How to build a U shaped raised garden bed. This is a nice tutorial and pictorial for building your own raised garden bed in a u shape. I like this shape better than two raised beds because you also get to plant in the one end which you don;t have in two separate boxes. This garden bed can be built from a variety of different woods depending on how much you wish to spend. You could use cedar which would be a more expensive choice but would not need replacing for a long long time. You could also use treated lumber but I for one would not use treated on a garden bed for fear of the chemicals used to treat it ending up in my vegetables. My Daily Randomness shares how they built this garden bed with pine and they did it with the knowledge that the side boards will need replacing every few years.
We always put chicken wire in the bottom of our garden beds before filling to keep gophers and other burrowing animals out. Once you have your bed built then you will need to decide what soil you wish to fill it with. A lot of folks use top soil which is just what it sounds like. Dirt that is scraped off the top of a piece of land somewhere. As long as there were never toxins on that piece of land then this soil is ok to start filling the bed with I would only fill so far with top soil though because so pieces of earth will have too much clay or too much sand. Top soil will also have all sorts of weed seeds in it. I would either buy or mix my own soil for the last six inches so that it would have compost and either peat moss or coconut coir in it to provide drainage and to keep it from compacting. I like how they added the solar lights to the frame.
