The Hunt for Garden Box Plans

I've wanted to have a little garden for a while. I don't want to subsist of what I grow, but I've always like to create things, and growing things is just another form of creation (or transformation?).

A friend at work is all into square foot gardening and he has touted the awesomenesses of that gardening technique, and it seemed like the thing for me. Low amounts of weeding, maximum output for the space, hard to over water, etc. So I decided that if i was to garden, it would be a square foot garden. It also seems to have quite the following, so I know there will be easy answers online if i need help.

So the first step in having a square foot garden was to come up with plans for a box to put it in. My situation gives me some interesting requirements for the garden box I would need. First I live in a town home so I have no yard to put the box on, just a 10' by 25' cement patio at the back of our house. Next, we have 2 small kiddos with a third on the way and my wife didn't want to have to keep the kids out of the garden box when they went on the patio. And finally, being cheap means I want the box to cost as little as possible.

So, the box needs to...

• Have a bottom raised to about waist high
• Fit on our small patio
• Be cheap cheap!

So I started my seach of the internet for DIY raised garden boxes and found nothing but boxes that you put onto dirt in your back yard. Finally I found a link to a waist high garden box, and using the Way Back Machine, got plans for it. I slightly modified the design, including making it 4' by 3', and drew it all up in Google Sketchup. (add link to sketchup file when I can figure out where to host it!)

The material list for this box is:

• 1, 4'x8' 7/16 OSB
• 1, 4"x4" x12' (this could have been 2, 2"x4" x12', but I found a 4x4 at Lowe's)
• 2, 2"x4" x8'
• 2, 2"x10" x8'

I went with plain jain douglas fir, even though this is an outside box. I debated going with redwood, but it would have made the wood cost twice as much. Other than the wood, I also used

• a bunch, #8 2.5" zinc screws (had on hand)
• 16, 1/4" 3" galvanized lag screw
• 16, 1/4" washers (had on hand)

These wood and hardware choices may not have been the best for an outside project, but I didn't care, they were cheap! Here is a cut list. I had the hardware store cut everything for me, which made assembly super easy.

• 2, 2"x10" x48" (front and back sides)
• 2, 2"x10" x39" (left and right sides)
• 4, 2"x4" x39" (stretchers? joists? underneath thingys that the floor rests on?)
• 2, osb 36"48" (double floor)
• 4, 4"x4" x36" (legs, use 8, 2"x4" x36" if you can't find 4x4s)

Here is a pic of the cut wood, minus the floor.

Next post will be about assembly notes and some final pics.