Building Raised Garden Beds

In May, 2013 we began building raised garden beds. We researched types of wood, cost, availability, etc. Steve liked the idea of railroad ties because they were the most cost effective. Standard railroad ties, such as these, are 7" x 9" x 8 1/2 feet long. He found these untreated ties at Kopper's in Salem, VA. They come in loads of twenty-five ties for $250. Our neighbor has a landscape business, so he picked them up for us in his heavy-duty delivery truck. They were beasts to handle, but Steve managed to build the beds almost entirely alone.

We used the site of our old garden, one of the few flat spots on our property. It used to have a fence around it but it had begun to decay. I was tired of weeding and I knew that raised beds would be easier to tend. We calculated room for six, 4 ' x 8' beds.
 

 The timbers upon delivery.

Steve cut each bed to size with a chainsaw. He then laid them out in their approximate positions.

 He rested the longer sides up on the shorter sides and marked notches for the rabbet joints he would cut. He used a template to trace out each joint. One template was 7" x 9" and the other was 3" x 9".

All cuts were made with a chainsaw.

 Each joint will be drilled and bolted with 10" x 1/2" diameter lag bolts. The bolts weren't added until all the beds were properly positioned and leveled.

Steve used a post hole bar to level the beds. He pried the timbers up and I pushed gravel under until they were level.

 All six beds finished.One pick-up truck load of soil filled two beds. We bought top soil mixed with cow compost. The lag bolts are visible on each side near the end.

For the paths, we placed landscape fabric between the beds and covered it with pea stone. We used bricks to define the areas. 

Weeds already! They'll be easy to pull from the gravel. As I said, we wanted (really) low maintenance.

We only had enough time to plant three beds last summer. We did not use landscape fabric inside the beds. I pulled and/or killed all the weeds before we filled them with new soil.

We are very pleased with how these turned out. There were enough ties to build eight beds, making the cost per bed at about $55 including soil and bolts. Gravel paths would add to that cost, but we already had the pea stone and bricks so I haven't calculated that in.

They are a breeze to plant and tend and much tidier than our previous, weedy garden. We will have to add some simple electrified wire to keep the deer from eating everything. They found the beds right away last summer. We'll place one or two high tension wires around the entire perimeter of the beds.

Steve admits the ties were backbreaking to handle. He did not have heavy equipment for moving them or for preparing the site. Otherwise, we would definitely do this again.