What to build raised beds from? Many people ask what the raised beds in our vegetable garden are made of and how to make them. That is why today's special episode on this topic. This is not a professional approach to the topic, because these beds were built by my husband himself and this is his way of making them, which can be freely modified depending on the needs and preferences. The material from which the beds are built is composite terrace boards. Many will say that this is not an ecological approach and it is hard to disagree with that. However, in this topic we have chosen a pragmatic approach. Unlike wood, composite boards do not need to be maintained and oiled (and therefore emptied of the soil every 2 years). They are durable and look good for many years, do not change color and heat up quickly, which helps vegetables grow faster in early spring. However, composite boards also have their drawbacks. The composite is brittle, so when building the boxes you need to be careful, instead of a regular hammer, use a rubber one. It is also a fairly flexible material, and boards can bend under the influence of heat. Apparently, some composites smell unpleasant in the heat, but I haven't noticed anything like that in our beds. They don't give off any smell. However, because the boards can bend, in the case of larger beds, additional reinforcement of the longer sides is necessary. If the side is the length of the entire board, i.e. 2 meters 20 cm, then the reinforcement should be in two places. No additional box will fit in our vegetable garden, but another relatively small one was built for the needs of this material, with the dimensions: length 110 cm, width 72.5 cm and height 43 cm. For the construction you need: – 5 composite boards – ours were bought from a DIY store, they are 2.20 cm long – cost PLN 35 per piece, or PLN 175 – 1 finishing strip - cost PLN 20 – 6x60 carriage screws – 24 pcs and 8x60 24 pcs – cost PLN 10 – 6 nuts plus 48 washers – cost PLN 4 – 6 drills, 1 long and 3 short – cost PLN 15 per piece, or PLN 60 and here's a note, it's not worth buying cheap drills, because when drilling composite they are only enough for a few holes. So the total cost of materials for building this raised bed is about PLN 269. In addition, you will need the following tools: a hand saw or electric saw, a square, a rubber hammer, a tape measure, a pencil, a screwdriver, a 10-inch wrench 1. Start by measuring all the boards – they have different dimensions, sometimes they differ by 1-3 mm. The boards also have a right and left side, which you should pay attention to. As the outer side, you can choose the one you like more. 2. Then cut the 220 cm boards in half, these will be the longer sides of our bed. Our demonstration bed will be three boards high. This is the lowest height we have in our vegetable garden. By cutting 3 boards in half, we will have 3 elements for each side of the longer side. 3. The shorter sides will be 72.5 cm long – from one 220 board, we cut 3 elements for each side of the shorter side of the bed 4. Cut the joist to a length of 60 cm – we will then dig the protruding parts of the joist into the ground, so that only the boards are visible. 5. By placing the cut joist on the cut boards of the shorter side, we draw a line - the place where the board joins the joist. This connection should run in the middle of the joist. In our case, the longer side of the joist is 5 cm, so our center is 2.5 cm from the end of the board. We drill holes in the boards on both sides, 2.5 cm from the edge and at equal distances from the top and bottom of the board on both sides. 6. When drilling through the boards with a sharp drill, remember that the work table can also be perforated. So let's not do this on a kitchen table or garden furniture, in our case it was a board placed on trestles. We put the joist under the wider side and move the other side to the carpenter's clamps. This way, the boards will be fixed evenly and straight and will not protrude beyond the screwed joist. Minimal differences do not matter much because we can later mask the corners with a strip. Let's also remember about the right angle when connecting the joist to the boards. We mark the places where the hole in the board meets the joist. 7. We remove the boards and drill through the joist. There is reinforcement in the middle of our joist inside - we try to drill a hole in its place. 8. Then we put the boards back, remembering their order, insert shorter carriage screws and screw them using a washer. And here's an important reminder - composite board is a relatively brittle and delicate material - any scratches and knocks will be visible. We use a rubber hammer very gently, using it to hit the screw so that it is possible to catch the screw with the washer and nut from the joist side.