Wasted $150 on that 'no dig' garden bed kit from Home Depot

I jumped on that raised bed kit they sell, the one where you just unfold it and fill with dirt. Thought I was saving hours of work. But the thing started bowing out after two weeks from the weight of the soil. Then the cheap plastic connectors snapped right off when I tried to adjust it. Ended up having to take the whole thing apart and build a proper frame from scratch with cedar. So basically I paid $150 to learn I should have just built my own from the start. Has anyone else fallen for one of those kits or am I the only sucker?

2 comments

2 Comments

paige_martin4d ago

@rose_young nailed it about the bowed sides and spilled soil, that's exactly what happened to mine when we got a heavy rain. Did you try to get a refund from Home Depot or just eat the loss?

rose_young5d agoTop Commenter

and honestly that $150 could have gotten you some pretty decent cedar if you caught it on sale. i made the same mistake with one of those fabric grow bags that claimed to last forever, and the seams gave out in like two months just from the sun. now i just stick to galvanized steel troughs from tractor supply or build my own with untreated pine and line it with landscape fabric. the kit companies are betting on people not wanting to do the work, but they always cut corners on the hardware. that bowing you saw is exactly what happened to my neighbor's kit, the whole thing just sagged and dumped soil everywhere when it rained. lesson learned the hard way but at least now you know for next time.

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