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June 21, 2009 · 6 Comments

How to Build a Vegetable Garden Box for Your Deck

How to

My sister and her husband have a large, sunny backyard, but they prefer to leave that space open for pickup football games and other neighborhood fun. (They have four children of their own and lots of little visitors.) So, when they decided they wanted to grow some vegetables, the solution was to build a deck-side garden box.

My brother-in-law, John, is an engineer, so he had no problem coming up with a good-looking, efficient design. It’s also easy enough to construct that you don’t have to be an engineer to build one. So, here’s John’s Deck Garden Box — and thanks to my sister, Elly, for sharing the photos. (By the way, these are larger photo files, so feel free to click on the thumbnails to get a closer look at what’s happening.)

John and Elly wanted a garden large enough to grow a couple of tomatoes, some basil and a few other herbs, so they decided to build a box 6 feet long by 2 feet wide. After buying 1-by-8 cedar boards for the sides, some 2-by-2 lumber for the support pieces and a piece of plywood for the bottom, John (with assistance from my dad) went to work. He cut the lumber to size, then used wood glue to attach the boards on top of the plywood bottom (above).  He then attached the supports inside the box (below) He started building the box, attaching the side pieces to the supports using deck screws. (This is where having two people working makes the job much easier.) He built it one layer at a time, so that the final box is about 22 inches deep.

adding support to deck box

Once the bottom was attached to the first row of boards, an internal support was added.

Once the box was complete, John flipped it over and attached four strips of 2-by-2 to the bottom to raise the deck garden off of the deck. It’s not shown in the photo, but he also drilled some drainage holes in the bottom and lined the box with landscape fabric. The fabric helps the bed retain some moisture and the holes make sure it doesn’t retain too much.

man's foot in garden box

John’s 6-foot-5, so the box is plenty deep!

garden box flipped over

The 1-by-2s helped keep the box off the deck to prevent rotting.

With the box ready, John and Elly filled it with a mixture of top soil and compost and planted their tomato and herb starts. The photo at right was taken right after planting, and I’ve since heard that the plants are all doing well and the tomatoes have gotten big and already have blossoms. What a great way to raise vegetables in a small space!

small plants in deck garden

With soil added, herbs and tomatoes where planted in the box.

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Comments

  1. jeff-nhn says

    June 22, 2009 at 10:06 am

    Nice deck! You are going to love growing vegetables, herbs and flowers on your deck. It is so much fun to walk outside in the evening after work and just sit to view the progress of each plant.

Trackbacks

  1. Vegetable Garden on the Deck? You Bet! My Northern Garden | Greenhouse Friendly says:
    July 5, 2009 at 6:25 pm

    […] Vegetable Garden on the Deck? You Bet! June 21, 2009 by mynortherngarden. Squaring the boards up. My sister and her husband have a large, sunny backyard, but they prefer to leave that space open for pickup football games and other … Continue Reading […]

  2. My Northern Garden » Blog Archive » Deck Garden, Year 2 says:
    July 5, 2010 at 11:25 am

    […] summer, I wrote two posts (here and here) on how to build a garden box for a deck, based on the one created by my sister and her […]

  3. Deck Vegetable Garden is Looking Good! | My Northern Garden says:
    June 5, 2012 at 10:00 am

    […] written about deck gardening before and it’s consistently been one of my most popular blog posts. Do you garden on the […]

  4. Best Books for Vegetable Gardeners says:
    January 31, 2013 at 6:04 am

    […] garden. We hope this has inspired you to plant vegetables this spring, whether that means a pot of tomatoes on the deck or a community garden plot. We thought we would leave you with a few recommendations for further […]

  5. Vegetable Garden Basics: Sun and Soil says:
    July 21, 2021 at 10:18 am

    […] ideal vegetable mix drains well and has a high level of organic material in it. If you are using raised beds for your vegetables, fill them with a rich, well-drained mixture (you can buy this from nurseries […]

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