Hi everyone!  My husband and I have been making a lot of changes in our backyard lately, and we can’t wait to share them all with you! My in-laws are in town and they love to have projects while they’re here. Perfect!!!   His dad can’t sit still and is a total workhorse!  So naturally, being the good hosts that we are, we gave him about 100 jobs to do if he ever got “bored”.😄  One of those jobs was this corrugated metal raised garden bed that he and my husband built together.  

We all love how it turned out!  My husband and I were just saying out of all our backyard projects we’ve done lately, this is our favorite!  So if you’ve ever wanted a garden, I highly recommend using the corrugated metal!  It looks awesome!!!

I have been wanting a garden for about two years now, and about a month ago my gardening dreams finally came true thanks to my husband and father-in-law!  We decided to put our trampoline at ground level, and of course, we did it ourselves (post coming soon about how to do that!:), which meant we had A LOT of dirt lying around.  That’s when my husband said, “Would you want me to build you that garden you’ve been wanting?”  Ummmmmmm, yes, a thousand times over!!  I was so excited!  

We had just recently been to Portland, and while we were walking around downtown, we saw some corrugated metal planter boxes that we both loved.  We both immediately started planning where we could build those for at our own house.  Then we came home, got busy with our kids and life, and forgot about those planter boxes!  That’s usually how those DIY projects go, right!?  Then one day, Dave, my husband, looked at that dirt from the trampoline hole we dug, and decided he should make me the garden I’ve been wanting  out of the corrugated metal.  (Yes, he’s definitely a keeper!:)  I thought it was a genius idea and I couldn’t wait!  

So, thanks to downtown Portland, my smart, handy husband, and my want for a garden, you now get to learn how to make this super cool looking garden!  You could even make those planter boxes we wanted!  The possibilities are endless.  I mean, a garden bed, planter boxes, a fence, a cute table center piece, window flower boxes, etc.! We still want to make planter boxes out of this same material, because we LOVE how our garden turned out so much!

Okay, already, enough rambling on my part.  Let’s get this project started already, right!?

This post contains affiliate links, which means a percentage of the sales of anything you purchase based off of this post would go to me at no extra cost what so ever to you.  Thanks so much if you do decide to purchase something from my links!

Here is what you’ll need before you get started:

**Your amount and sizes will vary depending on what size of garden or planter box you want. The materials listed below are for our U-shaped garden with the dimensions listed below in the picture, so please feel free to adjust accordingly.

Materials:

• 24 x 12 ft sheet of corrugated metal or whatever size you want.  This size cost us $22 dollars.
• 10 4 x 2’s of Pressure treated lumber.
• 1 box of decking screws at least 2.5 or 3″ ($20) (Comes with it’s own star bit.)
• 1 box self tapping metal screws 1.5″  We used these, and they worked great for us!
• Counter sinking drill bit. This helps with building the frame.  This is what we used.
• Weed blocker for the bottom.

Tools:

• Drill  (My husband likes this drill the best if you don’t already have one.)
• Tape measure  (Here is a good one.)
• Grinder or Jigsaw (This is what we used.)
• Chop Saw  (This Chop Saw is always a good choice.)
• Pencil or pen

Now comes the fun part; getting started!

Directions:

1.)Pick the area you want to build your garden and measure it out.

(We chose the U shape so we could walk into the garden.)

2.) Now you are ready to build the frame. We wanted the garden to look as aesthetically pleasing as possible so we made the squares that face you first, so that the frame looks the best from the front view. We also made the middle piece. See the order we built the frame in the picture below.

To connect the frame we countersunk at every right angle 1 & 1/2 inches and used a 3 inch screw to ensure that it was super sturdy.  The head of the hammers below represent each spot we countersunk.

Here’s a close up of what it should look like.

3.)  Once the three facing squares were made, we started cutting the long pieces to length. We cut the back long pieces and the sides. Refer to picture again if need be.

4.) Now it’s time to join the fronts to the long edges and back as you see in the picture above.  A second person comes in handy here to help hold the frame while you screw it together. We used the longer 2.5 inch screws. 

5.) Now your frame is ready! We measured the inside to start cutting the metal. We wanted a little overlap so the soil would hold as well as possible. We then cut the metal with a jigsaw. We slid the metal into place and used the self tapping screws to join to the wood. See picture, and don’t mind our son in the background playing! (Real life pics happening here!😉)

6. Next, you’ll put some sort of weed barrier down as shown below. 

7. You’re almost done!  Now fill it with dirt and soil! I recommend at least good gardening soil on the top layer.

8. Then we ran irrigation to it, but that is up to you!

 

9. Now plant your plants and watch them grow!  Ours are growing like crazy!!  We’ve got watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, jalapeños, sweet peppers, bell peppers, squash, basil, rosemary, cilantro, and green onion all growing in ours!!!

We hope you enjoy your new garden as much as we are!!  

XOXO,

Lauren

The Decor Mama