How to Install a Raised Vegetable Garden with Arbors | Ask This Old House

In this video, This Old House landscaping contractor Roger Cook helps an elementary school build and plant a raised-bed vegetable garden.

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Roger constructed the raised beds out of a rough-sawn 2x10 spruce. For the arbor, he used 4x4 cedar posts, 2x6 cedar cross pieces and a cedar lattice. All of these items are available at a lumberyard.

Roger created a 1:1 mix of compost and loam topsoil for the planting material. He then covered everything with leaf mulch. These are available from a garden center or landscape supplier.

Expert assistance with this project, including the design was provided by Nawada Landscape Design [http://www.nawadalandscapedesign.com/].

Shopping List for How to Install a Raised Vegetable Garden with Arbors:
- 2x10 rough-sawn spruce, for building raised-bed frames
- 4x4 cedar, for arbor posts
- 2x6 cedar, for making the horizontal frame
- 1x4 cedar, to make ground stakes
- Cedar diagonal-lattice panels, to make a trellis
- 1x2 pine, for diagonal braces
- 3-inch galvanized screws, to assemble the raised-bed frame
- 1 5/8-inch galvanized screws, to secure the stakes and lattice
- 50/50 mix of loam and compost, used as planting soil
- Wood chips, for pathway groundcover
- Leaf mulch, for mulching the planting bed
- Assorted vegetable plants

Tools for How to Install a Raised Vegetable Garden with Arbors:
- Circular saw, to cut lumber
- Cordless drill, for driving screws
- Framing square, to check for square alignment
- 3-pound sledgehammer, to pound in 1x4 stakes
- Posthole digger, for digging postholes
- 2-foot level, for plumbing arbor posts
- Wheelbarrow, for transporting material
- Garden rake, to smooth soil
- Garden trowel and three-tine cultivator, for excavating planting holes
- Shovel

Steps for How to Install a Raised Vegetable Garden with Arbors:
1. Use a circular saw to cut to length 2x10 rough-sawn spruce boards for the frame of the raised bed.
2. Screw the boards together using 3-inch galvanized screws.
3. Square up the frame by measuring the opposing diagonals from corner to corner. When the two dimensions are equal, the frame is square.
4. Temporarily screw a diagonal 1x2 brace across the four corners to hold the raised-bed frame square.
5. Use a small sledgehammer to pound a 20-inch-long 1x4 cedar stake against each of the long sides of the raised-bed frame.
6. Tap the stakes flush with the top of the 2x10 frame, the secure each stake to the side of the frame using two 1 5/8-inch galvanized screws.
7. Fill the raised-bed frames with a 50/50 mix of loam and compost. Unscrew and remove the 1x2 braces.
8. Use the posthole digger to dig 20-inch-deep holes in the corners at one end of the raised-bed frame. Dig two more holes outside the frame, 4 feet from the first two holes.
9. Stand an 8-foot-tall 4x4 cedar post in each hole inside the frame.
10. Check the posts for plumb with a level, then drive 3-inch screws through the frame and into the posts.
11. Install 4x4 posts into the remaining two holes outside the frame. Check each post for plumb, then backfill around them with the excavated soil.
12. Screw a horizontal cedar 2x6 across the posts, connecting the outer pair of posts to the inner pair.
13. Next, use 1 5/8-inch galvanized screws to fasten cedar lattice panels to the 4x4 posts.
14. Spread wood chips between the beds to create pathways.
15. Rake the planting beds smooth and flat.
16. Plant the vegetable seedlings into the raised beds.
17. Water thoroughly, then spread 1 to 2 inches of leaf mulch over the entire bed.

About Ask This Old House TV:
Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we're ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O'Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook.

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How to Install a Raised Vegetable Garden with Arbors | Ask This Old House
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