Original Pine Raised Garden Bed, 4' x 8' x 10.5"

Yes, the boards are cheaply made, roughly cut, require heavy sanding, and come stamped on the "finished" side as often as not. Yes, there are knots and checks and splits and bowed boards.This is borderline cull lumber, to be honest, especially right now when quality lumber is shockingly expensive. If I were at the hardware store pulling boards for this project, 50% or more of what I got in these boxes would be left behind as 'not good enough'.Yes, this kit takes several hours to condition before it's ready to be used. You will be sweaty, you will be achy, and you will have to get good high-quality weatherproofing sealer if you want it to last more than a few months. Skimping on finish work means you'd soon have a soggy, rotting, pulpy grey mess that needs to be thrown in the next convenient dumpster.Which is why I only paid around a hundred dollars for a 4x8 raised bed!Shopping this thing out per-board, and doing it 'properly', would cost three or four times as much. Plus I don't have to dovetail the ends or jig out the corners - and despite the handful of boards that are massively bowed, everything fits tightly together as intended (the bows are naturally straightened out once you mallet them into their tracks).With these kits I am paying for their labor in cuts, and for their assembly of all required materials into one organized package... not for the best possible lumber. It's a trade-off, and (IMHO) a worthy one at that.I actually enjoyed the process of fine-tuning this bed to meet my appearance standards, and I knew if I was buying cheap I was going to have to invest some sweat equity into the end result. Not only did the bed turn out looking great, I've actually had it countersunk into the ground about four inches and the wood has held up beautifully. I just ordered and finished off a second 4x8 kit to double up on space, and I plan to join them together at a 90-degree angle to turn the corner of the house - the flexibility these kits offer is a huge plus.Both shipments were missing some accessory pieces (corners and tops), but the seller was responsive and I had replacements within a few days. They also sent spare boards in both sets so I could toss the worst of the raggedy ones and still have a full kit.So please, before leaving negative reviews or complaining about the quality of the lumber, understand you're getting a hella low price for the volume of goods sent, and you're paying off the rest of that price in labor to finish it to a reasonable standard of appearance. DO NOT expect a ready-to-go out-of-the-box kit. You won't get it. But a fun, invigorating project for springtime that gives you a sense of accomplishment when it's done? That, I can get behind.The ONLY reason I don't give five stars here is that their claim that the boards are "sanded on one side" is offset by the fact that the yard-stamps are often found on the 'sanded' side, requiring you to re-sand that side anyway. A mouse or palm sander makes quick work of erasing them, but the first set I had to do manually and it was a real PITA. If Greene's is open to suggestions, may I recommend that they supply boards that don't have the yard-stamp on the sanded side? It would help tremendously.I used two kits to make a box turtle sanctuary and hibernaculum, and even the ground-contact boards, when properly treated, have held up very well.

Easy to assemble. It's not treated, odd since it's for outdoors.

I bought this as at the time, it was cheaper than buying wood and doing it myself which is odd but such as prices of wood. Anyway -pretty easy to put together. Hardest part is making sure ground is level. Otherwise, Sturdiness is a little off. I think if you have any scrap wood to keep the center of the planks together it'd be helpful. However, Im pretty content with this. I like how you can add more. I ended up buying another 8' and they connected nicely. The only downfall is if there was a lip on the planks to lock together a bit better. Regardless, not a bad purchase. Especially if wood prices are still too high.

I’m very impressed with the wooden 3 part, 5 bed setup that I got. The price was fantastic and the quality, amazing. I set it up in an old 10’x10’ dog kennel that we no longer used. I put stones and pavers around the planters and created a Meditation Garden. It’s beautiful!!

Lots of cracks in the brackets, one piece was a bit rotten, could of been sanded down better; but for the price and the easy assembly... It doesn't come with a base if anyone is curious, I used black garden liners.

I purchased the pine 4 x 8 last summer. I already owned a cedar one from 2 years ago which has done really well but purchased pine due to the increased cost of wood. Out of the box several boards were warped but I just left those off and didn't put the divider in. This is the second summer for this pine one and many of the boards are warped and my dirt is falling out. It is definitely not holding together very well at all.

The only Con i see is that Id prefer the edge caps to be rounded especially when I have kids playing in backyard. Some of the wood pieces are splintery but it’s easy to look past and does not change the stability or functionality of this product. Getting a good harvest from this fine raised garden. I’ve compared many different companies, reviews. This is the best. I won’t have to worry about replacing it for several years since it is made of cedar and find comfort that chemicals won’t leech out into my soil.

Since we're just coming out of winter I haven't had a chance to actually grow anything in it yet, but the set-up was extremely easy and I didn't even get any splinters. One star off because one of the boards was noticeably bowed right out of the box and a second one actually snapped within days of being assembled. If it weren't for my weed fabric, I would have lost a decent chunk of soil.