the total cost of the bed at $80-90. Although... that was last year's cost. Lumber has gone WAY up in price this year because of everything going crazy. I don't know what it would be now.

Hey thanks a lot. I have 15 sitting timbers in my shed so that’ll help cost wise for my first bed. 👌🏽

@@Ojb_1959 Oh yea for sure. Lumber prices are crazy right now. If you already have that covered, it shouldn't cost you much at all. $10 for screws, $10-30 for rebar. You can honestly even skip the rebar step if you want. Once that thing is filled with thousands of pounds of dirt, it's not going anywhere. I do rebar more to protect myself from myself, because I have a bad habit of running into stuff with my tractor!

Yes, all the pieces I cut were either 3' or 8'. When staggered in a "log cabin" pattern, it all works out to be a rectangle. A timber may appear staggered inwards on one side of the bed, but on the other side it will be staggered outwards. So it all balances out, if that makes sense.

It depends what kind of planks, what size, etc. Timbers are definitely not the cheapest way to go, but they are quite thick and sturdy.

15 timbers total. They're 8' long when you buy them. The sides are 3' long so I was able to get both sides out of 5 timbers. They cost around $4 on average, though they go on sale in the spring every year. So about $60 for the timbers, $5-10 for the 4" screws, and maybe around $20 for the rebar. That puts the total cost of the bed at $80-90.

Thanks. I'm having trouble finding non pressure treated timbers. You have any issues with them leeching into food?

@@VickiR1057 I doubt they make timbers like this that aren't pressure treated. I've observed no issues from this... though I suppose it would not be immediately obvious if I was poisoning myself from pressure-treated lumber. Either way, they don't use arsenic anymore in pressure-treating wood (at least not where I buy lumber, which is Lowes in Michigan). I'd only really worry about it the first few months anyway. By the following season, the wood is completely dried out and I don't expect there to be much leeching by that point anyway. Anyhow, I've been eating vegetables out of these for about 5 years now, and so far I haven't died.

So for 2 8x3 boxes, I need 30 timbers. .. and rear. And screws. Got it

I've been making beds these ways for years now I even burn the wood to give it an appeal . I'm actually doing an order as we speak for a lady 3 of them all different sizes .. Yours came out good

Not a stupid question! It's a power miter saw.

@@GreatLakesPrepping thank you. I'm new to power tools. Pray I don't saw my finger off 😂

@@cweb1210 I sure hope you don't! As far as power saws go, this type of miter saw is safer than other types of circular saws. But it'll still take a finger in 1 second if you're not paying attention!

Yes, definitely. But if you are using 8ft timbers to create the 16' sides, be sure to stagger the pieces so there isn't a "seam" right down the center.

Those timbers are (relatively) cheap, and it's built to last!

Thanks. I've stained the fence, but I won't do the planters. I just rather not put extra chemicals on my garden boxes.