Beautifully framed by the dandelions that cover my backyard, here’s the planter box I built yesterday. It’s made of pressure treated 2x10s, which are ridiculously heavy, but will last a long time. I dumped the first wheelbarrow of dirt in, leftover from last year’s digging. As I fill, I’ll add the upper pieces, so eventually it will be 20″ tall. I learned this last year—don’t build the whole thing all at once, or you end up having to shovel dirt in rather than dump it. This way, I can fill all around by dumping, then pile dirt in the center, add the two long sides, and continue to dump on either end and push toward the center. When it gets full enough that I have to add the short sides to keep the dirt from spilling out, I will still have enough room to mix in amendments to turn the crappy clay soil into something that will actually allow plants to grow in it.