Wasted $200 on fancy raised bed kits before realizing I could build them for $40 in lumber

Ngl I bought those premade metal raised beds from a garden store and they warped after one season. Anyone else found a cheap lumber source that doesn't rot in two years?

2 comments

2 Comments

alicew6821d agoMost Upvoted

@oliver_wilson49 is spot on about cedar, that stuff really holds up. I went the untreated pine route and lined the inside with heavy duty landscape fabric and those beds are still going strong on year three. The trick is making sure the fabric goes up the sides a few inches above the soil line so the wood doesn't sit in wet dirt all the time. If you catch a load of cedar at a local lumber yard it's way cheaper than the big box stores, just gotta call around.

oliver_wilson4921d ago

Raised bed kits are like the "premium" bread at the grocery store - costs three times as much for something that's basically just flour and water and air. Regular untreated pine from the big box store lasts maybe 2-3 seasons if you line it right, which is way longer than the fancy stuff that bends and flakes off. Cedar is the real hack if you can find it, costs a little more but lasts 10 years easy. At some point you realize half the stuff marketed to gardeners is just a tax on people who are new and want it to look pretty in the catalog.