After scouring the internet for plans and ideas, I settled on this design because:

• The 4ft x 2ft size is perfect for square-foot gardening, and the 10 inches is a good depth for growing lettuces and other greens.
• I can garden standing up, instead of having to kneel.
• It fits nicely inside my patio, and I’m able to reach over to the other side without straining.
• It requires only basic hand tools (but power tools will make everything faster).

This Elevated Planter Design Is Perfect For Beginners!

You only need basic tools and basic woodworking skills. My husband helped me build this, and he has little experience building things.

More advanced woodworkers can build upon this basic elevated planter design to make it pretty.

The measurements for my elevated planter design come to 4 feet x 2 feet on the inside (an inch and a half wider on all sides on the outside), with a box depth of 11-inches, and a comfortable 40 inches tall. It fits approx 42 gallons of potting mix.

You can change these measurements to whatever you need. Taller or shorter depending on your height if you want to stand, or lower it so that you can garden from a chair or wheelchair.

If you make it longer than 4 feet, though, you need to add more legs to support the middle. Use the Sagulator to find out the length you can go before adding more supports.

Estimated Time: 5 hours

Tools & Supplies

• 10 – 1x6x4’ cedar boards
• 4 – 2x4x4’ cedar boards*
• 2 – 4x4x8 cedar posts**
• 4 ft of chicken wire
• Landscape fabric
• 3-inch external wood screws for the panels and crossbars supported by crossbars
• 5-inch external wood screws for the crossbars supported by the posts
• Linseed oil for a natural sealant to extend the life
• Hand saw and miter box (you can use a miter or chop saw if you have one)
• Drill with drill and screwdriver bits
• Tape measure and square
• Staple gun and staples
• Potting mix: I’m using a homemade mix of organic potting mix, composted manure, coconut coir, and glacier dust.

*Saving money by replacing 2×4 with 1×6 can seem like a great idea, but don’t. The bottom has to hold up to 400lbs of wet soil. 0.75 inch (which is what the 1 actually means) just isn’t strong enough, not over 4-feet.

**If you’re using a handsaw, replace the 4x4s with 2 – 2x4s screwed together. You’ll save yourself a lot of effort.

Instructions

Cut the lumber to size

You can cut all the lumber at once, or cut as you go along.

Legs: 4 – 4×4 pieces at 40-inches long

Short Cross Bars: 2 – 4×4 pieces at 17-inches long

Middle Long Cross Bars: 2 – 2×4 pieces at 4-feet long

Edge Long Cross Bars: 2 – 2×4 pieces at 41.5-inches long

Long Panels: 6 panels at 4-feet long (1x6x4).

Side Panels: 6 pieces at 2-feet long (1x6x2).

Attach the short siding to the posts

Lay out your posts, with the crossbar in place and the post feet pressed up against something flat to make sure they’re even. Lay your 2-foot long pieces (3 total) starting from the cross-bar. Pre-drill, then use the drill with the 3-inch screws.

Important: pre-drill all the holes in this project! Cedar is pretty dry, and if you don’t pre-drill, it will split.

To get a deeper pilot hole, drill through both layers, then lift the top piece of wood and continue to drill through the second. You can get a lot deeper to make it easier for these longer screws.

Affix short crossbars to posts and sideboards

Since we had enough 4×4 leftover from the cuts, we used that for the short crossbars. You can swap this for a 2×4 and end up with a deeper bed.

We started with a couple of 3-inch screws drilled in at quarters, before deciding to use longer 5-inch screws to drill through the post into the crossbar.

We then added screws through the sideboards into the post for extra support.

Repeat these two steps so that you have two short sides.

Attach the long crossbars

With the two short sides completed, we then attached the long crossbars. These crossbars are the most crucial part! They’re responsible for holding up 400lbs of wet soil. That’s why you need to use at least a 2×4. A 1×6 is not thick enough to carry enough weight, especially as moisture seeps into the wood.

We set up the two short sides, with one next to the wall to make sure it was straight, then placed all four crossbars on top of the short crossbars. The two outer crossbars work as spacers. There’s a 3.5-inch gap between the crossbars on the outside and a 3-inch gap in the middle. After drilling pilot holes, we screwed the two middle crossbars in place.

Then, we cut the second pair of crossbars to fit between the two posts. After setting the elevated planter on its side, and using the extra 2×4 pieces as spacers to hold the 2×4 in position against the inner crossbars, we pre-drilled and screwed in the second pair using the 5-inch screws.

The elevated planter looks a lot more sturdy now!

Add the 4’ side panels to the long side

Then, with the elevated planter still on its side, we attached the 4ft side panels to the posts. We added a few screws through the bottom side panel into the crossbar for extra support and to keep the panel from gaping.

We also put a couple of 1x6x4 pieces on top of the long crossbars, just to help support the weight a bit more.

Rub in purified linseed oil

We ended up skipping this step, as we’re in a really dry climate and don’t need to deal with a lot of rain, just the moisture of the soil. I also only need it to last a few years.

But if I lived in a rainier climate, I’d rub in purified linseed oil as a sealant to protect the wood and extend the planter’s life, and still be able to compost the wood when I replaced it.

You could use a chemical sealant, but a) you don’t really want that stuff near your food, b) the off-gassing is not good for the environment, and c) you can’t compost the wood.

Staple in the chicken wire

Instead of fully paneling the bottom, we added chicken wire to spread out the weight, add more drainage, and air prune the roots.

We rolled out the length of chicken wire lengthwise along the bottom before cutting at one end and rolling the corners down to fit around the posts. We then stapled it with U-shaped staples along with the crossbars.

Wear gloves! The cut edges of the chicken wire are sharp and will draw blood.

Staple in the landscape fabric and trim the excess

Then we added a layer of landscape fabric. The landscape fabric will help protect the wood from moisture a bit while allowing good drainage. Oh, and it keeps the soil from falling out through the chicken wire!

Instead of laying it lengthwise like the chicken wire, we rolled two sheets width-wise, leaving excess around all three sides. The two sheets overlapped in the middle.

I found it easiest to staple down the short sides around the posts, then adjust the landscape fabric along the sides before stapling it. (We may have gotten staple-happy and added way more staples than strictly necessary.)

Finally, trim the landscape fabric to the rim or just below the rim.

Mix the potting soil and add to the planter

Then we mixed up the potting soil. I went with a homemade mix, with 2 parts organic potting mix, 1 part cow manure compost, and 1 part coconut coir.

Because I’m in an arid, sun-having climate, the coconut coir (and compost) will absorb water and keep my planters watered for longer. I also bought mulch to help with water retention, going with bark nuggets because my patio is too windy for something lighter weight. (Wear gloves when handling bark mulch, or you’ll end up with microscopic slivers over your palms, like me.)

I also added glacier rock dust for added minerals, as a rooftop garden designer assured me this is her secret sauce for being able to grow the Three Sisters in a pot, and I’ll topdress with vermicompost later in the season.

As this requires a lot of handling of dry materials, wear a mask and keep all those particles out of your lungs.

(As you can see, the drainage works excellently!)

And that’s it! The only thing I need to do is wait for my seedlings to mature and set up the insect netting.

This project took us about 5 hours to build, and 2 hours filling it up with soil. (It always takes double the time I think it will.) It fits my space perfectly, smells fantastic, and I can’t wait to grow fresh salad all summer long in this amazing elevated raised bed!

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The post DIY Elevated Raised Bed first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

Dollar stores can offer their products so cheap in two ways:

• Cheap manufacturing,
• Smaller quantities of quality items,
• Or a combination of both.

Meaning sometimes you can score fantastic deals, and sometimes you end up with junk you have to throw away after one use (like the gardening shears and potting mix).

So what is worth picking up at the dollar store? I took a socially distanced trip to my local Dollarama to find out.

Note: I’m in Canada, so prices will look more expensive than they would be in the US. Prices and products will vary depending on which dollar store you go to.

Trellis

I assumed trellises would be in the “do not buy” category, as they’re usually so expensive that anything they offered would have to be short and flimsy. But look at this one! It’s just under a meter tall and sturdy, perfect for growing my bush peas and bush tomatoes. They also had a few decorative metal ones (although they probably won’t support as much weight) and a few bamboo ones too. If you’re looking for something quick and cheap for a shorter plant, you can’t go wrong here.

Shower caddy

When you’ve got a long day of gardening ahead of you, or even just a lot of tasks, you don’t want to be constantly walking back to your storage shed for small tools or seeds. That’s where the shower caddy comes in. You can load it up with all your smaller items, trowels, stakes, seed packets, and quickly move from garden bed to garden bed, or from task to task without having to get up. Plus, to clean it, all you need to do is hose it off.

Irish Spring soap

If you find your garden under attack by mammal pests like mice, rabbits, and deer, try leaving Irish Spring soap shavings around your garden to deter them. This won’t work 100%, but it’ll cut down on the rate of attack. Combine this with other deterrents, like hanging up cans or a wind chime to clatter in the wind and scare off pests.

Notebook and pens

Who else swears that this is the year you’ll keep detailed gardening records and never follow through? By the time I’m done with the garden, all I’m thinking about is a rest on the couch, and not about pulling out my laptop to make notes. But I’ve found the solution. I picked up a cheap notebook to keep by the door that I can take out with me and make notes with while gardening. Then I’ll transfer the notes to a nicer journal or a Word doc. Because it’s a cheap, temporary notebook, I won’t worry so much about getting it muddy.

If you use spreadsheets or printable to track what you need to do, then pick up some clipboards.

Splatter screen

Splatter screens are great for drying herbs or seeds, and these dollar store screens are a great option if you only have small amounts of herbs to dry. As Rosemary Gladstar said, herbs hung up to dry end up as dusty cottage decor, while trays (or screens) that are slightly in the way will encourage you to finish processing dried herbs before they’re covered in dust.

They also had various sizes of sieves or colanders, if you’re planning on saving seeds.

Fabric gloves

While I love my $20 Dig It gardening gloves, sometimes you just need a spare pair of gloves to cover your hands — especially when the ground is muddy or conditions are wet. The dollar store has everything from cloth gloves to neoprene gloves and even some leather gloves. They won’t last as long, but they can save your quality gloves some hardship.

Jute twine and pantyhose

Jute is an all-natural plant fiber that’s biodegradable and inexpensive, and when rolled into twine, can handle heavy-duty jobs. You can use twine to:

• make a trellis net for climbing plants,
• tie up plants to supports,
• train fruit trees,
• a guide for making straight plant rows (this one came with a spindle to make it easy to roll out).

Likewise, you can cut up pantyhose to tie up tomatoes while giving them some room to stretch. If you have more than a few tomato plants, though, buying a webbed nylon rope will save you time and money.

Mini caterpillar tunnel

This mini row cover (or greenhouse, as they call it), is actually a pretty good deal if you’re looking to just cover a row or three. The plastic cover is surprisingly large and thick (so it’ll last a season or three), and the plastic hoops are pretty sturdy. I picked this up for the hoops to fit over my elevated raised bed with a row cover (which they also had) and insect netting while saving the plastic sheet for another project.

They also had a pack of landscape fabric staples and garden clips for $1, which is a pretty good deal since I don’t need a ton. The kit relies on burying the plastic sheet to hold it together, but you can also use garden clips or binder clips (which you can also pick up at the dollar store) for extra security.

Craft sticks and plant labels

I usually go for picking up a pack of popsicle sticks to make my plant labels (using an eco-friendly weatherproof marker so the marker doesn’t run), but would you believe they’d run out of popsicle sticks? Dollarama had these much bigger plant labels at 10 for $1.25, and they’re about a foot long. My local gardening store sells plant labels this size for $4 per 10. (Although you may save more from a garden center when buying in bulk.)

Knee cushion

Gardening is hard work, and kneeling on the hard ground can take its toll on your knees. If you’re wondering if it’d be worth buying knee pads, a kneeling pad, or even a scooter, pick up one of these for a couple of dollars to try first. I don’t know if they’ll last more than a season, but they’ll give you a better idea of what will work for you.

And this is just a small selection. You can also pick up:

• Scissors for harvesting,
• Plastic containers or photo albums for organizing seeds,
• Spray bottles (go for hardware or gardening section, beauty-section ones are too flimsy),
• Epsom salts,
• Towels for cleaning up,
• Scrubbing brushes and toothbrushes for cleaning tools,
• Cheap socks to get dirty

They have a lot of gardening stuff, but you can find better deals by thinking outside of the gardening aisle.

While you can’t pick up everything you need for $1 (I wish!), a quick trip to your local dollar store can save you some cash better spent on tools or DIY projects.

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The post 21 Gardening Items You Should Get From the Dollar Store first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

There are a few different mulberry tree varieties, but the two most common in North America are:

White mulberry (M. alba) was brought to North America from Asia by British colonisers and has since naturalised. White mulberry was originally used in China for raising silkworms and continues to be used to feed silkworms and livestock.

Red mulberry (M. rubra) is the native to North America so may be a better choice depending on your region. It has successfully hybridized with the white mulberry.

The name doesn’t indicate the colour of the fruit. All mulberry trees produce berries from light red to dark red.

Why You Should Grow A Mulberry Tree:

Easy to Grow, Little Maintenance

There aren’t many trees that are this easy to grow. Mulberry trees grow 10 feet each year, to a total of 50 to 70 feet. They live for 75 years.

They transplant easily and they’re super low maintenance, tolerating drought and road salt. You don’t need to prune them. Let them grow into massive, berry-producing trees. In fact, pruning should only be used sparingly to remove dead or overcrowded branches during winter dormancy, as they’re prone to bleeding from cuts.

They also provide effective windbreaks and their thick foliage provides shade and cools down your yard.

Highly Nutritious and Delicious Berries

Mulberry trees start producing berries early at 6 years of age and, with a long harvest period from June to September, are super prolific! You don’t need to worry about birds, insects, and animals eating your crop, as the mulberry tree will produce more than enough for all of you.

Harvesting is easy. Since berries fall from the tree when they’re ripe, all you need to do to harvest is to put tarps underneath.

Mulberry trees can be raised from seed or propagated from cuttings, but I recommend picking up a two-year-old tree from a local nursery. Most mulberries are female or male, so you need both to pollinate, but nurseries grow self-pollinating varieties. Plus you get a two-year head start on fruit production.

The berries have a sweet-tart flavour, kind of like grapefruit, and you can use them as a substitute for blackberries and raspberries.

They’re naturally high in pectin, so are great for making jam and jelly. You can also eat them fresh or dry them for the winter.

Even better, mulberries are rich in iron (a perfect supplement if you have low iron levels), Vitamin C, Vitamin K, calcium, magnesium, and other trace minerals. They’re high in fibre, so make an effective natural remedy for constipation.

They’re also high in antioxidants, and one study suggests that an isolated compound in mulberry juice can be used as a breast cancer treatment.

Durable, Rot-Resistant

Since mulberry trees grow quickly when they’re young, they’re a great tree to coppice either for firewood or to build with.

The wood is durable and rot-resistant, and the tree’s long pliable branches are perfect for weaving into baskets, fences, and screens, or providing stakes in the garden. You could even learn the fine art of making basket traps to fish with.

Livestock

The white mulberry tree was originally grown in China as the favourite food of silkworms, but they’re not the only ones who will enjoy the leaves. The leaves provide excellent winter fodder for ruminants like cattle, goats, and sheep. They have the same protein content as alfalfa, at 20% dry matter and 2005 study found that milk production increased in goats fed mulberry leaves.

Dry the leaves by leaving them in the sun for 3 to 5 days or turn them into silage by chopping the leaves in 2 or 3 cm long pieces, letting the leaves wilt in the sun, then adding 5% bran and 5% molasses. Store in plastic bags at room temperature for 56 days.

Natural Dye

If you’ve ever eaten fresh mulberries and come away with stained hands, you know that mulberries provide an effective and natural dye. Just make sure you plant mulberry trees away from flagstones, concrete and other light surfaces unless you like red splatters.

Ways to Make Money From Mulberry Trees:

Looking to make some extra money from your homestead? Here are a few ways mulberry trees can help.

Sell

Mulberry trees produce a lot of berries over the season, and dried mulberries can sell for more than $10/lb in North America. You can also turn the berries into a jam.

Furniture

Mulberry trees have durable, rot-resistant wood, which makes it desirable for any outdoor furniture. Indoors, the fine grain makes attractive interior finishes. You can use mulberry wood as a wood veneer to add beauty to other furniture pieces. The wood starts out bright yellow then fades to brown over the next few months. Just be warned: mulberry wood is unpredictable when treated with stains or finishes! The wood can warp or change into unexpected colors.

Dye

This could be especially profitable if you are raising sheep for wool and can spin that wool into yarn. Many knitters and crocheters will pay more for natural, organic, and hyper-local yarn.

Seedlings

As I mentioned above, you can propagate or graft from winter-hardy mulberry trees. Landrace plants, or plants that have adapted over the years to a particular location, are becoming more popular and more sought after. To do this, you’ll either want to find local “volunteers” (mulberry trees that grew without human intervention) or plant tons of seeds, select the best from the ones that survive, grow seeds from that tree, until you have a locally adapted tree.

Silkworms

While we tend to think of silkworms as local to Asia, there was a silkworm industry in the Eastern US, culminating in the Mulberry Craze of the 1830s. Production is labour-intensive and manufacturing requires skill mastery, but if you can find a market for locally-raised silk and you have a burning passion to raise silkworms, sericulture may be for you.

While mulberry trees come with some disadvantages, if you’re looking for one tree that can provide a windbreak and shade, feed you and your animals with highly nutritious food, provide wood for building outside or just to keep you warm, as well as provide a natural dye — then you may just want to plant yourself a mulberry tree.

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