The Best Raised Garden Beds of 2025

Top pick

The Gardener’s Supply Company Deep Root Cedar Raised Bed is handsome and sturdy, and the high-quality lumber and powder-coated aluminum corner brackets will likely survive many years of gardening. At just under 15 inches tall, this bed offers a depth of soil that can support many varieties of flowers and vegetables, and it’s available in four different lengths, ranging from 4 feet to 12 feet. I tested the 4-by-8-foot version.

It uses excellent-quality cedar boards. The cedar boards that came with the kit were smooth and attractive, and they should last for around 15 years. One side of each board was planed and smooth (or “finished,” in lumber speak), while the other side was rough. The instructions said to place the rough sides facing inward and the finished sides outward, and this gave the assembled bed a polished look. A few of the boards were slightly bowed, but they straightened out once we screwed in the internal hardware (called “flat stock”).

The boards measure 13/16 inches thick. So they’re thicker than the rough-cut Greenes Fence boards but thinner than the finished cedar 2-by-6 boards in the DIY bed. Mike Friedman told me that even though thicker boards are stronger, the thing that affects durability the most is drainage. “If you have a thick board that is constantly wet, then it will rot or decay faster regardless, whereas if you have a thinner board but good drainage, then it can last a really long time,” he explained. Gardener’s Supply Company sells a waterproofer, made with juniper oil, that’s intended to extend the life of the wood, but I haven’t tested it.

The hardware is durable, attractive, and sturdy. Gardener’s Supply Company’s signature black powder-coated aluminum corners are easy to install and exceptionally strong. After you slide the cedar boards into the corners, making sure they’re fully seated and level with the bottoms of the corners, you secure them with the provided screws. None of the screws are visible from the outside, and that lends elegant appeal. During testing, this bed was placed on a slightly uneven surface, and after three weeks, all four corners were still perfectly square; this was not the case with the other two wooden beds in the test.

Assembly is fairly easy, but the box is huge and heavy. The instructions for the Gardener’s Supply bed were on a single piece of paper, and it took some deciphering to figure out the process. But once I laid out all of the boards and hardware, this bed came together quickly: I assembled it in about 40 minutes. Assembly required using a drill and a rubber mallet, and Gardener’s Supply provided a buffer of six extra screws. Because some of the boards are 8 feet long, this kit was shipped in a very large box, which took two people to carry.

It’s the ideal size for a beginner home garden. The 4-by-8-foot model is the perfect size for most home gardens because it can support a large amount of several types of vegetables. Gardeners generally agree that when a bed is wider than 4 feet, it’s difficult to access the center. If you’re planning on gardening with small children (or you have a petite yard), and you want something that provides even easier access, consider buying this bed in the 2-foot-wide or 3-foot-wide version. This bed is just under 15 inches tall, and this is an ideal height for shallow-rooted plants, like lettuce and herbs, but it can also accommodate some medium-rooted vegetables, including tomatoes and eggplant. To fill this bed, you’ll need about 1.5 cubic yards of soil, which many local nurseries will deliver for a fee.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

This is one of the most expensive beds. The Gardener’s Supply Company’s Deep Root Cedar Raised Bed costs about $100 more than the two metal raised beds we recommend, both of which will probably outlast the Gardener’s Supply bed. But finished cedar lumber is expensive, whether you buy it as part of a kit or DIY-style from a lumberyard, so the price is fair.

Despite the “Deep Root” in this bed’s name, its soil depth is best suited for growing shallow- and medium-rooted vegetables. This bed offers the bare minimum of depth recommended for growing medium-rooted vegetables, like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. To compensate for cramped roots, you can always offer those plants extra support. But if your goal is easy and abundant tomato production, you might be better off with a taller version of one of the metal beds.

Key specs

• Materials: untreated cedar boards, powder-coated aluminum corners, stainless steel Phillips screws
• Dimensions: 48 by 96 by 14.75 inches
• Soil requirements: 40 cubic feet