UPDATE: Here's those cedar beds I built for $10 bucks each . . . just before the moose ate the entire garden  :(  I can't rave enough about these beds, my garden was amazing and super low maintenance.  BUILD THESE.  It's a must build.

A while back while shopping at the Blue Store - AKA Lowes - shopping for mortar and grout and stuff for our river rock stone veneer for the face of our house, I happened to smell some cedar.

And I love the smell of cedar.  So I followed my nose to a pile of dogeared 1x6s on special for $1.59 each. 

Cedar.

$1.59 each.

$1.59 Each for a 1x6, 6' Long.  That's 1/3 the cost of pine 1x6s.  And granted, these were fence pickets and the corners were tapered off, but that's only the top inch.

And yes, the were 5/8" thick instead of 6/8" (or 3/4"), but I was okay with not paying 10 times as much to get my corners back and an 1/8" of thickness.  Besides, I had a specific use in mind for these fence pickets.

image from Living the Country Life

As a child, my mother fed us on a garden she grew. Nine children.  And I can less than fondly remember that garden, the size of a football field, and each of us kids had a row the length of a football field to keep weed free.  So the thought of a raised garden, much easier to maintain and more effective, efficient and warmer (because warm is an issue in Alaska).  And much easier on our backs.

image from Kiwicreativeinc

image from Better Homes and Gardens

Better Homes and Gardens has a complete slideshow of the benefits of a raised garden here.

I especially loved these long an thing raised beds because they made sense to me - no reaching for weeds and each plant gets full sun.  And I could line them up in rows, label each bed, and Gracie could get her very own row (except we'll try to make Grace's gardening fun and not all work).

So I bought six boards for a grand total of $9.54, and went home and somehow found 20 minutes to build this

Not bad for $10. And naturally weather resistant cedar too!  For a planter, you want to use natural wood because treated lumber releases odors and chemical that you don't want mixed in with your food.  And cedar naturally resists rot and insects, so a great choice for planters.

This planter also resists rot and insets, is just under $10.  But I think you are going to be okay with a little elbow grease (and a lot of burned calories) to get this:

I haven't found the time to finish the planter (and may choose to leave them natural) but I wanted to share this project with you right away because I'm not sure how long these boards will be marked down.  And I'm not sure how long these boards will be on the shelf - I just called in an order for 150 boards.

Of course, you can build a different size, lower sides, or even planters with enclosed bottoms.  And I also thought that these boards would make great siding boards for our playhouse.