Want to make gardening boxes; no tools, no experience. Help!

[okta614]

Spring`s coming soon and I have the itch to start growing stuff. I hope to offset food costs by growing my own herbs, veggies, and a couple of flowers to pretty things up. I live in a 2nd floor apartment and plan to build some gardening boxes that will sit on the balcony. I have no woodworking experience and no tools. I have no idea about technical woodworking terms or the benefits of one type of wood over another. So, questions:

- What tools should I buy as a starter kit? I can't afford BIG pieces of equipment because of size/cost reasons.
- What woods are best at weathering the elements? I'm hoping to keep these garden boxes intact for AT LEAST 4 years.
- Any other woodworking/gardening tips you can offer?

Thanks mustachians!

[gooki]

Tools. A hammer and a hand saw wiill be enough to get you started.

Avoid treated timbers. Even something as rubbish as untreated pine will last beyond 4 years, but there are probably better options.

Don't discount large pots instead if you can get them cheap enough.

[Karl]

You may want to check out the most recent Square Foot Gardening book.  It has nicely detailed/picutred options for creating planter boxes and a few suggestions on how to obtain cheap/free materials to do so.

[Sparafusile]

Tools:

Hand saw, small drill, drill bits, screws. The drill can be either plug-in (cheap) or battery operated (more expensive, but more convenient).

Wood:

Redwood, cedar, cypress are best. Even the cheapest pine will last a couple years.

Tips:

There are a lot of wood workers on this site (myself included). Many of us can create plans/tell you how much wood you need just from a picture. Use us.

[kolorado]

Free frames are possible if you are near any forested area. :) Since my parents had access to a forest right behind their house, they made their beds from pine logs for free. You will need a decent ax and some rope for hauling though. A little baling wire, as well as slightly trenching where the logs will lay, will keep them together for raised beds. The logs held up for about 6 years before my parents replaced them with new logs. I think most untreated lumber frames have a garden life of about 10 years.

[Kenoryn]

I would recommend cedar for the wood. You could get by with a hammer and handsaw but if you plan to do more similar things in the future you might want to invest in a drill, which is a very valuable tool for all kinds of basic home repair projects. While cordless drills are really handy, they're not really necessary especially if you don't plan on working places like attics etc. without power. A regular corded one would be cheaper. If using screws instead of nails, you'll need a drill to pre-drill holes. You can also get driver bits to fit in your drill so you can use it as a screwdriver instead of doing by hand (just a no. 8 Robertson bit will cover all kinds of things, including this project). Using screws instead of nails can make for a stronger, more durable product, and also one that can be disassembled. When choosing screws or nails to use make sure they're suitable for outdoors - e.g., galvanized or stainless steel, such as deck screws.

If you post the dimensions and shape/look you have in mind someone could give you a rundown of materials and how to construct.

[John74]

I used cedar to make my boxes. A bit expensive, but the boxes are still in good shape after 6 years.

[okta614]

Thank you everybody for your amazing advice and help! I have a question for you guys. Since I'm living in Japan, there's plenty of free bamboo available. Would a planter box made of bamboo be as durable as one made with traditional types of wood?

[kolorado]

Don't know about how bamboo compares to wood in longevity but bamboo sure has wood beat in appearance: http://www.mastergardenproducts.com/bambooraisedbed.htm

[Mr. Rootstash]

I do potatoes in metal garbage (any can would work) cans filled with compost/soil. You can cut the potato into quarters, let it dry up for a day or 2 and then plant in the bottom of the can with an inch or two above them of soil/compost. Keep mounding the soil up as the plant grows and when the foliage up tops starts dying/turning brown you can dump the can out on a tarp and collect the potatoes. Very fun and easy! you can do this a couple of times before the soil needs to be ammended and for this I would just mix in some fresh (3-6 months old turned) compost.

[zug]

Bamboo ought to work just fine, although it will be more of a pain to set up. If you can lay down some sort of barrier so soil doesn't leak out the sides of the raised bed, it should be ok. Burlap type sacks work well for this.