Cedar Garden Planter

A freestanding 2x3 ft cedar raised planter box, 12" deep, built from 2x6 cedar walls on 4x4 corner posts, lined with landscape fabric and drilled for drainage. This is where the build ladder turns from "stuff you hang" into "stuff you tend" — a box a kid waters every day is the same skill as a food forest, just sized to their hands.

Materials

• Cedar 2x6, 3 ft — 4 boards
• Cedar 4x4 (corner posts), 14" — 4
• Exterior deck screws, 3" — 24
• Landscape fabric — one 3x3 ft piece

The Build

1. Cut four 4x4 posts to 14", and the 2x6 boards into eight 24" and eight 33" wall boards — two courses per side, four sides.
2. Clamp a 24" and 33" board to two adjacent posts at the bottom, flush with the post bottoms, and screw through the board into the post.
3. Check the first course square before adding the second course, then stack and screw the second course directly above it on all four sides.
4. Flip the box and drill six ½" drainage holes evenly across the bottom opening.
5. Staple landscape fabric to the inside walls, overlapping the bottom, then set the box on level, well-draining ground before filling with soil.

Caveats

• A box that leans after filling with soil almost always means the first course went in out of square, or the ground underneath wasn't level — check square before every added course.
• Standing water after rain means too few drainage holes, or fabric blocking them — add 2–3 more holes and trim the fabric back from the edges.
• Screws pulling out mean they went into post end grain instead of through the board face — redrive at a slight angle into the post side.

Skip Entirely

Skipping the level check on the ground before setting the box — a planter set on uneven ground looks fine empty and leans hard the moment it's full of wet soil.