Happy Friday, guys! I am so excited to share this DIY Raised Garden Planter Box with you today! And just in time for the weekend! Woo!
I have been wanting to make a raised garden planter box for our patio for a while now. Recently we got a new outdoor table and umbrella and added it to the patio, moved the lounge chairs to the grass near the fire pit, and now there is this dead space next to the house that was just begging for me to put something there… but what?
Garden Planter Box! For all my herbs that I use on the reg to make all the delicious recipes you see here.
I actually got the idea when I was perusing the isles of Lowe’s recently and saw that they had a pre-made garden box that you could buy. Only problem was that it was super expensive and didn’t have legs and was made for the ground. But it gave me the idea to make my own.
I mean, I’m pretty handy… the hubby and I built our patio, I installed hardwood floors throughout my house, I built a sweet headboard for my mom’s bed (aka, guest bed), and my mom and I installed our fence… so a raised garden box would be no problem.
After talking about it with the hubby and my mom (who is currently visiting), I drew a rough sketch of what I wanted it to look like with dimensions and stuff and then headed to Lowe’s again to grab all the stuff.
This garden box will be 3 feet by 1.5 feet, 18 inches deep, and 3 feet tall.
I figured this would be the perfect size so I didn’t have to lean over too much when planting or tending to the little garden and hurt my back (boy, I sound old) and it would be just big enough to fit at least 8 or so herbs.
With those dimensions, this is what you will need to recreate this box:
- 6 – 1 x 6 x 6
- 2 – 1 x 2 x 8
- 2 – 2 x 4 x 12
- 2 – 1 x 4 x 6
- 1 lb – 1 5/8 inch wood deck screws
- Handful of 3 inch wood deck screws (I already had some leftover from building the patio but you should be able to find a small box of them to use)
- Water sealant and stain (I used Thompson’s Waterseal Semi-transparent in Autumn Brown)
To start off, you’ll want to make your cuts.
Now, you can do what I did and measure and cut along the way or use this and make all your cuts at once.
Legs:
- Cut 2 x 4 x 12 into 8 – 3 foot sections
Sides:
- Cut 1 x 6 x 6 into 6 – 3 foot sections (long side)
- Cut 1 x 6 x 6 into 6 – 1.5 foot sections (short sides)
Bottom Support
- Cut 1 x 2 x 8 into 2 – 30.5 inch sections (bottom support)
- Cut 1 x 2 x 8 into 2 – 14.25 inch sections (bottom support)
Inside Bottom
- Cut 1 x 6 x 6 into 6 – 16.5 inch sections (bottom)
- Cut 1 x 2 x 8 into 2 – 16.5 inch sections (bottom)
Top Trim
- Cut 1 x 4 x 6 into 2 – 40 5/8 inch sections with mitered corners (top trim)
- Cut 1 x 4 x 6 into 2 – 21 3/8 inch sections with mitered corners (top trim)
Once you have all your cuts, or at least enough to start. Lay the 2 x 4’s down at 90° angles to each other and screw together with the 3″ wood deck screws as shown below. These are your legs.
Notice also that there is a long and short side to the legs. Keep this in mind when attaching your sides.
Once your legs are screwed together you can go ahead and attach the short and long sides.
Make sure you drill pilot holes in your 1 x 6’s before you screw them to the legs or you’ll crack some of them like I did… woops! After I cracked a couple, I ended up switching the drill bit and drilling small pilot holes and it was much easier and better.
Use your 1 5/8″ wood deck screws for these.
I would recommend attaching the 1.5 foot boards to the short section of the leg first, then attaching the 3 foot boards to the long edge of the legs.
Once you have all your sides attached, you can go ahead and build the bottom.
You might need some help with this next part because you’ll need to flip the box over (basically on its head) and it will be somewhat heavy. I did have mom help me with this.
After the box is flipped, go ahead and attach your 4 bottom support 1 x 2 section pieces, overhanging most of the 1 x 2 into the box so it will hold the bottom up. Use your 1 5/8″ wood deck screws for these.
Make sure you drill pilot holes or it will crack… once again, I did not do this initially and you can see the crack that happened. Lesson learned – again.
Once all your bottom support pieces are screwed in place have someone help you flip the box again and you can now lay your remaining 1 x 6 pieces and 1 x 2 pieces in the bottom.
Finally, attach the 1 x 4 mitered corner sections to the top of the box to finish the edge and just make it look nice. It should lay almost flush with the 2 x 4’s and be overhanging the 1 x 6 sides.
Now, you can totally put it outside just like this but I recommend using a stain and sealer to waterproof it and make it a pretty color. This way it won’t weather too terribly and stay looking nice all year round – especially for us with these harsh winters.
I used Thompson’s WaterSeal Semi-transparent in Autumn Brown and it turned out to be the perfect color.
After you get it all painted, wait about 24 hours to let it fully cure and dry then you’re ready to go dirt and plant shopping! Unless you bought them all at the same time with your wood like I did.
I bought 8 different herbs and planted them with 2 large bags of flower & vegetable soil.
And here we have the finished product! Ah… doesn’t it look so nice?!? I love it so much and now I can’t wait to get in the kitchen and start using all my fresh herbs.
Now that I built this one, the hubby wants me to build a few without legs for the ground on the side of the house so we can have a veggie garden.
Haha, go figure.
