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A garden bed lets you grow the flowers, trees, fruit, vegetables and herbs of your choice in your own backyard in the best soil possible. This guide shows you the tools and equipment you need to build one yourself. It also gives you tips about how to keep your sleepers square, the best way to remove concrete footings and the easiest way to dig trenches for your wooden sleepers.
Lay the longest sleepers out on the grass where you want to build your garden bed. If you have them, use the concrete footings as a guide to keep the sleepers straight. Measure the distance between the two sleepers at each end to make sure they're square.
Measure the distance between the two longest sleepers, this is the width of your garden bed. Put a wooden sleeper on the work horses. Take the width measurement and mark out this distance on the sleeper. Put on the safety glasses, dust mask and earmuffs. Use the circular saw to cut the sleeper to the right length. Repeat this step to cut the sleeper for the opposite end of the garden bed.
Put the two side sleepers and the end sleeper together so they make a U-shape. Use the cordless drill to make a pilot hole near the end of one of the side sleepers. Then drill in a temporary screw. Repeat this process to join the other sleepers together. Use the roofing square to make sure the corners are square.
If there are two trees or plants that you want to keep in the garden bed, that are at either end of the bed, measure the distance from one tree or plant to the edge of the sleeper. Go to the other end of the bed and measure the same distance from the tree or plant and mark this spot on the grass with marking paint. This'll give your garden bed a balanced and even look.
Use the tape measure to work out the length of the garden bed and halve this figure, which'll be the length you want to cut the sleepers for the sides of your garden bed. Mark the length out on your sleepers and cut them to length. You want to cut the sleepers to the same length so that they join in the middle of the garden bed.
Remove the temporary screw you drilled to make the U-shape at one end of the garden bed. Lay two sleepers down one side. Drill a temporary screw to join the sleeper at the other end, so it makes a corner. Use the roofing square to make sure that the corner is square. Once it is square, lay the two other sleepers on the opposite side. Check that all four corners, where the sleepers join, are square. Use marking paint to mark the corners on the outside of the sleepers, which'll tell you where to dig a trench for the sleepers.
Once the corners are square, remove the sleepers. A good tip is that as you take the sleepers away, remember where each of them were, so that when you start to rebuild the garden bed each piece goes in the right place.
Use a crowbar to lever up and loosen the concrete on all sides. Use a sledge hammer or lump hammer to break the concrete into smaller pieces. After the concrete is broken, use the crowbar to also lever up the broken pieces. Put these in a wheelbarrow to take them away. Use the mattock to dig out the rest of the grass and dig a trench for the sleepers to sit in, so that 50mm of the sleeper sits above the ground.
