Garden beds are a great source of learning, for both kids and adults. One of the 5 things to consider when you’re building (or buying) your garden bed is 1. Location 2. Types of plants which will lead to 3. Size and shape  4. Material type 5. Type of soil. Take a read on your guide to building a garden bed.

Best location for installing your plant-a-box

When looking at locations in an existing yard for the garden bed we were looking for places that:

  1. Was not going to be in the direct walking pathway or block any emergency exits
  2. It had to be 1m away from any fence perimeter to ensure it didn’t breach code and little explorers cant use it to climb up (and over)
  3. Plants – we knew they wanted vegetable gardens. We also know that different types of plants require a different amount of sun to shade ratio so we look at each locations sun
  4. Size – this was important you don’t want it too wide that kids can’t reach or too narrow that you won’t fit many plants
  5. Aesthetics – when putting a plant a box into an existing area you want it to look like it fits so it works with the day-to-day of your operations

How to build a rectangle garden bed- Plant-a-Box

Here’s how you can build a rectangle garden bed that could easily host 10 children:

how to build a planter box
  1. Pre-Measure and cut the timber – 4 x 1m in Length and 4x 2m in length to make a ground-level rectangle garden bed. And one other timber the length to fit inside (1m minus two times the depth of your timber/ the gap between your two lengths of your garden bed (for example the timber we use is 40mm thickness so this timber is 820mm in length))  (tip: measure twice, cut once)
  2. Pre-drill two holes into each corner of the timber, 40mm from edges (except your smaller one)
  3. Place the timber into place, ready to drill the nails into them and form a rectangle
  4. Repeat number 3, until you have 2 rectangles
  5. Stack rectangles on top of each other, make sure its level and put them in your desired location for the garden bed. Note: once it’s here it won’t be able to be moved
  6. Take the 820mm timber and place it in the middle of the two rectangles center to the rectangle garden bed so it holds the two rectangles together. Nail this panel in place so it secures the two boxes together.
  7. Carefully drill a 25-degree hole into all four corners so that you secure the top posts to the bottom, be careful that it doesn’t go through the outside of the timber
  8. Lay weed matt on the bottom of the box, up the sides, and tac in with short 20mm nails
  9. Sand timber back ready for staining
  10. Stain timber
  11. Fill with the right soil for the plants, and add mulch if required – see best soils for vegetable gardens

Note: Steps 9 and 10 can be done prior to building the garden beds

saw cutting wood
how to build a planter box-step 2 - predrill
man drilling
stack both rectangle boxes
man making a box
man drilling a box
inserting weed mat
fill up with soil

Are you looking to add garden beds to your facility?

Mathiou Services offer end-to-end gardening and landscaping services, including complex or simple carpentry works.

Talk to our team about building your own garden bed!