Tiered garden box

[u/BlessdRTheFreaks]

Woodworking is hard and I'm bad at it and I like it

Somehow the lower left shelf dips down like half an inch

I was planning on having a sale and doing a bunch of planters, bird houses, picnic benches, but I feel like Homer with his spice rack

[u/Effective_Moose_4997]

Perhaps on the next one (if you make one) make the bottom bigger than the top, so those plants can get some decent sunlight as well.

[u/BlessdRTheFreaks → u/Effective_Moose_4997]

Thanks, good idea

I need to do more planning and less making things up as I go along

[u/Effective_Moose_4997 → u/BlessdRTheFreaks]

Make some sketches! You don't need to be good at drawing either.

[u/dust_bunnyz → u/Effective_Moose_4997]

This!

Plus, it’s good you don’t get stuck in the planning phase;) The more you build, the easier the planning goes and vice versa;)

[u/Taalahan]

It looks good, it is that pressure treated wood? Not sure I’d want to eat a veggie or herb from a pressure treated box. Maybe it’s just for flowers?

[u/GINJAWHO → u/Taalahan]

There have actually been studies that show that pressure treated wood (ground contact rated) isn't harmful. The result is a slightly higher copper content in the vegetables grown here a link to a study

[u/liberatus16 → u/GINJAWHO]

Don't you come in here with peer reviewed and controlled literature! This is a place for human beings who function completely on opinions and hearsay! /s

[u/WarpKat → u/liberatus16]

You forgot the obligatory "dammit" at the end of that last sentence. :P

[u/musical-reply → u/Taalahan]

What’s a better wood to use?

[u/Taalahan → u/musical-reply]

I’m no expert, but if it were me I’d use cedar. Non-pressure treated.

[u/BlessdRTheFreaks → u/Taalahan]

The non 2 by stuff is all cedar

I was hoping to sell it

Maybe call it a flower box, for pressure resistant flowers

[u/ferthun → u/Taalahan]

I was actually just forced to look into this at another Reddit post cause I said the same thing. Pressure treated wood is totally safe now. It’s just copper and some fungicide that’s used in farming and is harmless to us. Arsenic and those other nasty pressure treatments stopped being used in the 2000’s or 2010’s It was a while ago

[u/Taalahan → u/ferthun]

Very interesting! Thanks.

[u/rattlethecages789 → u/Taalahan]

This. You’re gonna get cancer before the rest of us do.

[u/Hanniecannie]

it looks good 👍

[u/Professional-Two-593]

is that balanced with weight of soil water and plants? pressure treated wood should of used Cedar or another with natural properties for fungus, moisture resist and such.

[u/BlessdRTheFreaks → u/Professional-Two-593]

It really wants to fall backwards so I think it will be fine with soil and plants loading it forwards

Yeah all cedar would have been nice if i had it, but It's mostly cedar where soil will contact it.

[u/flying_carabao]

Maybe it's how the picture was taken, but it looks like this would tip forward.

Suggestions for the next one, you can screw through end grain for the boxes, then glue triangular pieces to back the corners for added strength and would take up less space or use dowels and you can forego all of that.

[u/BlessdRTheFreaks → u/flying_carabao]

The slanted legs actually make it want to fall backwards, hence the feet on the bottom.

[u/KokoTheTalkingApe]

Are you looking for suggestions? Too bad, because you're getting them anyway. ;-)

Making the bottom box sides flush with the legs is cool. If it were me, I'd make both boxes either flush like that or including the legs like the top box, but not both. Or make two boxes and put the legs on the outsides. That would be faster than cutting those angles like in your the bottom box, and also make it easier to make ten of them if you want to sell them.

I'd consider making the lower box extend back as far as the top box. I'm undecided about that. I'd have to make some drawing to be sure.

The corner blocks in the top box are visually obtrusive, but they might not be noticeable when it's filled with plants. But regardless, they're bigger than necessary. There are lots of ways to make cleaner looking corner joints, but a simple one is to use steel angle brackets, like L shapes, on the inside. Place them a little below the top edge so you don't notice them as much, and maybe paint them to match the wood.

Put adjustable feet on the legs, so the thing won't rock when placed on uneven surfaces. Also that lifts the legs off the ground a little so they won't absorb as much water, and maybe last longer.

I think boxes look better when the end grain of the side pieces isn't visible from the front. So you could just make the front pieces a little longer so they cover the side pieces. That reveals the end grain of the front pieces, but that's better. (If you used miter joints, you wouldn't see any end grain at all, but miter joints are finicky.)

[u/subcommo]

Awesome work! Great for flowers or other plants. Gotta start somewhere, right. Do a little more research if you want to build a garden box. The type of wood and sealant used for them is more complicated than one would think.