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Raised garden beds made with treated Pine sleepers and palings.
The project
The first project I did after lockdown was to renovate my side yard. It was just a patch of grass. I removed the grass and made two raised garden beds to grow some vegetables and make use of the summers.
First things first. Anything which involves digging and power tools needs proper protection, so please wear safety gear. Also, unless you are a true blood Aussie, two metres tall and biceps rivalling Thor himself, please use light tools. For a 167cm midget like me, I would strongly recommend an Ozito brushless Drill Driver.
My side yard is 12 x 3.5m, so I decided to make two raised garden beds each 12m long, 50cm high and 80cm wide.
For wood I chose wooden palings as the main retaining wall and Treated 25cm wide Pine Sleepers as the posts. I used 22 posts and 87 palings. You can see how many drill holes and screws I had to deal with, hence the emphasis on light tools.
For the posts, I did not dig any holes or put in concrete. I just took 80cm long posts and hammered them into the ground up to halfway. They are rock solid. To safeguard the top of the wooden posts, make sure you do not hammer the posts directly. Instead, put a piece of scrap wood on the top and then hammer.
One side was a solid wall, so I put down some Black Poly Plascourse to prevent water from being in constant touch with the walls and possibly make things damp.
The space between the raised beds was covered with weed mats, followed by crushed stones, followed by paving sand, followed by pavers and topped up with round stones.
How to build a raised garden bed
Experienced Workshop member Adam has shared this step-by-step guide on How to build a raised garden bed, which includes a helpful video and a comprehensive list of the tools and materials you'll need.
More inspiration for your garden bed project
Workshop member diy_hausdesigns created a Merbau raised garden bed, using Pine sleepers as supports at a cost of just $200.
Community member Nikkaz chose silver Birch trees as the main feature when she set about working on her garden bed sideway makeover.
Check out the Top 10 most popular raised garden beds for more ideas.
