I'm going to show you how to do a sleeper raised garden bed.
The tools for the job we need are our important safety equipment, our hammer, drill bits,
ratchet, spanner, tape measure, pencil, our levels, our shovel, power tools and of course,
our squares.
The materials we need for the job are our concrete, our fixings and of course, our sleepers.
First step in the process is picking the location to put your sleeper raised garden bed.
Things you have to take into consideration are the sun, shade and wind depending on what
plants you want to put in your planter box.
We've picked our location in the back yard, it gets the morning sun and also gets the
afternoon shade.
We're governed by our access panel here.
So, we're going to come off the face of it and work back.
We're also governed by the height of our deck there.
For aesthetic reasons, we're going to come off the bottom of that deck and bring it out
level.
First, we've got our access hatch.
We're going to be coming flush off the face of it.
We're going to grab the thickness of one sleeper plus the width of our support that we're going
to fix to the wall.
Now, we've got this end done, we go down the other end and do the same off the other end
off the deck.
Now that we've got our end supports marked out, we're going to measure the distance from
that point to that point there.
Half the distance so I've got a center point to fix our support to.
Now that we've got our marks on the wall for our set up, we're going to grab our level
and [sp] plum those lines down.
Now that we've got our center mark, we're going to measure half the distance of our
sleeper either side of that center mark and then plum that line down.
Now, the next step in that process is to level a line from the bottom of our deck there all
the way across the wall where our supports go to know the height of our sleeper bed.
Now we've got the positions of our supports marked out, it's just a matter of measuring
up to the top of our sleeper bed.
Now, I transfer my measurement to the sleeper and then cut it to size.
Now that we've got our supports cut, we're going to go ahead and mark out the measurements
for our holes.
Because we've got a short support, we're going to go for two fixings in it, one at the top
and one at the bottom.
If you've got a longer support, it's advisable to also put one in the middle.
When marking out your holes, it's also important to measure out half the distance of the width
of your sleeper and that will be where your hole goes.
Now that we've got the positions of our holes marked on the timber, we're going to go ahead
and drill them.
We're going to use the spade bit to kind of sink our Dyna bolts so I can see them through
the timber.
Now that we've got our holes countersunk, we're going to change drill bits and drill
all the way through the bit of timber.
Now that we've got our holes drilled in our bit of timber, we're going to go ahead and
drill our holes into the wall with a hammer drill.
Now we've done two marks, so I know where my holes are and we're going to go ahead and
drill the rest of the hole.
Now we've done two holes into the wall, we can go ahead and fix our support to the wall
with our Dyna bolts.
It's also important to remember that when you're putting your Dyna bolts in, it's important
to have a little bit to flare so it'll bite in so it'll give you the ability to tighten
it up.
Now that we've got our supports fixed to the wall, we're going to ahead and measure our
sleepers to fix to our supports.
Now we're going to go ahead and fix our sleeper to our supports.
We're going to go flush for the top of the supports fixing it with batten screws.
Now that we've got this end fixed off, we're going to go down the other end and repeat
the process.
Now that we've got each end fixed off, we're going to go ahead and repeat the process on
each of the supports, remembering to put two batten screws on each support.
Now that we've got our two sleepers fixed to the supports, we're going to go ahead and
dig out the bottom to allow clearance to put our bottom sleeper in.
A good handy tip is to have an off cutter sleeper there just to give you a gauge of
how far you have to dig down.
The next thing we have to do is dig along this side and along the face to give us clearance
to put through sleepers in.
Now that we've dug the soil out to give us clearance for our sleepers, we'll cut our
end pieces to our required measurement.
Now, it's time to go ahead and fix them to the ends with our batten screws.
Now that we've got it screwed in, we're going to use our level.
We're going to use soil to pack underneath it to keep it level.
Now that we've got it level, we can go ahead and place a second screw in the bottom of
the sleeper.
We're going to repeat the process with the top two and down the other end as well.
Now that we've got our ends fixed into position, we're going to go ahead and dig our holes
for our supports at the front.
It's important to remember to dig your hole as deep, as high as your supports coming out
the ground and the front supports will go in line with the back supports.
Now, it's also important to remember that when you're digging to watch out any pots
or surfaces that may be in the ground.
Now that we've got our holes dug, we've cut our front supports, doubled the length of
our supports at the back allowing for them to sit in the hole.
Also, remember to leave 50 to 100mm below the top line of the sleeper to allow for the
dirt to cover it when it gets put in the garden bed.
Now, we're going to go ahead and fix our front supports to our side sleepers, fixing it in
with batten screws.
Now that we've got our front supports in, we've taken the measurement from our outside
points with pretty cut out timber, now it's time to fix it to our front supports.
It'll sit flush with the top of the sleepers there at either end.
Now that we've got both ends fixed off, we're going to go ahead and repeat the process for
the bottom two sleepers.
Now we've got everything all fixed off, it's important that we get our square and our level
to go around and make sure that everything's square and level and concrete in our front
supports.
Now, I've mixed up some concrete.
It's important just to follow the instructions on the back of the packet when mixing it,
remembering to bring the concrete up to 100mm below the soil level.
Now we'll let the concrete go off just for the final step.
Now that we've got our garden bed built, we're going to go about installing our [inaudible
00:06:21].
You can also use black plastic.
The reason why you do this is to stop soil and water leaching out between the joints.
We've already cut out to size, it's just a simple case of putting it into where you're
happy and then fixing it off with some galvanized [sp] clay outs and that's how you go about
building a sleeper raised garden bed.
Now you're ready to plant your herbs, will create a wonderful feature for your garden,
then you've got beautiful fresh herbs for when you're cooking your next meal.