Gardener's Supply Company Raised Garden Bed Elevated Cedar Planter Box | 2' x 4' Heavy Duty Standing Garden Planters for Outdoor Plant Vegetables & Flower Gardening Perfect for Patio, Lawn & Backyard

My daughter has wanted a garden for so long, since our neighbor, whom we pass every day walking home from the bus stop, has a lovey one. So thought this might be a good start for us to see how much she will like it. And a great outdoor activity we can do together. She said it was her favorite gift this Christmas. And I loved how it wasn't that hard to put together and turned out to be so durable and beautiful - like the pictures. Excited for spring!!!

I suggest that you read other reviews. The best suggestions are to read through the directions and use a drill to make small pilot holes into the wood as you go so the screws go in easier also with a drill base and a Phillips head. The shorter end pieces of cedar come with the aluminum stave and L-bracket already attached. The hardware for the longer sides are not pre-attached. As the aluminum L-bracket on the long sides of the planter will have to rest on top of the pre-attached L-brackets for the shorter end pieces, I found that I had to drill a new larger hole through the pieces of aluminum on the first side and reattach to properly fit with the end pieces. The rest was easy. It's very sturdy. I used Thompson's to seal the cedar. It looks great as well.

First off this is whole boards, not pressed and glued pieces. So big plus. But it was a bit expensive for what your get. Gardener's supply is like that. Stuff is usually expensive but good. Just depends on the individual product whether it is more on the scale of way too expensive vs it is so good that it is worth the extra price. This is mostly worth the price, would have been better a bit lower price.Assembly wasn't totally seamless. I didn't have to end up drilling pilot holes for all screws like some other cheaper brands. But you do need to line things up with particular offsets. (The top of the boards are offset a bit from the supports.) Even with double checking everything and remeasuring once done (and my offsets were within reasonable variation of true), I did have to use a drill to expand a couple holes on the aluminum frame to get things to fit. And then not perfectly square. But with the slope I was installing them on for final form of it worked ok for me.As a last note research your soil for it! You shouldn't use standard in ground garden soil. However recommended raised bed soil is significantly more expensive. If you look up what is the difference between that and the raised bed soil, the main thing is a healthy dose of peat moss. With a bit of research I was able to recreate the raised bed soil more cheaply using garden soil (cheap), peat moss (a bit more $ but less than using the dedicated soil), and my compost (free). Everything is growing well in my custom mixture.

Good and sturdy. I've read a lot of reviews about raised beds like this that do not last or break when the dirt is put in. Does not appear that will be the case with this one. When attaching the metal braces might not want to completely tighten screws until they are all started. If you tighten one end all the way, it can be difficult to get the other holes to line up. Other than that, great!

I love these planter boxes! They're a good size, the construction seems sturdy, and they're beautiful! I water sealed the wood planks before I assembled them, and they seem to be holding up well. My only criticism are the instructions for assembly. the instructions were not very clear or easy to follow, but ultimately, we were able to assemble the boxes fine. Overall, still happy with my purchase!

This was made from Pine wood which once we filled with dirt, it immediately fell through as the wood and screws couldn't hold the weight. Pass this up.

Make sure to follow directions and easier to install with two or more people

These garden beds are perfect for raising your garden for easier access. The cedar looks excellent and improves the overall look of my vegetable garden (it distracts the eye from the poorer-performing plants).There was one slight issue, however. Our soil is clay and the base of each leg is open, so our beds slowly sank into the ground, making them unlevel and forcing me to bend over further to work in my garden. However, Gardener's Supply does sell footers to insert into the legs to keep them level. I would highly recommend installing the footers if you think your soil will not hold the bed because you'll need to remove all the soil to install the footers after the fact.