This post was sponsored by Home Hardware. Home Hardware generously donated the
materials used in today's post. Our opinions are our own.
As we have spent the majority of 2020 inside, now that spring is here, we are all excited to get outside and into nature. Gardening is a growing trend, whether you are growing vegetables or flowers and it brings a welcome distraction to the business of your day to day.
Creating a raised garden box will help to keep your plants safe from animals, easier to tend, and is a stunning feature in any outdoor space. You can use different materials to create your garden box, depending on your budget and skill. No matter what you are looking for, Home Hardware Building Centres have you covered with a beautiful variety of lumber, and lumber alternatives such as PVC or composite.
We’ve teamed up with our local Home Hardware Building Centre to show you how to make your own DIY garden box.
Tools you will need:
Chop saw or Circular saw
Construction stapler
Pencil
(Optional: Heat Gun)
Materials You Will Need:
(1) QUEST BRANDS 3' x 100' 5 Year Weed Barrier
(4) MIRACLE-GRO 28.3L All Purpose Potting Soil Mix
(4) ALL TREAT FARMS 10L All Purpose Premium Potting Soil
(1) HOME Men's Split Leather Combo Work Gloves - Large, Yellow
(4+) 2’x4’x’ Pressure Treated Wood
Your choice of composite deck finishing boards
Exterior screws (or galvanized nails)
How To:
First, you are going to want to decide what you are wanting to grow and where it should be located in your outdoor space. Does it require shade or sunshine, and how big would you like it to be? I’m no gardener and have a hard-enough time keeping myself alive let alone plants, so check in with your local Home Hardware Building Centre expert for tips on where and what to grow for your space.
There’s no turning back now. Otherwise, every time you return to your local Dealer, you will have the walk of shame as they ask you how it’s going, and you will be faced with the choice of avoiding eye contact, or admitting you gave up. We've got your back, let’s get building and at least you will have a beautiful garden box. Whether anything grows is up to the gods.
Using your saw, you will want to create a frame for your garden box. It is important to use pressure treated lumber for this, as it is treated for the elements and will stand up to our crazy weather changes. We like to create a simple ladder frame, depending on your mood you can either nail or screw this together with 3” deck screws or 3” galvanized nails.
With a frame in place, it’s time to spruce it up with some low maintenance composite deck boards. Home Hardware Building Centres offer a variety of brands in different colours and price points. This will keep your garden box looking beautiful for years and you will only need to keep it clean with a gentle wash every now and then. That's right, no sanding and staining every year…you’re welcome.
Cut your composite boards to cover the frame. You can run these horizontally or vertically, depending on the style you are looking for. We installed black landscape fabric around our frame, then gapped the deck boards to allow for airflow but the fabric keeps the inside hidden. We installed the deck boards using deck clips to keep them evenly spaced and secure.
Here’s where things get crazy, and feel free to skip this step if you aren’t looking to impress the world with your creation. We took a PVC deck board and ran it through a table saw twice on a 45-degree angle, with the blade set to the perfect height so that it doesn’t cut all the way through the board. Once that material is removed you can use a heat gun to heat up the middle of the board so that you can fold it in half, creating a seamless corner trim. Yeah, you read that right, and yes, we are also part-time magicians.
If you aren’t looking to get that crazy, you can just butt two boards together to create the vertical trim to cover the cut edges of your composite deck boards. We highly recommend using a second colour for the trim to give it some pop. We also use this second colour to create the top of the garden box.
Now, depending on how big you have built this, and what is going into it, you likely won’t need to fill the entire box with soil. So, simply create a false bottom to your box by adding some support at your desired height. Make sure it is well secured so that the weight of the soil doesn’t make it collapse in on itself.
Finally, line the inside with some landscape fabric and fill with your desired soil and vegetation. If you don’t want to fully commit to filling the planter with soil, you can also use potted plants, that can be changed throughout the seasons to keep it looking full and beautiful.
Please remember that these projects are meant to be fun, get you outside enjoying the great outdoors, and creating something with your hands. Give yourself grace to get through it, allow yourself to make mistakes (Hint: get extra material), and be proud of what you accomplish. Most importantly, thank your local Home Hardware Building Centre for answering all of your questions, and hooking you up with everything you need.
