Building the Outside Raised Beds: My Garden Day 2

Starting on building the raised beds. So I’ve probably described our weird weather through May 2025 enough at this point so I’ll just sum up: This took me a lot longer to build then it should have almost purely due to the weather. I say almost because right before I built my raised beds (right after I put up the fence) I took a clumsy (so dumb) tumble and majorly sprained my left wrist. I am not one to go to the doctor unless I’m dying but I was in enough pain that I thought x-rays were probably not a bad idea so I drove myself to the emergency room. No broken bones and I, of course, regretted wasting an entire day on an ace bandage.

But that didn’t mean my wrist was just fine and dandy.

A bit over a week later I finally felt “healthy” enough to get to work again. (This was my last day of the holiday over Labor day weekend.) I wrapped my wrist up really well and headed for my garden.

It was a beautiful, warm and very still day and I started work on my raised beds running down either side of the fence.

I plan to plant all of my climbers along the West side and then I’ll have my Pepper and Tomato plants on the East. Each bed will be about 1×20.

The black steel fencing and railings certainly couldn’t hold dirt so I ordered 4×8 sheets of light weight Styrofoam board. I also purchased a large roll of weed fabric to wrap it up because white Styrofoam is ugly and I also felt the fabric would help its integrity.

(To cut the Styrofoam just requires a score with a utility knife and then you just break it on the seem, super light and easy to work with.)

Initially I was going to make my beds the full height of my 3 foot panels but the more I thought about it the more it just seemed excessive.

I purchased enough 4×8 Styrofoam board to go around the inside of all of my raised beds once but I would have had to cut it down to 3 feet so that would have left me with a foot of waste from every sheet.

So I decided to just cut it in half lengthwise. Going for 2 foot tall beds meant I could double up all of my foam board (making them twice as strong) and have no waste which made my frugal little heart happy.

Also, it meant less dirt too!

I cut my first 8 foot piece in half, doubled it up and leaned it against the outside fence, then I cut a long length of weed fabric and slid it down between them.

I was pretty stoked at this point.

This was gonna work!

With a length of wire pushed through I lashed it tight against the fence. That foam board and weed fabric is going nowhere.

And then it started raining.

That was my last day of my four day weekend and I already felt so far behind and frustrated that I just worked through it. (At least it was a warm rain and it only down poured a few times lol.)

Please forgive me all these terrible photos during this process. I kept my phone dry and used that exclusively even though it takes terrible photos, I wasn’t going to risk getting my good camera wet.

The worst part was probably the three inches of standing water I got to work in all day meaning soaked feet and super duper slippery plastic.

Honestly a few drinks in and I might have just decided to skip the garden entirely and just use it all summer as a slip and slide. (Almost totally kidding…)

I keep calling it fencing but what I purchased for the raised beds would be more accurately called railing.

I feel like we have ALL come into contact with these railings in the past in line at a fair or concert or something…

I had to figure out how to keep it in place as they are not meant to go in the ground. In fact, I’m pretty sure they sell “feet” that insert into their square legs so they can just stand on their own.

So, these railings weren’t ideal, but it was my best option that I could find in the dimensions (and black steel) that I wanted.

So that meant I was now digging holes in my puddle /slip and slide for all of my railing feet. And it was a pain in the butt but it did work and the rain actually made the digging easier. I put them in as deep as they would go (about 4 inches) so their bottom rails sit flat on the ground.

I zip tied them together and to the outside fencing and it all turned out pretty sturdy actually. (The zip ties just made my life quicker and easier before I replace them with heavy duty steel wire.)

You can see in some of the pictures I also ran wire several times across the inside of the beds, attaching the fence and rail together giving even more support. Once these beds fill with dirt that weight will be pushing out and those wires I lashed on the inside will stop that from happening.

If this all sounds a bit tedious its because it was.

It was a lot of walking!

Stick the wire through, walk outside and all around the garden, stick the wire back through, walk all the way back, twist wire tight and secure.

Repeat a thousand times.

I was wore out at this point lol. I really really wanted to continue but my wrist was screaming, I was so tired of being soaking wet and I wanted dry socks so badly.

Why is it that getting soaked by rain actually leaves you feeling dirtier then when you started?

I wanted to do all my raised beds that day but I was just done.

The next (and last) raised bed I have to build is going to be in the center like an island. Its going to be 12×2 so I can comfortably walk entirely around it. Its going to be for all of my root vegetables, carrots, beets, onions and radishes as well as one squash plant.

Am I worried that this is basically just all standing on its own? Yes! I fully expect to be pounding in some t-posts at some point…

Everything but the dirt and the seeds came to just over $2,000.

Why didn’t I just plant a garden like a normal person by tilling up the soil instead of all of this raised bed nonsense that cost so much? Because screw all that weeding on my knees.

And I’m only going to have to do all this work, and spend all this money, ONCE! This garden might not outlive me but its going to last a very very long time.

My standing in a puddle was not ideal and I certainly don’t want to do it again out here. I’m planning to mulch (the fake rubber stuff) over all of the plastic around the beds and as long as I get it deep enough I’m hoping I’ll never again be standing in a puddle out here.

I can always add some more drainage holes if I need to though…

Ok, one more day of building before I can finally get my hands in some dirt!