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I joined the corners with sliding dovetails to ensure the boxes stay square and stay together even as termites and contact with dirt consumes the wood. The wood won't be chemically treated because they will be used for growing food.

You might think you could just nail or screw the corners together, but as the wood decays screws will lose their grip, especially in soft woods. Screws and nails driven into the ends of a board have little holding power over time. The mechanical lock of the dovetailed corners prevents the corners from spreading in either direction. It is laborious to do it this way and requires considerable skill, but the strength and squareness of the joint makes it worth the trouble here.

In doing the sliding dovetails I do not think I would do it that way again. A through mortise and tenon joint would be easier to put together, though more time to cut. The problem with the sliding dovetails is that it's hard to fit them well in wood so soft. The short "tusk" on these boards meant I had some short grain breaking off when I glued and hammered/clamped the dovetails closed. The glue swelled the joints a little and started to set too fast as well.

The broken off "tusk" parts were reattached with glue and I put brad nails through them for good measure.

Gallery

Comments

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very nicely done. I am in the planning stages for something similar. I think I may borrow some from your idea. Im thinking of using eastern red cedar for my boxes. It sells for about $2.50 a bf 4/4 in my area.
 

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I hope you can see that the sides are ship lapped common paneling boards. They are stapled to the frames on the inside. Done this way they can be replaced individually as they rot out.
 

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I was going to do something like this with old skids. I built mine from 4×4 treated lumber and lined them on the inside. Third year and only one top board is warping, which is easy to replace. I have thought about making a decorative front but I've been so busy that I haven't even cleaned up the dirt I had dumped in front of them yet. lol. Plans plans plans.
 

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I see you can stack yours to make a larger box. When things get hot in the summer, you might need that depth else the whole thing will dry out. Raised boxes loose moisture at a really high rate. I made mine 2.5 ft tall and they do pretty well holding the moisture. You can also install a soaker hose connection about 8" under the surface, that seems to work best.
 

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These planter boxes look sharp.
Always love reading your insight.
Nice photo backdrop…..................
 

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you could use pegged half lapped joint in the corners. easy to cut and assuming this is not treated timber will probably outlive the box
 

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I have first hand experience of rotted out raised beds. And yes screws are not the real answer they rust, break, and loose their grip. I will be posting an up date to my blog soon.
 

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I used roof self drilling hex head screws with great success (like http://anujsteelroofing.com/roofix.htm). they are very durable, have amazing grip and reasonably priced. If you dont want to counterbore for the heads, they also have buglehead, but i like the hex head more
 
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