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25 Things to make · Guide 25 of 27

Free Raised Bed Plans Worth Building

Seven free raised bed plans from the RHS, growing charities and independent gardeners, each checked, with the timber to ask a UK yard for and what to change before you build.

7 min read 11 sections Guide 25 of 27

Two new timber raised beds on a lawn, one with a hinged netting coverPhoto: Isaac Smith, via Unsplash, Unsplash License
What’s in this guide 11 sections · 7 min
  1. Three rules that apply to every plan
  2. 1. Garden Ninja (most complete cutting lists)
  3. 2. The RHS method (the trusted basics)
  4. 3. Allotment Garden Diary (a real allotment build)
  5. 4. Thrive accessible beds (for gardening seated or standing)
  6. 5. Garden Organic (a schools design, low and high)
  7. 6. GardenFocused (the simplest square bed)
  8. 7. Ugly Duckling House L-shaped bed (for a corner)
  9. Which one to pick
  10. What to ask the timber yard
  11. Sources
Section 01 of 11

These are seven free raised bed plans worth building, from a simple board bed to an accessible bed for gardening seated or standing. Each one was opened and read before it went on this list, none needs payment, and none comes from a timber merchant, sleeper seller or DIY chain. Some plans make choices this site would not, such as untreated timber in the ground, so each entry says what to change. For the timber itself (treated boards, oak sleepers, larch, and why old railway sleepers are out), read the guide to planning timber for raised beds first.

Three rules that apply to every plan

  • No creosoted or reclaimed railway sleepers, and no reclaimed timber of unknown history, for beds where food is grown. New treated softwood sleepers or oak are the alternatives.
  • Keep cut ends out of the soil. Brushed-on preservative does not replace factory treatment, so a post or peg goes in with its factory end down and its cut end at the top. Treat every cut end with end-grain preservative.
  • Untreated softwood in soil rots within a few years. That is fine for a short-lived bed, but plan to replace it.

1. Garden Ninja (most complete cutting lists)

  • Plan: How to Build a Raised Bed: Complete UK Guide, Garden Ninja, by garden designer Lee Burkhill.
  • Suits: a first bed, with a choice of boards or sleepers. Sizes are metric.
  • Tools: saw, drill, level and stainless screws for the board bed; a circular saw, impact driver and a second person for sleepers.
  • Style: a board bed about 2400 x 1210mm, two boards high (about 300mm), or a sleeper bed about 2.4 x 1.4m.
  • Timber: pressure-treated softwood 38 x 150mm boards, two high, with corner braces and a 1210mm centre brace across the middle, which the plan says any bed over 1.5m long needs to stop the sides bowing; or six new treated softwood sleepers 200 x 100mm with 75 x 75mm posts. Oak sleepers are the upgrade.
  • Why it is first: it already rules out reclaimed railway sleepers and asks for every cut end to be treated.

2. The RHS method (the trusted basics)

  • Plan: How to Make a Raised Bed, RHS.
  • Suits: anyone who wants the method rather than a cutting list.
  • Style: a board or sleeper bed under 1.5m wide, 30cm deep for salads and strawberries and 45cm or more for fruit bushes, with the corners coach-screwed and battened inside.
  • Timber: pressure-treated softwood sleepers, oak, reclaimed hardwood only if the seller can say it was never treated (never ex-railway sleepers for food), or untreated scaffold boards painted with preservative and lined with plastic so the preservative stays out of the soil. No sections or quantities are given, so use the cutting list in the raised beds timber guide.
  • Also useful: the soil mix (3 parts organic matter, 2 parts sharp sand, 7 parts topsoil).

3. Allotment Garden Diary (a real allotment build)

  • Plan: Building The Raised Beds, Allotment Garden Diary, by John Harrison.
  • Suits: a whole plot of beds at once.
  • Style: six beds of about 3 x 1.2m, two boards high, with the corner posts left long so a third board can go on later.
  • Timber: pressure-treated boards about 25 x 175mm in 3m and 3.6m lengths, 75 x 75mm corner posts cut to 600mm, and small pegs. Ask for boards treated for ground contact, and cut each post so its factory end goes into the ground. Boards that long also need a post halfway along each long side to stop them bowing.
  • Watch out: it is a diary of the planning and cutting rather than a step-by-step assembly.

4. Thrive accessible beds (for gardening seated or standing)

  • Plan: How to build raised beds, Thrive, a free PDF from the gardening-for-health charity.
  • Suits: anyone who finds bending hard, or who gardens from a chair or wheelchair.
  • Heights it gives: about 900 to 1000mm to work standing, 690 to 760mm seated, and about 615mm from a wheelchair. Keep the bed about 500mm wide if worked from one side, or 1000mm from both.
  • Timber: for the low board design, pressure-treated softwood 25 x 150mm boards on 50 x 50mm stakes driven factory end down, lined with polythene.
  • Watch out: the leaflet dates from 2008. Its board-and-stake design is only for beds up to 450mm high, because thin softwood is not strong enough for more soil than that, so it does not reach the accessible heights above. Its taller design uses railway sleepers with a preservative it warns can stain hands, which this site would not use. Use the leaflet for heights and widths, not for the build. Three courses of new treated softwood or oak sleepers, as in the Garden Ninja sleeper bed with posts inside the corners, give about 600mm, which is close to the seated heights. A bed tall enough to work standing holds a lot of wet soil, so get it designed by someone qualified rather than stacking more courses.

5. Garden Organic (a schools design, low and high)

  • Plan: Building a raised bed, Garden Organic, a free PDF from the organic growing charity.
  • Suits: a quick build with simple tools: hammer, saw, tape measure and pencil.
  • Style: a low bed 2.4 x 1.2m and 150mm high, or a high bed 1.8 x 1.2m and 750mm high.
  • Timber: sawn boards 25 x 150mm on pointed 50 x 50mm posts, with galvanised nails.
  • Watch out: it suggests untreated timber to avoid preservatives, and the low bed’s pointed posts are knocked straight into the soil. Keep the plan’s post halfway along each 2.4m side; it stops the boards bowing. Expect untreated softwood to last only a few years; larch or Douglas fir heartwood lasts longer without treatment. Build the low bed only. The high bed stacks five courses of thin boards on small posts with nails, holding well over a tonne of wet soil, which is more than the three-course limit in the guide to planning timber for raised beds; a bed that tall needs a design from someone qualified.

6. GardenFocused (the simplest square bed)

  • Plan: How to build a raised bed, GardenFocused.
  • Suits: a first bed in an afternoon.
  • Style: a 1.8m square bed one board high, about 150mm. The middle of a 1.8m square is out of reach without stepping on the soil, so cut two of the boards to 1.2m for a 1.8 x 1.2m bed instead.
  • Timber: four treated gravel boards 150mm deep at 1.8m, and one 100 x 100mm fence post cut into four 450mm corner pieces.
  • Watch out: cutting one post into four leaves freshly cut ends to bury in 300mm holes, where they rot first. Buy four short treated posts or pegs instead and put the factory ends in the ground.

7. Ugly Duckling House L-shaped bed (for a corner)

  • Plan: DIY L-Shaped Garden Bed, Ugly Duckling House, an American build.
  • Suits: fitting a bed into the corner of a garden or patio.
  • Style: an L-shaped bed one fence board high, made from two rectangular beds joined by a corner section.
  • Timber: cedar fence boards on 18-inch cedar 2×4 (38 x 89mm) supports. Cedar fence boards are hard to find in the UK, so ask for treated 19 x 150mm boards or larch. Brushing preservative on a cut end does not match factory treatment, so use supports treated for ground contact with the factory end in the soil, or keep the frame sitting on the surface.
  • Watch out: it was built on sloping ground and dug in to get it roughly level, so prepare a firm, level base first.

Which one to pick

  • First bed, clear cutting list: Garden Ninja.
  • Just the method: the RHS.
  • A whole allotment: Allotment Garden Diary.
  • Easier on the back: Thrive.
  • A corner: the L-shaped bed, with UK timber swapped in.

What to ask the timber yard

  • Is it treated for ground contact (Use Class 4)? Boards and posts touching soil need it.
  • Have you got end-grain preservative to match? Every cut end needs it.
  • Are these sleepers new? Only buy new treated softwood or oak sleepers for growing food.
  • Is this larch or Douglas fir mostly heartwood? If you want untreated timber, heartwood lasts noticeably longer than sapwood, which has almost no natural resistance.

Sources

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