Put it all together.

I have no pics of assembly, but it's pretty simple based on the sketchup file (if I can get it hosted!).

Some notes:

Fill the cracks and gaps in your lumber first.

Stain the wood second.

Then start drilling and screwing!

Since this is going to be a vegetable garden, and I've read that you're not supposed to use stain or varnishes on wood that will come in contact with the soil (and therefor the veggies), I only stained the outside of the wood. Any part that doesn't touch the dirt got some decking waterproofer stuff. It was kinda expensive at $14 for a small can, but hopefully it will make my cheapo box last longer. I intend to coat the inside of the box with mineral oil (from the laxative section of your grocery store), as this is food safe and may help to increase the life of the inside of the box.

I used a 3/8" round-over router bit on the top of the box to help soften the edges of the box that I'll be leaning over when I garden. Fortunately, I already had the bit from a different project since the stupid thing was ~$30+.

Putting the box together was pretty simple, just make sure that the sides boards and front/back boards are oriented correctly (I messed up one corner and had to redo it).

The legs are only slightly more complicated since you're working with lag bolts. One thing I would do different is to make some sort of bolt hole template so that all the holes are the same on each corner. That way if I ever need to remove the legs for transportation (aka, if we move houses), any leg can go on any corner.

For the lag bolts, here's what I recommend: Using a spade type wood hole bit that is big enough for your socket wrench, drill into a scrap piece of wood until you have a hold deep enough for the head of the lag bolt and the washer to sit flush or a bit recessed. Then take a piece of scotch/painters tape and wrap it around the bit at the correct depth. If you leave a little tag on the tape, you'll be able to tell when the spinning tag on the bit hits the board you are drilling into. Now you can drill all your lag bolt 'counter sink' holes.

Here is a picture of the finished product.

From 2011 Garden

Once all 16 of the 'counter sink' holes are drilled, you can switch to a regular drill and drill pilot holes for the lag screw. You want the pilot holes in the side boards to be larger than the screw, but the pilot holes in the legs to be smaller than the screw. This way you can easily push the lag screw through the side board, but you'll still have good bite into the leg without splitting the wood.

After the Cedar colored stain/waterproofer and routing the top of the box, it's looking pretty nice. Here is a picture of the box on the back patio!

From 2011 Garden