Two Years Later | Q& A 

Super helpful, and glad it auto-played after watching the first one so I could see that you take out the weed mesh lol. Thanks, GL

Instead of rock, you can use burlap in the bottom. That will allow more drainage than the weed fabric and you can just compost the burlap at the end of the season.

This was my first quarantine project with my son. We made it 5’ x 3’ and he LOVES it. It was a fun project and has been teaching him about gardening and giving him some responsibility of watering and taking care of his vegetables. Thanks for the DIY

I put thinner support boards between the legs just for fun. AND I put casters on the legs. My wife LOVES the fact that She can role it to different areas if she’d like.

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thanks so much Mitch!

I Also built 2 side boxes for cucumber and other side for 2 tomatoe plants. Each with room to grow up. Each has those round metal trellis

Just built your design for my wife's herb garden. Thanks for the update!

Built mine last month following your original video

Dude great vid, got all the mats for $60 at HD and building later today. Keep it up and luv the follow up vid.

Made this off your first videos material & cutlist, but I only used one of the 4x4x8s to make qty: 4, 30" 4x4s. But sure I'll have a use for it in another proj. Thanks and looking for next proj.

Thanks so much for sharing. Built one today in about 2-3 hours. A feature I added was black corrugated drainage pipe along the bottom with holes drilled in the sides of the box. Looking forward to growing herbs in it this year.

Could you use a good heavy window screen in place of landscape fabric over the mesh, should have good drainage.

thanks for this, will be building this design soon. Gonna try the gravel for drainage.

This was the first thing I built. I made it for my dad. He loved it so much I had to make him another one this year!!

Hello ,enjoyed your tutorial so much I built two! I put window screen at the bottom. We will see how this works....Thanks for sharing

Thanks for this second video! I just found your first one and I was wondering about these other details! Yayyyy!

Another great vid

Thank you so much for both videos! You gave us a sturdy & easy to construct design for our raised beds & the Q&A helped us put some thought into a drainage solution. We lined the bottoms with 1/4 inch hardware cloth, then put burlap over that. So far, seems to be draining great & keeping the soil in. Will come back with an update if it ends up not working out. Thanks again!

We have a plethora of old fencing lumber (redwood) up here in Northern CA 1x6: 4 @ 46 1/2" 13 @ 24" 4x4: 4 @ 30" So simple man, Thanks. I made the bottom solid, then drilled a bunch of 3/4" holes with a forstner bit. Then I added the screen, followed by a very porous fabric. 2 or 2 1/2" galv. screws to fasten plus 2 flat simpson brackets (3/4" screws) to merry the 46 1/2s in the middle. Built 2 for my wife for $10.00 Herbs are thriving, Look great! plus they match our fence. Thanks Mitch From Chris (42 year Union Carpenter)

Beautiful back yard. Good to see you back! Looks like the planter is holding up well!

tip for everyone i just got done building these and i used cedar wood fencing for the side rails and bottom supports it is a little thinner (5/8” instead of 1”) and and a little less wide it comes in 3 1/2” and 5 1/2” but it works great and is much cheaper cheaper it is $2.27 for the 5 1/2” and i believe $1.97 for the 3 1/2” i bought 4 of the wider pieces and 2 of the smaller ones and it came out to $13.92 at home depot with tax i already had some cedar posts that were an odd size like 3x3 as opposed to 4x4 but they should hold up great

Great vid thx!!!

Ty

Thanks so much for the update. I am wanting to do something along this line. Just a few plants close to the door for grabbing for cooking or a salad. On the drainage....I have seen one of these built with the slats fully across the bottom with a very small (nail size) crack between slats. But, also, the slats slanted about 1 or 2" down toward one side. This gave the box good drainage during downpours. There are some charts here and there on the internet that give plant heights and root depths. This info sometimes helps with being successful in what you want to plant---make the box deep enough or think about the height of the legs. Also some of the companion planting charts that let you know what to plant by each other and what not to plant by each other. Once you jot down the things you want to plant and scribble down the other info...you'll have a good personalized chart just for you. Jesus bless.

Thanks man. I like your logo.

Thanks for your great ideas and for sharing your videos. I purchased everything from watching your first video. Because I am a container gardener, I use the moisture control potting soil for containers and never have too much water. I'm wondering what type of soil you used that wouldn't drain.

Nice work!

Thank you for the video, it become a pandemic project for us as well. Question: do you completely empty it at the end of the season? Or what steps do you take when your done with it for the season? Thanks again.

All of my garden boxes are pressure treated. Never any issues. My research suggests you pretty much need to eat the wood before it harms you.

Was looking for a simple elevated bed to build for a greenhouse for my mother, as she's getting older and can't kneel in the garden anymore. Both videos were great, I think I'm going to give this a try. Thanks so much!

Awesome vids!!!! I built this with these alterations... used 4 layers of natural burlap stapled to the frame and eliminated the wire mesh and landscape fabric. Worked perfect! Also, I planted a cucumber plant, zucchini plant, and one squash plant and trained them to grow up 2 A-frame trellises... awesome!!

I made two of them for my wife, works like a charm. I have herbs growing in them

Thanks Mitch. Just what the wife wants. On my way to buy the lumber.

Hi! I just built an elevated planter box following your plan. Thanks so much for the information! Any update on your next attempt for the drainage? Like not using any fabric at all and just put gravel and then dirt. How does it turn out? Thanks!!

I'm glad I saw this before I started to build. Do you know how to make night tables and chest of drawers?

We made this project 4' x 6'. It looks really great. We added more slats at the bottom and an extra leg in the middle of the box to support the broader width. We plan to put heavy burlap on the wire to hold in the soil. Thanks for this DIY!

Thanks for the video. I combined your plans with ideas from a few on RU-vid and also from Instructables. So far so good. My biggest concern is the lack of cement I used around the legs and the possibility of termites. Any recommendations at this point?

If you put a trellis in the back you could do cucumbers. Nice video.

Looking to build 3 of these for a small greenhouse project. Your property is amazing! What part of the country are you in? Everything is so green!

Any ideas on how I might modify this to make it a worm compost bin?

I'm going to borrow from this design, but will probably make it with three staggered 2x4s. Cedar planks are kind of pricey, but I do like your design. Perhaps a layer of lava rocks would solve your drainage issue?

I built this with the guidance of your first video! I’d be more than happy to share pictures with anyone! I went 24” W x 48” L and the legs were 36” in height. We wanted it a little lower as it would already be lifted on higher ground. I also added a shelf on the side with 2 2x4’s and some L support brackets. I also added a design hook on one end. Thank you!

Liked your video. Decided to build one. I have a few questions. What type of gravel are you considering? I put a coat of water sealer because I was using untreated lumber will this hinder the soil? Will drilling holes in the support boards help with draining. Thank you once again for the video. RGC

I built a 4' X 8' raised bed for a co-worker and used 1" PVC in the bottom with holes drilled in it and 2 holes on each end for the pipe to stick through and he said he hasn't had any problems with too much water and said even in a heavy rain the excess water drains out.

How about just covering the mesh with several layers of newspaper. It may keep the potting mix in long enough until everything settles. Also, I would add wheels to the legs. Great job.

If you don't have interlocking boards do you need to perform any extra steps?

Pre-boiled linseed oil!!!!! My fabric is doin tha DO!! I added worms to tha soil for aerating purposes

Going to build one and am perplexed by the calculations on how much soil. Using an online calculator the results were: 48 * 24 * 12 in = 8 ft³ not 4. Has anyone used built and filled this with bags? If so how many did you need?

Did you paint it with waterproofing solution? Or left it as is

Do you leave the soil in it after the growing season...for winter?

Mine was about $90 total compared to the smaller version on Wayfair which was about $240. Mine look way better.

How did the gravel at the bottom workout for you Mitch? Better than the landscaping paper?

You could try coconut fibre.

Can I Plant Mustard greens or Collards

Can you just add sand to the dirt to help with drainage?

What about lining the bottom of the mesh with tree moss? I heard rocks could cause problems with the roots growing. IDK. just thinking...

Its 2023 and i just made one same size with all pressure treated. Cost was 65 dollars. (1) 4x4 8ft. (3)1x6 8ft. And (2) 1x4 8ft

I’m fairly certain gravel can cause root issues (see Garden Answer videos re: this)- why not a slightly finer layer of mesh in the bottom?

How would onions and garlic do in that arrangement ?

Do not use pressure treated because it leaches toxic chemicals into the soil! One can use rough redwood which will last longer and food grade wood seal to seal the wood to decrease evaporation of water from the soil out of the wood.

Anyone use the rocks/gravel with success?

Can you plant potatoes in this?

I used pressure treated and spent under $30. Tha amount of alkaline and copper in tha wood is not harmful to the soil. Besides, our bodies contains copper and alkaline anyway

Gravel will help with drainage but will seep dirt all over your concrete and not work out well imo.

Surprisingly gravel is not a good choice for drainage in pots and planters. The water will settle at the bottom of the soil on top of the gravel. There are videos explaining this. Gravel is a great choice for other drainages, just not for this particular useage.

Sorry to bother you Mitch, can you help me with something, please?

dont think gravel is a great option, google perched water table. what a about cocoa liner lined with plastic (with openings for draining)