Replacement boards, stakes, brackets, plugs and caps are sold in the Components and Replacement Parts collection at frameitall.com. The Parts Determination page helps identify which component you need if you are unsure of the profile or generation.

Note that screws, caps, nubs and plugs and finishing sleeves are not covered under warranty, so these are ordinary purchase items rather than warranty replacements.

Leave about 2 feet of clear space around each raised bed. That is enough room to tend, water, weed and harvest comfortably, and to get a wheelbarrow or garden cart alongside the bed when you fill or amend it.

If you use a wheelchair or garden seated, widen paths to 3 to 4 feet and consider a taller bed built from stacked boards so the working surface comes up to you.

It depends on what you are growing. Warm season crops such as tomatoes, peppers, squash and beans want 6 to 8 hours of direct sun. Cool season crops such as lettuce, spinach, kale and many herbs tolerate less. Site the bed for the crops you actually plan to grow.

Frame It All's Know & Grow Guide lists light requirements crop by crop. If your only sunny spot is a patio or driveway, Frame It All beds can be installed on hard surfaces by trimming the ground stakes.

Raised beds give you control over soil composition instead of fighting native soil, warm up earlier in spring and hold heat longer, drain better, reduce weed pressure, and cut back bending and kneeling. They also define growing space clearly, which improves spacing efficiency and keeps foot traffic out of root zones.

For gardeners with clay, rock, compacted fill or contaminated soil, a raised bed is often the fastest path to a productive season because you import a known growing medium rather than amending for years.

Enter your ZIP code at the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map at planthardiness.ars.usda.gov. Your zone tells you average winter low temperatures, which determines which perennials survive and roughly when your frost dates fall.

Zone tells you what overwinters. It does not tell you summer heat tolerance or day length, so pair it with local frost dates and a regional planting calendar.

Square foot gardening divides a bed into a one-foot grid and assigns a different crop to each square. It works well in Frame It All beds because the board lengths are 4 ft center to center, so a 4x4 bed grids cleanly into 16 squares and a 4x8 into 32.

Mark the grid with string, thin lath or garden tape. The method maximizes yield per square foot and makes succession planting easy to track.

Frame It All recommends a 4 ft x 8 ft x 11 in raised bed as a first garden. That gives 32 square feet, enough to grow a real variety of vegetables and herbs, while still being reachable from both sides without stepping into the soil.

A 4 ft width is the practical maximum for two-sided access. If a bed will sit against a wall or fence with access from one side only, keep the width to 2 ft or 3 ft.

Eleven inches accommodates most vegetables, herbs and flowers, which is why Frame It All uses it as the standard bed height. Check root depth for what you plan to grow: leafy greens are content in 6 to 12 inches, while carrots, parsnips and full-size tomatoes prefer 17 inches or more.

Because Frame It All beds are bottomless, roots also reach into native soil below, so effective depth is greater than frame height on decent ground.

Yes. Mulching around plants helps the soil retain moisture and keeps root systems from drying out, and it suppresses weeds. Leave a small gap around each plant stem so mulch does not sit against the stem, which can encourage mold and stem rot.

Straw, shredded leaves and fine bark all work. Avoid piling mulch into a volcano against stems, which is the most common mulching mistake.

Spacing is crop-specific. Follow the seed packet, or use Frame It All's Know & Grow Guide, which lists plant-specific spacing. In a square foot layout, common densities are 1 plant per square for tomatoes or broccoli, 4 for lettuce, 9 for spinach and 16 for carrots or radishes.

Raised bed soil supports tighter spacing than row gardening because you are not leaving room to walk between rows, but do not crowd past the point where airflow suffers.

Use a 1:1 mixture of compost or aged manure with a light potting soil or screened topsoil. The goal is a light, well-draining mix with balanced pH and plenty of nutrients. Do not use heavy soils containing large amounts of clay, gravel or sand.

Frame It All specifically names Kellogg Raised Garden Bed & Potting Mix, Bonnie Harvest Select Raised Bed Soil and Miracle-Gro Potting Mix as suitable products for filling raised beds.

Yes. Raised beds are a closed system and nutrients deplete faster than in-ground soil. Add lawn clippings, decomposed leaves, worm castings, peat moss or aged manure about twice a year, and side-dress heavy feeders such as tomatoes and corn during the season.

Compost is the baseline amendment. A soil test every two to three years tells you whether you actually need supplemental nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium rather than guessing.

Three practical methods: add a cold frame greenhouse attachment to trap heat and carry warm season plants later, use a lightweight frost blanket over cool season crops to prevent frost damage to leaves, and start seedlings indoors so transplants go out the moment weather allows.

The insulating hollow board profile also helps at both ends of the season by moderating soil temperature swings.

By planting certain plants in your garden you can attract various beneficial insects. Refer to page 30 of Frame It All's Raised Gardening Guide for how to attract common beneficial insects.

Water demand depends on crop, climate and recent rainfall. Raised beds drain faster than in-ground soil, so they typically need more frequent watering in hot weather, often daily for shallow-rooted crops in midsummer. Check by pushing a finger two inches into the soil rather than watering on a fixed schedule.

Frame It All's Know & Grow Guide chart lists general water requirements for common garden crops. A drip irrigation kit on a timer is the most reliable answer for consistent moisture.

Add granular lime at a rate of about 0.5 pounds per 100 square feet. Retest pH in six months and repeat if you need to raise it further. Moving pH is slow, so incremental applications are safer than a single heavy dose.

Most vegetables prefer pH 6.0 to 7.0. Blueberries are the notable exception and want acidic soil around 4.5 to 5.5, which is a good reason to give them a dedicated bed.

Start with a clean fill, then keep the surface covered. Mulch around plant stems, or lay a weed blocker underlayment at the base of the bed before filling. Because a raised bed is a contained volume with imported soil, weed pressure is far lower than in-ground gardening from the outset.

Both organic and chemical options work, but for edible beds most gardeners stay with mulch and hand weeding inside the frame, reserving any spray for the paths outside.

You can install a Frame It All raised bed in any season the ground is workable. Many gardeners build in fall or late winter so the soil settles and biology establishes before spring planting. Assembly needs only a hammer, so weather windows can be short.

If you are installing on frozen or saturated ground, wait. Stakes drive poorly into frozen soil, and building on saturated ground can leave the bed out of level once it dries.

A basic 4x4 or 4x8 Frame It All bed assembles in roughly 10 to 20 minutes with one person and a hammer. The Snap-Lock brackets slide onto the board ends and lock with plugs, so there is no drilling, screwing or measuring.

Larger walk-in and multi-tier layouts take longer, mostly because of the number of boards. The per-joint process stays identical no matter how complex the shape.

Yes. Because the system is bracket-and-stake rather than glued or screwed, a Frame It All bed can be emptied, disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere. Remove the bracket plugs with a flat-head screwdriver, pull the stakes, and the boards come apart.

Note that the warranty does not cover damage caused by disassembling, moving or repositioning a bed from its original installation, so handle the boards and brackets carefully during a move.

As a rough planning figure, 32 square feet, one 4x8 bed, supplies steady salad greens, herbs and a few fruiting crops for one or two people through a season. Households aiming to cover most summer vegetables usually run 100 to 200 square feet, or three to six 4x8 beds.

Yield depends far more on succession planting, sun hours and irrigation consistency than on raw square footage. Start with one or two beds and expand, which the modular system is built to allow.

Soil is the largest addition and often surprises people: a 4x8 bed at 11 inches needs about 29 cubic feet, roughly 15 bags. Then delivery if you buy bulk, and any accessories you choose, such as an animal barrier, trellis or drip irrigation.

Recurring cost is small, a few cubic feet of compost each spring to replace settling, plus seeds or transplants. There is no staining, sealing or board replacement cost, which is where wood beds quietly accumulate expense.

Raised beds pay off where native soil is poor, drainage is bad, or mobility matters. A composite bed avoids the recurring cost of replacing rotted wood every five to seven years, and it removes staining and sealing labor entirely, so the higher upfront price is spread over a much longer service life.

Compare on total cost of ownership, not sticker price: replacement lumber, fasteners, stain and labor for a wood bed over 20 years usually exceeds a one-time composite purchase.

Frame It All offers straight rectangles, squares, L-shapes, corner beds, curved and circular beds, keyhole beds, tiered and terraced beds, and large walk-in and walk-through layouts with interior paths. The soil calculator lists over 60 named shapes.

Named designs include the Lucky Horseshoe, Nordic Cross, Grand Concourse, Circle Keyhole, Curved Terrace, Teardrop, Garden Star and walk-in shapes such as the Alamo, Topolski, Jumbo U-Shape and Center Cross.

A keyhole bed is a raised bed with a notch cut into one side so you can step into the center of the bed without walking on the soil. It lets you use a wider footprint, often 8x8 or larger, while still reaching every planting area by hand.

Frame It All offers keyhole variants in 4x4, 4x8, 8x8, 4x12, 4x16 and circular configurations, listed with their soil volumes on the soil calculator page.

A walk-in bed is a large layout, often 40 to 150 square feet, arranged so interior paths let you walk inside the planting area. Frame It All walk-in designs include the Alamo, Topolski, Cumberland, Big EZ, Jumbo U-Shape and Center Cross.

Many walk-in designs are sold with an integrated animal barrier fence, which is the practical reason to choose one: a large enclosed growing area you can stand inside while it stays protected from deer and rabbits.

A tiered bed steps up in levels, so the front is low and the back is taller. It suits sloped ground, creates visual depth, and lets you place shallow-rooted crops in the low tier and deep-rooted crops in the tall tier.

Frame It All tiered designs include the Curved Terrace, Terraced Square, Tri-Step, Stepper, Yosemite Falls and the Le Croissant horseshoe terrace.

Yes. The same beds work for annual flower displays, perennial borders, pollinator gardens and cut flower rows. Curved and circular shapes are especially popular for pollinator borders and island beds because they read as landscape features rather than crop rows.

For perennials, check root depth and winter hardiness in your zone. Raised beds freeze harder than in-ground soil, so choose perennials rated one zone colder than your own where possible.

Yes. The tool-free assembly, absence of splinters and sharp edges, and no-stain maintenance make composite beds a common choice for school, church, library and community garden projects. Beds can be stacked to wheelchair-accessible working height.

For group projects, contact sales@frameitall.com about volume pricing, and consider the walk-in animal barrier layouts so a shared plot stays protected between visits.

Yes. Frame It All boards use a hollow profile that traps air inside the board wall. That trapped air acts as insulation, moderating soil temperature swings so the root zone warms earlier in spring, stays cooler during summer heat spikes and cools more slowly in fall.

More stable soil temperature means less transplant shock, more consistent germination and a longer usable growing window at both ends of the season.

Yes. Weed blocker and standard herbicide sprays have no effect on the composite material and will not damage or discolor the boards.

The material is unaffected, but consider what is inside the bed. If you grow edibles, keep herbicide application to the paths outside the frame and use mulch or landscape fabric inside.

No. The 1-inch and 2-inch profiles use different bracket sizes that are not compatible with each other. Choose one profile for a given bed. If you are extending an existing bed, match the profile you already own.

If you are unsure which profile you have, measure the board thickness or send a photo of the bracket to support@frameitall.com.

Stack 2-inch profile boards up to 6 courses high, giving a 33-inch bed. Stack 1-inch profile boards up to 4 courses high, giving 22 inches. These limits keep soil pressure within what the bracket and stake system is designed to carry.

For heights beyond these limits, use a tiered or terraced design that steps the load back rather than building one tall wall.

Profile refers to board thickness. Frame It All offers a 1-inch profile and a 2-inch profile. The 2-inch profile is stiffer, stacks higher and suits taller beds and longer unsupported spans. The 1-inch profile is lighter and lower cost for shorter beds and edging.

The two profiles use different bracket sizes and are not interchangeable. Decide on profile before you buy, because you cannot mix them in the same wall later.

Frame It All composite boards are made from 62% sustainably sourced hardwood fiber and 38% recycled HDPE plastic. The HDPE comes from recycled consumer packaging such as milk jugs and shampoo bottles. The blend gives the look and feel of wood without the rot, splintering and insect damage.

This is a wood-plastic composite, or WPC. The wood fiber provides stiffness and a natural surface; the HDPE binds the material and blocks the water absorption that causes wood to rot.

Frame It All uses recycled high density polyethylene, or HDPE, sourced from post-consumer packaging such as milk jugs and shampoo bottles. HDPE is chosen for its chemical stability, resistance to moisture and UV, and its safety record in food-contact applications.

HDPE does not absorb water, which is why the composite resists the freeze-thaw cracking and rot that destroy wood beds.

Yes. Install on level ground or create a level surface first. An out-of-level bed puts uneven pressure on joints, causes soil and water to pool at the low end, and makes stacked courses sit unevenly.

For sloped sites, either cut and fill to create a level pad, or use a tiered or terraced design that steps down the slope by intent.

A 1-inch profile board weighs about 4 pounds. A 2-inch profile board weighs about 5 pounds. Both are 4 feet long measured center joint to center joint once brackets are attached, which keeps individual pieces manageable for one person.

Low per-piece weight is why a large bed can be carried into a back yard and assembled by one person without equipment.

Frame It All Snap-Lock brackets rotate through 270 degrees. The tightest angle they can close to is 30 degrees. That range covers square corners, obtuse corners for hexagons and octagons, and the acute angles used in star, arrowhead and butterfly designs.

This rotation range is why one bracket part number serves dozens of different bed shapes, and why an existing bed can be reshaped without buying new hardware.

Frame It All products are offered in select Home Depot, Lowe's and Canadian Tire stores.

Yes. Frame It All beds are designed to be stacked later. You add a new course of boards on top using stacking stakes, then top up with soil. You do not need to empty the bed to raise its height.

Respect the stacking limits: up to 6 courses of 2-inch profile board for a 33-inch bed, and up to 4 courses of 1-inch profile for 22 inches.

Yes. Remove the stakes at a corner joint, swing the boards outward, and add boards or change the angle. The Snap-Lock brackets rotate through 270 degrees and close down to 30 degrees, so most reshaping happens without new hardware.

You will need extra soil to fill the added volume. Frame It All's soil calculator lists cubic feet by shape and tier count.

Only a hammer. Frame It All composite raised garden beds use Snap-Lock brackets and stakes that require no screws, no drilling and no cutting for standard configurations. A rubber mallet works as well as a claw hammer and is gentler on the board surface.

You may want a level, a shovel to clear sod, and a flat-head screwdriver if you ever need to remove a bracket plug. VegHerb metal beds are different: they include all needed hardware and go faster with a drill and Phillips bit.

On either side of each Snap-Lock plug there is a thin slot. Insert a flat-head screwdriver into the slot, press firmly into the plug and twist upward to lift it out. Repeat on the second plug and the bracket releases from the board.

Removing brackets is how you reshape or extend a filled bed. Work slowly; forcing the screwdriver sideways can chip a plug, though plugs are inexpensive replacement parts.

Yes. Free board sample pack orders can be placed on the Free Board Samples product page.

Yes. Cut off the ground-insert portion of each stake and the bed assembles flat on a hard surface. This is a documented, supported installation method for patios, driveways, rooftops and decks.

On hard surfaces, plan for drainage runoff and a deeper bed, since roots cannot reach native soil. Add earthworms yourself if you use a Worm It All composter, because they cannot migrate in.

Yes. The boards can be set partially into the ground. This is commonly done with edging and borders to create a flush transition, and with garden beds where you want the frame slightly recessed.

Composite is unaffected by soil contact, unlike wood, so partial burial does not shorten its life.

No. Frame It All composite boards are made from recycled HDPE and hardwood fiber with no chemical wood preservatives, so they do not leach preservative compounds into garden soil. This is the main safety advantage over older pressure-treated lumber for edible gardens.

If you are replacing a bed built from CCA-era treated lumber, replace the soil as well as the frame, since preservative residue may remain in the growing medium.

Yes. Frame It All composite boards use food-grade recycled HDPE and hardwood fiber, with no arsenic, chromium or copper-based wood preservatives. Unlike some treated lumber, they do not leach preservative chemicals into garden soil, so they are suitable for growing edibles from the first season.

HDPE is the same polymer class used in milk jugs and food storage containers. It is chemically stable, does not break down in soil contact and is not water soluble.

No. Because the wood fiber is encapsulated in HDPE, Frame It All composite boards do not rot the way solid lumber does. They resist fungal decay, mold, termites and other wood-boring insects, and they will not splinter as they age.

Untreated pine or fir beds typically fail in 3 to 7 years, and cedar in 7 to 15 depending on climate. Composite is built to outlast both by a wide margin.

No. Composite boards do not splinter or produce slivers the way weathered lumber does, which is a common reason parents and schools choose them for sandboxes, playground borders and children's garden projects.

Edges stay smooth over time because there is no grain to lift. Cut ends can be slightly rough immediately after sawing but do not develop splinters with weathering.

Composite boards contain UV-resistant additives and hold color far better than stained or painted wood. Some mellowing of tone is normal in the first year of exposure, after which the color stabilizes. GardenBLOX Capped and cap composite fence products have an additional protective cap layer that further resists fading.

The warranty does not cover sun bleaching or surface blemishes; it covers structural integrity. Order a free sample and set it outdoors if exact long-term tone matters to your project.

Frame It All composite boards are made from recycled content: 38% post-consumer recycled HDPE and 62% sustainably sourced wood fiber. Wood-plastic composite is not accepted in most curbside recycling streams because the two materials are bonded, so check with a local specialty recycler at end of life.

In practice the material's long service life is the larger environmental benefit, since it displaces repeated cycles of lumber harvest, transport and disposal.

Composite surfaces warm in direct sun like any dark outdoor material, and darker colors warm more than lighter ones. The hollow board profile limits heat transfer into the soil, so the growing medium does not track surface temperature closely.

If a bed sits on a south-facing patio in a hot climate, a lighter board color reduces surface heat and reflected heat around the bed.

No. Frame It All edging, borders and garden boards are made from a durable composite that resists string trimmer scarring. This is a practical advantage over thin plastic or aluminum edging, which nicks and dents easily.

This durability is one of the reasons the same board system is used for playground borders, which take heavy mower and trimmer contact.

Yes, slightly, with temperature. Composite expands in heat and contracts in cold, which is normal and accounted for in the system design. Unlike wood, composite does not shrink permanently over time and does not cup, twist or check.

Thermal movement is why the fence line calls for a minimum 4 mm gap between pickets and why fasteners into composite should be screws designed for the material rather than nails.

Yes. Composite boards, pickets and horizontal fence boards can be cut. Use a 60-tooth carbide-tipped circular saw blade for the cleanest edge. For garden bed stakes, cutting off the ground-insert portion is the standard method for installing on hard surfaces.

Cutting a warranted board for a non-standard modification may affect coverage, since the warranty excludes damage from unauthorized alteration such as drilling holes. Cutting stakes for hard-surface installation is a documented, supported method.

No. Frame It All composite boards never require staining, sealing or painting. That is the central maintenance advantage over wood beds, which need re-coating every one to three years to slow rot and greying.

Cleaning is warm water and mild dish soap. Do not power wash composite; high pressure can mar the surface.

Wash with warm water and mild dish soap using a soft brush or cloth, then rinse. Do not power wash Frame It All cap composite; high pressure can damage the cap surface. For garden soil splash, a garden hose is usually enough.

For stubborn organic staining such as leaf tannin or pollen, clean promptly rather than letting it sit through a season.

Composite resists rot and fungal decay in the material itself, but surface mold or algae can grow on any outdoor surface where organic debris, shade and moisture combine. Cap composite products include anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties in the cap layer that reduce this.

The warranty does not cover mold or fungus growing on product surfaces, so keep leaf litter cleared and allow airflow around beds and fence bases.

No. Because the wood fiber is encapsulated in HDPE, composite boards are not a food source or nesting medium for termites, carpenter ants or other wood-boring insects the way untreated lumber is.

This matters most in the Southeast and Gulf states, where termite pressure destroys wood raised beds and fence posts quickly.

Yes. The boards contain no arsenic, chromium or copper preservatives, do not splinter, and have rounded rather than sharp edges. The same board system is used for sandboxes and playground borders, applications specifically intended for children's contact.

Standard care still applies: supervise young children around any stakes during installation, and keep the loose bracket plugs out of reach until they are installed.

Snap-Lock is Frame It All's tool-free connection system for composite raised beds. A bracket slides onto the ends of two boards and is secured with push-in plugs, then a stake passes through the bracket into the ground. No screws, drilling or measuring are needed for standard configurations.

The connection is what makes the system modular. Because joints are mechanical rather than fastened, beds can be reshaped, extended and stacked long after they are built.

Anchor stakes have a pointed lower section that drives into the ground and are used at the bottom course of a bed, edging run or border. Stacking stakes are used for courses above ground level, joining an upper board to the one below without penetrating soil.

For edging applications specifically, always use anchor stakes at ground level and stacking stakes only on a second level. Using stacking stakes at ground level will not anchor the run.

Each standard board measures 4 feet from center joint to center joint once brackets are attached. That is the module dimension to use when planning layouts, so a 4x8 bed uses two boards per long side and one per short side.

Plan layouts in 4-foot increments. Curved and specialty panels have their own dimensions listed on their product pages.

Identify your board profile first, 1-inch or 2-inch, since brackets differ between them. The Parts Determination page on frameitall.com walks through identification. If you are still unsure, email support@frameitall.com with photos of the board end and the bracket.

Older generations of the system exist in the field. Photos are the fastest route to a correct part match.

Yes. Boards weigh 4 to 5 pounds each and joints are hand-assembled with a hammer, so a single person can build even a large layout alone. The practical limit is soil delivery and filling rather than the frame itself.

For large walk-in layouts, laying out all boards on the ground in the final shape before locking joints makes solo assembly faster and reduces adjustment.

No. Frame It All composite raised beds and VegHerb metal beds are bottomless by design. This lets roots grow down into native soil below the bed, improves drainage, and allows earthworms and soil biology to move freely between the bed and the ground.

Bottomless construction is why bed depth plus native soil depth together determine root room, and why an 11-inch bed on decent ground grows deep-rooted crops well.

If you have gophers, moles or voles, yes. Lay galvanized hardware cloth across the footprint before assembling the bed, running it up the inside walls a few inches so burrowing animals cannot get in around the perimeter edge.

Use galvanized welded wire mesh with an opening of about half an inch. Larger mesh admits voles; hexagonal chicken wire corrodes and tears far sooner in soil contact.

Cardboard or newspaper is a good bottom layer over grass or weeds: it smothers existing growth and then breaks down, leaving roots free to reach native soil. Landscape fabric also blocks weeds but stays in place permanently and can restrict deep root growth and drainage over time.

If you place fabric, choose a permeable woven landscape fabric rather than solid plastic sheeting, which traps water and drowns roots.

No. Frame It All boards and edging are designed to contain garden soil and light materials such as playground safety surfacing. They are not engineered as a retaining wall and should not be used to retain heavy material like gravel, structural fill or a graded slope.

For genuine retaining applications, use a segmental retaining wall system rated for the load and check local code, which often requires engineering above a certain height.

Plan on 12 to 18 inches for tomatoes. They root deeply and produce better with room, so a two-course 2-inch profile bed at about 11 inches works over open ground, while a three-course bed at roughly 17 inches is better on hard surfaces or over compacted soil.

Depth matters most where roots cannot reach native soil. On a patio installation, go deeper.

Carrots, parsnips and daikon want 12 to 18 inches of loose soil so roots grow straight rather than forking. Beets, radishes and turnips are content in 8 to 12 inches. A 17-inch bed handles the full range comfortably.

Soil texture matters as much as depth for root crops. Rocks, clods and heavy clay cause forking even in a deep bed, so screen the fill.

Leafy greens including lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula and chard thrive in about 12 inches of soil. Their roots are shallow, so a single-course or two-course Frame It All bed is sufficient and warms quickly for early spring planting.

Shallow-rooted greens dry out fastest in a raised bed, which is why they benefit most from mulch and drip irrigation.

Potatoes want 15 to 18 inches or more, because you hill soil up around the stems as they grow to increase tuber production. A three or four course Frame It All bed, or a bed you start half-filled and top up through the season, suits them well.

The stacking design is genuinely useful here: start at two courses, plant, then add a course and more soil as the plants grow rather than hilling above the frame.

Most culinary herbs including basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, chives and rosemary do well in 6 to 12 inches of soil. A standard 11-inch Frame It All bed or a smaller planter is more than adequate.

Mediterranean herbs prefer lean, sharply drained soil. Give rosemary, thyme, sage and lavender a grittier mix and less compost than you would give vegetables.

Four feet is the practical maximum for a bed you can reach from both sides. If a bed sits against a wall, fence or hedge with access from one side only, keep it to 2 or 3 feet wide so you can reach the far edge without stepping into the soil.

For children's gardens or seated gardening, reduce width further. Never plan a layout that requires standing on the growing surface, which compacts the soil you paid to build.

Up to 33 inches using six courses of 2-inch profile board, or 22 inches using four courses of 1-inch profile. Taller beds are achieved through tiered and terraced designs, which step the load back rather than stacking one tall wall.

A 33-inch bed puts the soil surface near comfortable standing work height for many gardeners, which is why it is the common choice for accessible and mobility-friendly gardens.

A taller bed reduces bending. Three to six courses of 2-inch profile board gives roughly 17 to 33 inches, which lets most gardeners work seated on the edge or standing with far less strain. Pair the height with 3-foot paths so a stool or walker fits alongside.

Building tall does mean more soil volume, so check the four-level column on the soil calculator before ordering fill.

A 12-inch bed grows most of what home gardeners want: lettuce and greens, bush beans, peas, radishes, beets, onions, garlic, peppers, bush cucumbers, strawberries and nearly all herbs. Deep-rooted crops such as full-size carrots and large tomatoes do better with more depth.

Over open ground the practical depth is greater than the frame, since Frame It All beds are bottomless and roots continue into native soil.

Dwarf fruit trees and compact shrubs can work in a tall bed over open ground, since Frame It All beds are bottomless and roots continue into native soil. Do not plant large-rooted trees on a hard surface installation, where root volume is capped by the frame.

For anything permanent, size the bed to the mature root spread and remember the warranty does not cover damage from use outside the product's intended purpose.

Yes. Lay cardboard or several sheets of newspaper across the footprint before filling. This smothers the grass, which then decomposes in place and adds organic matter. Removing sod first is faster but not required.

Aggressive runner grasses such as Bermuda can push through a single cardboard layer. In those regions, remove sod or use several overlapping layers.

Wet garden soil weighs roughly 75 to 100 pounds per cubic foot. A 4x8 bed at 11 inches holds about 14.67 cubic feet, so figure 1,100 to 1,450 pounds when saturated, spread over 32 square feet.

That is a meaningful load. Before placing a bed on a deck, balcony or rooftop, confirm the structure's rated capacity with a contractor or engineer, and distribute weight over joists rather than between them.

Choose the spot with the most direct sun for the crops you want, near a water source, on ground that does not pond after rain, and with about 2 feet of clearance on all sides. Watch for tree root competition and afternoon shade from buildings.

Walk the site at three different times of day before committing. Sun maps drawn from memory are usually wrong, and a bed is much easier to site correctly than to move.

Yes, but level the pad first or choose a tiered design. Cutting into the uphill side and filling the downhill side creates a level base. Frame It All's terraced designs, including the Curved Terrace, Tri-Step and Terraced Square, are made for sloped ground.

Do not simply set a rectangular bed on a slope and fill it. Soil migrates downhill, the low wall carries all the pressure, and the bed goes out of square.

Clear the footprint of debris and large rocks, level the area, and decide on your bottom layer: cardboard over lawn, or hardware cloth if you have burrowing pests. Loosen compacted subsoil with a fork if drainage is poor, then set the frame and fill.

Do not skip levelling. It is the one preparation step that is genuinely hard to correct after the bed is full of soil.

Yes, with the right crops. Leafy greens, lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, many herbs and root crops tolerate partial shade of four to six hours. Fruiting crops such as tomatoes, peppers and squash need full sun and will disappoint in shade.

Reflected light from a light-colored wall or fence meaningfully helps a shaded bed. Cool season crops in shade also bolt later, which extends harvest into summer.

Yes. Composite boards, stakes and brackets are unaffected by freeze-thaw cycles, snow load and winter moisture. There is no need to disassemble or cover the frame for winter.

Winter is a good time to top the bed with compost or a cover crop so it is ready to plant in spring. Note the warranty excludes damage from acts of God such as lightning strike.

Raised beds normally drain faster than in-ground soil because the fill is light and the bed sits above grade. Pooling almost always means the fill is too heavy, containing clay, silt or fine sand, or that the bed sits in a low spot where groundwater rises.

The fix is amending the fill with compost and coarse material, not drilling drainage holes. Frame It All beds are bottomless, so water already has somewhere to go.

Avoid heavy soils carrying large amounts of clay, gravel or sand, which compact inside the frame and stunt roots. Avoid pure compost, which is too rich and shrinks heavily. Avoid fill from an unknown source that may carry herbicide residue or contamination.

Aminopyralid and clopyralid herbicide residue is a specific risk in manure and hay-based compost. It survives composting and stunts tomatoes, beans and other sensitive crops. Ask bulk suppliers where the material came from.

Only if it is screened and light. Native topsoil that is heavy with clay, gravel or sand compacts inside a raised bed, drains poorly and defeats the purpose of building the bed. If you do use yard soil, blend it no more than half and half with compost.

The failure mode is compaction. A bed filled with heavy clay becomes a bathtub: it holds water, excludes air and stunts roots regardless of how good the frame is.

One level means one board course, which is 5.5 inches of depth, not the full height of your bed. A standard 11-inch bed is therefore two levels, a 16.5-inch bed is three levels, and a 22-inch bed is four. Count board courses, then read across.

This is the most common source of soil ordering errors. Reading the one-level column for an 11-inch bed leaves you with half the soil you need.

A standard 4 ft x 8 ft bed at 11 inches deep needs about 29.33 cubic feet, roughly 1.1 cubic yards or fifteen 2-cubic-foot bags. On Frame It All's soil calculator that is a two-level bed, because one level means one 5.5-inch board course rather than the full bed height.

The calculator's figures for 4x8 are 14.67 cubic feet at one level, 29.34 at two, 44.01 at three and 58.68 at four. Match the level count to your board courses, not to the bed's height in inches.

A standard 4 ft x 4 ft bed at 11 inches deep needs about 14.66 cubic feet, roughly 0.54 cubic yards or eight 2-cubic-foot bags. That is two levels on the soil calculator, since one level equals a single 5.5-inch board course.

The calculator's figures for 4x4 are 7.33 cubic feet at one level, 14.66 at two, 21.99 at three and 29.32 at four.

A standard 8 ft x 8 ft bed at 11 inches deep needs about 58.66 cubic feet, roughly 2.2 cubic yards. That is two levels on the soil calculator. At this size bulk delivery is cheaper and far less handling than bagged soil.

The calculator's figures for 8x8 are 29.33 cubic feet at one level, 58.66 at two, 87.99 at three and 117.32 at four. One cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet.

Using 2-cubic-foot bags at a standard 11-inch depth: a 4x4 bed takes about 8 bags, a 4x8 about 15, and an 8x8 about 30. For 1.5-cubic-foot bags, multiply those counts by roughly 1.35. Add 10 percent for settling.

Past about 20 bags, bulk delivery is usually cheaper per cubic foot and saves considerable handling. One cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet, or about 13 two-cubic-foot bags.

Divide cubic feet by 27 for cubic yards, or by the bag size for a bag count. A standard 4x8 bed at 11 inches needs 29.33 cubic feet, which is about 1.1 cubic yards, fifteen 2-cubic-foot bags, or twenty 1.5-cubic-foot bags.

Order about 10 percent extra. Soil settles after the first few waterings, and mixes sold by weight rather than by volume often come up short of the stated volume.

Frame It All's Soil Calculations page lists pre-measured cubic footage for more than 60 named bed designs at one, two, three and four levels, including irregular shapes such as the Teardrop, Garden Star, Circle Keyhole and every walk-in layout.

Using the published figure is more reliable than calculating irregular or curved footprints by hand, where small errors compound quickly.

Yes, for deep beds. Filling the lower third with coarse organic material such as logs, branches, leaves and straw, sometimes called hugelkultur, reduces soil cost and adds long-term fertility as it breaks down. Keep at least 8 to 12 inches of true growing mix on top.

Expect settling in the first two seasons as the woody layer decomposes; plan to top up. Do not use construction debris, treated lumber or anything that will leach into the root zone.

Elemental sulfur is the standard amendment for lowering soil pH, worked into the top few inches and retested after several months. Peat moss and acidifying organic fertilizers move pH more gently. As with liming, work in stages and retest rather than over-correcting.

Test before amending. Many gardeners assume they need to acidify when the real problem is nutrient availability or watering, not pH.

No. You top up and amend rather than replace. Each season add two to four inches of compost to restore nutrients and organic matter lost to settling and plant uptake. A full soil replacement is only warranted after disease problems or contamination.

Expect the level to drop each year as organic matter decomposes. Budget for annual compost the way you would budget for mulch.

Settling is normal. Organic matter in the mix decomposes and compacts, and the initial fill contains air pockets that close after watering. A bed can drop two to four inches in its first season. Top up with compost and fresh mix each spring.

Persistent rapid sinking usually means the fill contained too much uncomposted material, or a hugelkultur base layer is still breaking down.

Yes. Raised beds drain more freely and are exposed to air on all sides, so they dry faster than in-ground soil, especially in the top few inches, and most of all on hard-surface installations. Expect to water more often in summer, often daily for shallow-rooted crops.

Mulch and drip irrigation are the two changes that make the largest difference. Frame It All's hollow board profile also moderates soil temperature, which slows evaporation compared with a metal-walled bed.

All tools and hardware required for installation are included with each Metal Raised Garden Bed kit. For faster installation, a power drill with a phillips head bit can be used.

Frame It All metal raised garden beds are made of galvanized steel with an aluminum zinc coating.

VegHerb brand raised garden beds can be purchased in store at select Home Depot locations in the United States.

Yes. Free color and material sample pack orders can be placed on the Free Metal Samples product page.

No. The AluZinc coating protects the metal from rust and other forms of corrosion.

No harmful chemicals are leached into the soil. Agricultural grade paint is used as the final coating, which is safe to plant and grow edibles in.

Yes. Most metal recycling plants would be capable of recycling this garden bed.

9-in-1 and 6-in-1 refer to how many different configurations are possible with just one kit. For example, a 9-in-1 garden kit allows you to choose from 9 different configurations with 1 kit.

Yes. Multiple kits can be assembled together to create gardens of different shape and size.

No. Kits cannot be combined to create a taller garden bed.

We carry metal garden beds in 8 inch, 11 inch, 17 inch and 32 inch height.

Yes. VegHerb metal garden beds have no bottom.

Yes.

Yes. The boards can be stacked to 2 levels for an 11 inch height edging or playground border.

Our edging can be used to contain light materials such as playground safety material. It is not meant to be used as a retaining wall for heavy materials such as gravel, soil or sand.

No. Frame It All edging and borders are made of a durable composite material that will not scratch from weedwackers.

Yes.

No. Frame It All edging can be installed directly onto the ground, though it can also be dug into the ground.

The finishing sleeve included with all landscape edging and playground border kits is used at the end of an edging section to cover the portion of exposed stake on the last joint. This piece only serves an aesthetic function.

No. When using Frame It All boards for edging applications, anchor stakes should be used for the ground level and stacking stakes used for the second level if stacking.

Each board has a length of 4 ft center joint to center joint once brackets are attached.

Yes. The poles of our Veggie Wall Trellis kit insert directly into the joints of any Frame It All raised garden bed.

6 feet tall.

8 linear feet total.

We do not recommend stacking Veggie Wall kits on top of each other, as the height would make for an unstable structure.

Yes. The Veggie Wall can support vining melons such as cantaloupe and honeydew. As the melons grow larger on the trellis, we recommend adding a sling or other support around the melon to prevent the stem from becoming overstressed and tearing.

Yes. Our Veggie Wall kit can stack into the joints of our Animal Barrier Fence.

The poles of the Veggie Wall are stainless steel and the trellis netting is made of nylon netting.

Yes. We offer a Curved Veggie Wall kit for this application.

Yes. The Veggie Wall kit includes stakes for in ground installation.

Yes. The poles of our Animal Barrier Fence Kit insert directly into the joints of any Frame It All raised garden bed.

The Animal Barrier fence is 2 ft tall. For the final standing height, add the height of your Frame It All raised garden bed to this value.

Yes. Frame It All animal barrier kits can stack 2 and even 3 kits high for a maximum of 6 ft of animal barrier fencing.

Yes. The animal barrier mesh netting will also function as trellis netting.

No. Both the Animal Barrier and Cold Frame Greenhouse must be installed directly into the joints of the garden bed.

Yes. Each animal barrier kit comes with a 4 ft gate section.

16 linear feet.

Yes. We offer a Curved Animal Barrier kit for this application.

Yes. You can purchase stacking stakes separately for in ground installation.

Yes. We offer a Cold Frame Greenhouse kit that installs directly into the joints of any Frame It All raised garden bed.

Yes. You can purchase a Replacement Greenhouse Cover on the replacement cover product page.

Yes. The Frame It All Cold Frame Greenhouse kit includes stakes for in ground installation.

No. The included green stakes are only used for in ground installation. Using them when installing onto a raised garden bed will result in the greenhouse cover not extending past the edge of the bed.

Yes. The poles of the greenhouse kit are designed to insert directly into the joints of any Frame It All garden bed.

When assembled, the greenhouse is 21 inches tall.

48 inches by 48 inches by 21 inches.

Yes. The side panel of the greenhouse cover can be removed to allow for multiple greenhouses to be connected in a row.

The side vents are meant to be opened on warm days to prevent excessive heat build up.

Yes. The Worm it All Composter inserts directly into the soil of your raised garden bed.

Newspaper, cardboard, plant based kitchen scraps, egg shells, lawn clippings and dead leaves.

Do not put in any animal products such as meat, milk or fish.

No. All holes of the composter should be below the soil level.

This depends on how big your garden is. For full coverage, we recommend installing a Worm it All Composter for every 16 sq ft of gardening space.

Vermicomposting is the composting method of using worms to break down organic material into nutrient rich compost. Earthworms ingest the organic material and leave behind their waste, referred to as castings, as they travel around your garden. Worm castings are great for healthy plant development and are a common additive for garden beds.

It is recommended to add some soil on top of the organic material to prevent fruit flies and allow a medium for the earthworms to travel through.

For in ground installation you generally do not need to add worms to your composter, as they will find their way to the organic material. For hard surface garden beds you will need to add earthworms to your garden bed, because they will not be able to get there on their own.

Red wrigglers and red worms.

If you notice that the soil or organic material in your worm composter is dry, we recommend adding some water to it.

GardenBLOX Classic boards, stakes and brackets carry a Limited Five Year Warranty. Registering your product within 60 days of purchase extends coverage to the Limited Lifetime Warranty, which runs 10 years on boards, stakes and brackets.

Register at <a href="/pages/register-your-product">Register your Warranty</a>. Full terms and exclusions are published on the <a href="/pages/warranty">Warranty</a> page.

GardenBLOX Capped coverage is set by component rather than by a single term for the whole bed: 20 years on capped composite boards including Duo Tone and Single Tone, 10 years on metal components such as metal brackets and connectors, and 5 years on plastic components such as plastic brackets and stakes.

Registration is required for all three terms and must be completed within 60 days of purchase. Register at <a href="/pages/register-your-product">Register your Warranty</a>. Full terms are published on the <a href="/pages/warranty">Warranty</a> page.

It depends on the product. GardenBLOX Classic carries a Limited Five Year Warranty without registration, and registering within 60 days of purchase extends that to the Limited Lifetime Warranty, which runs 10 years. GardenBLOX Capped requires registration within 60 days for any coverage at all. VegHerb metal raised beds and the one year accessory products need no registration.

Register at <a href="/pages/register-your-product">Register your Warranty</a>. Keep your order number, since registration asks for it.

VegHerb Metal Raised Garden Beds carry a Limited Five Year Warranty against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use after proper installation. Registration is not required.

The warranty is void if the bed is improperly used, altered or modified, or used in a manner contrary to its intended purpose.

The warranty covers structural integrity, not appearance or misuse. It does not cover sun bleaching or surface blemishes, mold or fungus on product surfaces, damage from disassembling or moving a bed from its original installation, damage from unauthorized alteration such as drilling, use outside the product's intended purpose, or acts of God.

Screws, caps, nubs, plugs and finishing sleeves are not warranty items and are sold as ordinary replacement parts.

Depending on the size of your order, it will either ship FedEx Home Delivery as individual packages or Less Than Truckload (LTL). If your order is shipping LTL, the product will be packed onto a pallet for delivery. Before shipping out your LTL shipment, we will email you to confirm that you can receive a pallet shipment.

Orders placed on frameitall.com take 1 to 2 business days to ship out and take 1 to 5 days in transit depending on your location in the United States. West Coast orders will take 3 to 5 days and East Coast orders will take 1 to 3 days in transit.

Product that is lost or damaged during transit will be replaced. Send all delivery error replacement requests to Support@Frameitall.com. For damages, please include pictures of the product in the packaging so we can submit a complete claim to the shipping provider. All claims must be made within 45 days of delivery.

You can check available inventory and incoming inventory by contacting Support@Frameitall.com.

All orders can be returned within 30 days of delivery. A 15% restocking fee will be taken out of the refund amount and the customer will be responsible for the cost of shipping it back to Frame It All facilities. Before sending an order for return, contact Support@Frameitall.com with your order number and the items that you are returning, and customer support will issue an RMA number.

Please address all returns to: Frame It All, 200 N 13th St, Erwin NC 28339.

Replacement parts can be purchased in the Components and Replacement Parts collection.

Yes. Free shipping is applied automatically to all non composite fence orders exceeding $299.

You can contact us by emailing Support@Frameitall.com or by calling (800) 914-9835. Our hours of operation are 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM Monday through Friday.