How to Landscape With Building Supplies & Wood Timbers

Clear an area in your yard from rocks, stones and debris. Ensure it receives the amount of sunlight required by the type of plants you wish to grow. Determine the size of the raised planter box, so you cut the landscape timbers to size accordingly. Make the raised bed or planter up to 4 feet wide, to allow easy access to the plants growing in the middle.

Cut six landscape timbers identical in length to form the long sides of the raised bed, and another identical six timbers smaller in size for the sides. You need 12 timbers for a three-course bed; however, add four per course if you desire a taller bed.

Lay two long and two short timbers over the desired site to form a rectangle. Ensure the corners are square. Score the ground along the interior and exterior perimeters of the rectangular outline. Remove the timbers and set these aside.

Dig a 4-inch-deep trench with a shovel between the scribed lines in the ground that match the width of the timbers. This trench allows the first course to be partially buried in the soil. Also remove grass or sod within the inner scribed line.

Spread 2 inches of crushed gravel in the trench between the parallel scribed lines. Lay four timbers – two long and two short – over the gravel to form the first course of the raised bed. Ensure the tops of the timbers are level, or adjust by adding or removing gravel from underneath.

Bore a 1/2-inch hole through the four timbers at 12-inch intervals, and insert a 12-inch-long rebar through each. Pound each rebar with a sledgehammer to penetrate it into the soil below, thereby stabilizing this course.

Lay another four timbers over the base course, but overlap the corners in the opposite direction. Line the timbers so their sides and edges fall in line with those of the previous row.

Drive a 10-inch wood screw through the middle and each end of the timber in this row to secure them to those directly below.

Lay the timbers for this row directly above the second row, but so they overlap the previous row’s corners in the opposite direction. Repeat the process to drive screws through their middle and corners to anchor them to the row below.

Pour gravel into the raised bed until it forms a 3- to 4-inch-thick layer. Mix equal amounts of compost and topsoil before adding it into the bed.