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“Better late than never” is the story of our planter boxes this year. I have always loved raised flower beds and gardens but we had to wait until mid summer to build this year (moving us so fun). Because raised planter boxes make easy to enjoy vegetables, we went for it and hope you will also!
The planter boxes I have drawn are simple and easy to do. I built all of my varying sizes in about 4 hours! In this post I have featured the tiered planter box, but don't worry I will be posting all the other ones shortly. The tiered box is the most complicated build, so I figured we would just rip of the band-aid together. When I made these, I did discover I have an allergy to cedar saw dust, so I would advise wearing gloves and a dust mask for cutting the wood. I used cedar fence boards because of the low cost and also durability of the cedar wood to the elements
Tools required:
Material required:
5/8 X 6 Cedar Fencing Square - Length 72" (6') - qty 8
2X2 Square Pine Board - Length 96" (8') - qty of 2
Stain/Finish (pick your color and type)
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Step 1 - Measure your Material and Cut
This is probably one of the easier projects to do because you are only cutting a handful of pieces and they are straight cuts. Warning!!!! Cedar has slivers that end up everywhere, so gloves are also a good idea to prevent the sharp pain from a stray sliver.... and might save your from dropping a few 4 letter words.
Step 2 - This is were I would normally say sand, but skip this step.
Step 3 - Glue and Nail Side Together
We will start by gluing and clamping item 4 to the tall uprights which are items 6. The top and sides are flush with the uprights so we will glue the face of the upright and clamp the top piece. After that, we will nail the first upright and then the second one. Next, we work our way down to the bottom, gluing and clamping as we go. Notice that the uprights stick out past the bottom of the sides. This is true for all the uprights on the planter. The purpose of this is to allow for the uprights to be buried into the ground where you place the planter. This allows the planter to stay stabile no mater what you do on the inside of this and they will also help to level it when you set and fill with dirt.
Step 4 - Glue and Nail Back Together
This next step is pretty straight forward. We are going to continue around the planter box, working from the side we just finished to now working on the back pieces. I always start on the top so that no mater what happens, it will appear to be level because all of the pieces are lined up. Use your speed square as you go, so that you do not turn the planter into a trapezoid. One bonus.... we are building a planter box, and until you put dirt in it you can bring it to square (or close enough). Starting from the side that we finished and work your way to the other side, gluing, clamping and nailing your heart away. You may be questioning why I do not use a nail gun or a screw gun, because by the time you are done you would have hit 50+ nails into the planter, and hit your thumb at least 20 (if you are like me). I don’t have a nail gun, and you can 100% do this project with a good ole hammer and nails! But.... if you are over the hammer, I have linked a nail gun in the text above!
Step 5 - Glue and Nail Side Together
This pretty much just the repeated steps that we did on the other side. Be sure to build this side as a mirror image as detailed in step 2.
Step 6 - Glue and Nail Back Together
We are almost to the finish line and we will wrap around the front and glue and clamp the front 6' pieces in and nail away. We will also nail in the center upright to the front for stability. Finish this step, and we are almost ready for gardening soil.
Step 7 - Glue and Nail in the Upper Tier Cap
Glue and nail in the top tier cap and its stability brace. After you pack in the soil, it holds the top from bowing out. Check for square before you nail the opposite side you started on and then finish it up.
Step 8 - Stain if you want
The only reason I added this step is because after I built my cedar planter boxes, installed them, filled to the top with dirt, planted our garden and added drip irrigation to them, Andi informed me she didn't like the color and asked if I was going to finish them. So....my next project will be to refinish the planters with some stain. I tend to agree with her (don’t tell her!) because the cedar has faded some and it would be nice to get some color back into the planters.
Plans:
Tiered Cedar Planter Box - 3' x 6'
If you have any questions or comments please let us know. We are always striving to be better and supply you with the best content to make projects easy and affordable. If you have any project ideas or something you would love to build or have built and want to share please contact us and we will do what ever we can to accommodate. Stay tuned and Lets Keep Improving! Jeff
#DIY #EasytoBuild #OutdoorLiving #Outdoorupgrade #PlanterBoxes #under25 #Freeplans