When I got an email from Eartheasy offering a cool wooden raised bed kit to try out, I was suspicious of their claims. Takes less than five minutes to put together? Easy to assemble? Um, not for me. I’m, like, DIY-challenged or something. I can’t even hit a nail properly.
So Amy Stewart of Garden Rant and I decided to make a video showing people exactly how long it takes to put these things together. Since we each had a raised bed kit, we decided to stack them for a taller bed, and see how that process went.
Curious how fast we could go? Watch us in action:
(If you want to see how fast the assembly really went, you can watch the unedited version of our video here! It still went pretty darn fast.)
Seriously though, that was an insanely easy raised bed construction. No tools needed, and you don’t even need to weed before setting this in place. If you’ve got particularly tenacious weeds, just mow and put some cardboard down before loading this sucker up with soil, and you’ll be good to go.
What you should know about the Farmstead Raised Bed Kit:
- Totally tool-free construction, using a mortis and tenon joint seen in ancient boat and other architecture from as early as 4800 years ago. I feel all cool and Amish just thinking about it.
- Can stack them four high, with no need for brackets or anything. The weight of the wood and thickness of the boards hold everything together easily, and once the soil is in there it won’t shift.
- Made from rot-resistant Vermont white cedar, with the pegs of black locust wood. It’s all untreated and natural.
- Solid construction, with rough-hewn wood that’s about an inch and a half thick.
- The inner sizing of the beds is different from the size of the boards, because of the way the boards are held together once constructed. The exact sizes are listed on the site.
- They provide extra pegs, which is nice because we managed to lose one while fiddling with them!
- Pegs fit into the holes easily, with no need for force or tools.
- If you wanted a taller raised bed without buying as many kits, you could take inspiration from Johanna Silver’s S.F. Garden Show displays and create a straw bale garden with a single frame on top to hold in the soil and make the whole production look streamlined and neat.
- Very eco-friendly packaging for shipment – the waste from the packaging fits into one hand.
- Eartheasy is a carbon-neutral company, and they have chickens. Really cute chickens, named Thelma and Rampage.
Want to win your own raised bed from Eartheasy?
Just leave a comment below, and I’ll choose a winner next Wednesday. Good luck! (You can head on over to Garden Rant for a second chance to win.)
Erin @ The Impatient Gardener is the winner! Congrats, Erin!!
81 responses to “Eartheasy Raised Beds”
Mortise and tenon joints hold together a lot of the barns in our area and it is miraculous to see how they work. This raised bed system looks great. I am so glad people are now realizing that pressure treated wood is a bad idea for vegetable plantings. Beautiful and practical. I sure would love to win this!
I am constantly trying to remove more lawn (albeit chemical free), and instead add overflowing beds of this and that. Such a quick, beautiful product would make for a lovely and quick take-over.
Wow. Gorgeous, functional, and natural! This would make a lovely addition to the garden in progress.
I love love love these. I have just started getting into gardening, planting and this would jump start my new hobby 🙂
This is a great design. Most of the raised bed kits I’ve looked at require at least a screw driver. I can operate a screw driver just fine, but I really like it when I don’t have to hunt around for tools that aren’t normally in my gardening bucket.
Wow! These look great! I’d love to see how they work! And I always need more room to grow things!
Oh Lordy, do I want to win this. My plot at our local community garden has become a sunken garden thanks to the vigilant volunteers who mulch between the plots. I’m not complaining about the mulching, mind you, but I would like to “rise up”.
For the last 5 years I have concentrated on flower beds in my yard…it is time to put in some veggies. This would be a great start. Thanks Kelly
I hate a gravel spot near my house that I would love to turn into a flower/herb bed and this seems like the absolute easiest way to do that. Would love to win! 🙂
As I get older, it is harder and harder to crawl around on the ground, but my gardens keep expanding. EarthEasy would be a great solution.
I built two raised beds last summer, but have been wanting more! EarthEasy is providing a great looking one!
We have no lawn and have been landscaping the entire front, side, and back yard over the last few years. This summer we plan on adding raised beds in the side yard. Would be a great way to start with the kit!
Love the raised bed but that video was pretty fun to watch, haha. You girls crack me me up and your enthusiasm is fantastic 🙂 Nicky
Gen, What a great editing job you did on the video – love the music, too. These look like such an easy way to install a raised bed. I’m going to show them to a client who is thinking about installing much more permanent beds but I think these would be a better option.
That is very cool! I’ve had a lot of readers of the blog ask for a good raised bed system because many have been disappointed with those plastic corners and other fastener systems, but this seems SO much easier. Plus, the wood will swell and those joints will be locked in tight. I love this idea. And of course you and Amy always make a good movie-making team!
Wow. Those look cool. I loved your video. You could have had a career in vaudeville.
These are so cool–perfect for a certain young wanna be gardener in my life.
I have two kinds of raised beds I am using now but those are the cleverest I have seen. Sometimes a really great product comes along and I think this is one.
I’d love to win! And I didn’t have to write an embarrasing poem – but I will tell you that it’s such a clever idea, saves my husband from a honey-do project, and maybe I could get some veggies going soon!
I’m going to be creating a vegetable garden at my new house. I think I’ll be using these. Thanks for the info.
wow! pleasantly surprised by these raised beds. I’m so used to seeing such cheesy raised beds in gardening catalogs I almost skipped over this post. I should have know that you’d have the good stuff!
If I won this then my husband couldn’t say no to another bed. Right?
Loved your video; and I would certainly love to have a few of those raised beds…that is the nicest construction I’ve seen on one!
This would help my sister remove sod and garden. She’s just getting started and I’m so excited to see her growing her own food!
The 2 of you are so stinking cute! Such a fun video to watch! You two always make me giggle! What a great product! This would look great in my front yard edible landscape!
…and I had already planned to overhaul my raised beds this winter! How cool would this kit be?! AMIRITE?!
I’m moving to a new house with a yard that is in desperate need of some love. One of these guys would seriously help in covering the sad, sad lawn.
Marvelously simple. Kudos to the Eartheasy folks. But just out of habit, while building it, I would probably have to curse and throw some tools.
This looks amazing! I am in need of putting in a new bed and I love this design!
For those of us who are garden-rich, but DIY-poor, this is a perfect. I’ve tried a variety of the pre-cut bracketed raised beds, but this one looks like it might really work. I’d love to give it a try in my own yard.
Having this raised bed would give me another reason to gore more veggie than my current raised bed will hold and will encourage my fiance to get rid of more grass, lol! Gardening on a budget with ease, now you really can’t beat that!
I was thinking about straw bale gardening anyway, seems like a good way to keep it tidy. Easy construction is always a blessing. Thanks for the video.
Pat
We can always use a new raised bed! And if my family can’t, I have family members who I’d love to help set this up!
Oh, those are awesome. I’d bring these into school and have the kids set them up and add more space to our garden!
Clever design! Thanks for the blog.
Oh, I want one! Please pick me!
That loks so cool and simple! Love it!
These look very easy, and the video is hilarious. Although some of my family are DIY friendly, those of us who garden aren’t, so these would help us be more independent and grow more veggies or fruit…
One, community garden plot…
Two, very sandy soil…..
Three, lots of perennial weeds like mugwort…..
four, small space so everything needs to be super-productive….
Yeah for raised beds, totally efficient and good-looking at the same time! It would look so nice on the plot…..
Great looking bed!
Awesome! They have a similar setup at the local hardware store, but these are SO much better looking,… Thanks for the giveaway!
Hi Gen & Amy,
I love your video (s)! You always have a lot of fun 😀
Man, I would sure love to have one of these….. so I can grow veggies 🙂 without nasty
pesticides & chemicals 🙁
I’d love to try out this system, and it looks great (real wood, RAH!) Jeannie
I volunteer for the Delaware and Lehigh Heritage Corridor, a 165 mile Rails to Trails project. I’m putting raised flower beds in the rest stop we’re working on this summer. Everything needs to be all natural and plants need to be native. These raised beds would be a perfect addition to our project! Thanks for the info and opportunity to win one!
We moved this winter and left behind our veggie garden (oh how I miss the asparagus patch). Our new house is not sited well for a tilled veggie garden, so I’ve been thinking about raised beds (and it looks like this one I could put it together myself!). I’d love to win one!
Dear Amy and Gen,
You two did a wonderful job with the raised beds! Thank you so much for helping us get the word out 🙂
-Ben
Eartheasy.com
Hi, I’d love to be entered into the drawing. These beds are terrific–thanks!!
Good design, good video-great looking raised garden bed-good gardening! And always great fun, your blog and my garden adventures.
Heck yes I want one. What an elegantly simple design!
This looks fabulous. I would love, love, love to win!
That was awesome.
These look so easy! I love my lil raised bed but want to put in some more. Glad you included all the info about the kind of wood used, and that they won’t shift once you get the dirt in them, that was a concern. I still may add a rebar post at the corners but no big deal. Thanks for the info, and opportunity to win!
My mom just sent me a link to some raised bed gizmo from Lee Valley that builds tall raised beds from cement pavers. This Eartheasy wooden kit seems like it is a lot more practical if you need an accessible bed — and better looking too!
I came across this article because I am looking to create a garden I can tend to in my Grandmother’s back yard. She has a large space, but I want to start small because I have never planted anything but flowers in pots. This looks like a perfect way to start. I would love to win this kit!
Beautiful system ! I would love to add this to my backyard garden – raised beds are definitely easier to tend and care for than the low in the ground beds. It would look so great next to my other EarthEasy kit !
How cute! It would definitely have a great place with my other raised beds. Thanks for the opportunity to win!
I just purchased another type of raised bed that was NOT easy to assemble or sturdy – I would love to win this one and tell all my friends how great it is!! thank you!
I would love to win one of these boxes! I’ve been wanting to start my own back yard garden ever since I watched the documentary Collapse!
I think it’d be great way to reconnect with nature and my back yard gets lots of sun. = )
My contractor made fun of the garden bed I made out of old bricks, I am going to get one of these regardless of winning, just to save face….. and my back!
Such an elegant design…so simple, but so effective. This is a great tool to make gardening easy and satisfying for beginners and more experienced green thumbs alike. These are perfect for those who want instant gratification. I ordered two of these and was able to put them together in minutes, literally. After dumping in bags of organic soil, I was ready to plant within an hour! Did I mention how great they look?
I was going to go buy lumber this weekend, but with my carpentry skills, winning a raised bed would be much safer than trying to build one.
I wish I’d known about these when my raised bed was put in! this would have been so much easier and so much less destructive to my yard. But I’d love to win one for my mom. 🙂
I have the perfect spot for this in my front yard (that is losing lawn and weeds and moving toward edible landscaping), and my kids could help me build it!
I need easy in my life. As a pro gardener, I am very busy this time of year and my own garden needs help. I just want some bleeping veggies for goodness sake!
I need to move my garden and the only sunny spot left is on top of my leach lines. Ag extension swears you can plant right on top. I want to lift it a little. I need these beds to do it!! I am short on time and big on ideas!
Raised bed gardening is the way to go! I haven’t had many problems with my cats or dogs bother my veggies since going this way. Unfortunately only ONE of my many beds are raised, so this kit would help me to make another one!
These look so much better than the boards I sloppily screwed together 10 years ago. I would love to begin replacing them one by one, and winning my first one here would be a great start!
I’d LOVE to win! I do some container gardening but I’ve been longing for a raised bed 🙂
i’ve used several types of raised beds but this looks like a higher quality product.
I’m always looking for EASY ways to take out a piece of lawn and grow food instead!!
Since the food bank is promised half my produce this summer, I need more space to grow my veggies. You’d like to give me one of these fabulous raised bed kits? Yes please!
I have a large lot for a city. But the sunniest spot is the cement floor of a long-ago-demolished garage. If I want more room for tomatoes, or if I hope to raise my focus above the cement to a vista of sunflowers or cleome, a raised bed is the only hope! These beds look lovely!
I love your gardening information and videos. I’m subscribed and read regularly! I would love to add a raised bed to my backyard I live in southern California.
We have recently moved into a larger place that has a yard, so we are able to garden this year. My husband has been breaking apart pallets that we come across and nailing them back together to make my gardening bed plots. It takes a lot of time and has a rustic country look to them. I would love to win one of your raised beds to plant my herb garden in.
This looks like the thing for me, me and hammers do not get along! Very generous of them.
Country girl in the city – pregnant with second child wants to escape to new terrace to putter in the dirt like the old days – this fits the bill!
How perfectly wonderful! I’ve been meaning to get a raised bed going….this looks the easiest yet!
I’ve been growing things in pots for my sister who is not able to get around that well. The soil in her yard isn’t that great. A raised bed like this would be a great way to amend a piece of the yard to plant more for her.
These look perfect! I’ve been trying to sucker my husband into using some man-power to make me a raised bed because I’m power tool shy, but it looks like I can put these together without him. Nice!
Wow! Why didn’t someone think of this before. I sit at an info. desk on Saturday mornings at our local farmer’s market and help folks with gardening problems. This is a great product to tell people about…sooooo easy.
Everyone is very interested in growing their own food and this makes it almost mistake proof!
I like your website and appreciate your candid review of all products.
Wow I know exactly what I would grow in if I won!
This really is a great product. Nice post!
I love anything that doesn’t require power tools!
I wanted to buy a raised bed greenhouse (Grow Camp 5000 4 X 8 foot), but Earth Easy says that they are out of stock. Some other sites say that Grow Camp no longer produces the 5000 model. Can you let me know if you will sell them gain. Ray