With Home Depot's Highly-Rated Garden Kit, You Can Skip DIYing Raised Beds

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Whenever you're building and renovating around the home and garden, you have to watch out for the hidden costs that will destroy your budget. What may look like long-term value sometimes ends up being less of a savings than you thought. For example, if you're considering raised beds for your garden, it might not be worth making them out of wood or using a stock tank, since there's a highly-rated kit at Home Depot right now that does the job better. Less expensive than a comparably-sized stock tank, the vego garden 17 in. Tall 9-In-1 Modular Metal Raised Garden Bed Kit comes in four stylish colors and can be reconfigured into nine different shapes to fit your yard exactly the way you want.

The benefits of raised beds include better drainage, higher yields, faster soil warming, and — perhaps most importantly — less stooping and bending. If all that sounds appealing, you've probably thought about making some for your garden. Metal containers like stock tanks make great planters, since they don't decay quickly like wood. The vego garden kit is made with zinc, aluminum, and magnesium, and has a 20-year life expectancy (with a two year limited warranty). When choosing, compare the replacement costs of wooden raised garden beds, since most wood only lasts about five to eight years in a moderate climate. Treated wood lasts about 15 years, but some people avoid treated wood around edible plants, and this metal garden bed could last much longer than either.

Wood is a common material for raised beds, but beyond the lifespan issues, it requires a DIY build that can eat up a few hours of your time. With the vego garden kit, it can be ready to use in your backyard after about 40 minutes of assembly. This product is rated 4.9 stars out of 5 with over 1,800 reviews, and one of the features people like the most is the versatility. Its modular design means it will fit in almost any space, and vego garden even sells a large-sized L-shaped bed kit that's perfect for the corners of your pergola, deck, or patio.

At 17 inches tall, it can accommodate tall plants, and the open bottom allows deep-rooted vegetables like tomatoes to send their roots down into the native soil below. This makes it a better choice compared to the more expensive stock tank, which would need holes drilled in the bottom for drainage anyway. Available in Olive Green, British Green, Modern Gray, and White, the vego garden kit is stylish enough that it doesn't look like a repurposed stock tank. A 60/30/10 mix of topsoil, compost, and potting mix works well for filling it, but first, you can place layers of cardboard, newspaper, landscaping fabric, or gopher barriers at the bottom. However, avoid filling it with materials like gravel, rocks, or plastic, which can get messy.