Best Choice Products Large 8x2ft Outdoor Wooden Raised Garden Bed Planter for Vegetables, Grass, Lawn, Yard - Acorn Brown

This planter made from real wood pieces looks nice once it is assembled. Unfortunately, due to poor quality control in manufacturing, it can be challenging to put together. Issues with the manufacturing include: - dovetail channels are not symmetric, meaning that the angle on each side of the channel is not the same. This is also true of the tabs at the end of the planks. Some of the boards can be 'matched up' with the channels so that they slide in easily, but not all - and none of them are marked to indicate which direction the board is intended to be facing when inserting into the posts. - the stained boards have globs of stain on the tab at the ends of the boards. This additional height of the stain globs interferes with the insertion to the dovetail channels on the posts. They have to be sanded off before attempting to insert the boards into the posts. - most of the boards are tight fitting, in part due to the issues above, and require a mallet to drive them in. However, be careful using the mallet as it can cause the post to become misaligned with the board while hammering - check the alignment often while tapping into place. DO NOT hammer on the boards. They are thin and will splinter. Hammer only on the posts (that is, if you even need to do this to drive the tabs into the channels). After carefully sanding down the tabs to remove the globs of stain and a bit of the material, the boards were able to slide into the channels - some easily, others with some tapping from a rubber mallet. The boards are only 9/16-inch thick, much narrower at the butt of the dovetail tab. Be careful if sanding or hammering as the tabs can easily break with too much force. Once it's finally together, the assembly holds well and looks nice. Time will tell how long the boards will hold up to the pressure of the soil in a filled planter. The kit includes a 2x8 sheet of weed barrier to help keep weeds from growing up through the open bottom of the planter. Despite the assembly issues, this planter could not have been made from store bought material for the price listed on Amazon. So I consider it a good value for a real wood raised bed planter.

Chipped pieces during assembly. Easy assembly, aside from pieces not aligning fully, product could be made sturdier for the pounding it takes to assemble. Other than that I am completely satisfied with my purchase.

I tried several other wooden raised garden bed products so I could compare them. This brand was put together in literally 5 min! About as long as it takes to make toast! Partly because the boards slide so easily into the slots, it didn't feel as sturdy as the other products, but I know it will hold together fine on the ground and with the weed barrier fabric on the bottom attached to all sides. I LOVE the acorn brown color which blends in with our house color and color of the dirt around it, since I'm putting it in our front yard. (swapping out the grass. brave!) Very beautiful, unobtrusive, just holds the garden nicely. We will see if the weed block is strong enough to deal with the sunflower seeds that will want to come up through from last year! And I'll be watching to see how it stands up to the soil, water and temperatures :)

As others have said, the wood panels are lightweight and feel flimsy. I'm afraid this will only last one season. If so, I will come back in a year or two to update review. That said, it is attractive and useful. I did not have any problem putting this together, like others have described. If the dovetail is too tight, just try matching it with a different panel. Lightly hammer on the bottom of the posts to slide them down the panels. Keep everything straight. It will slide through if you're patient and careful. Nothing is really "holding" it together except the dovetail joints and lifting it could make everything collapse. (I didn't try to move it--just built it right where I wanted it to be).

If there is a negative start you could give to this product, I will give negative 5 stars. The groves are too small. Even after sanding the board the connector pieces still split. I’m using a rubber mallet and as a woman doesn’t have too much strength to begin with and it still split. I’m lucky to have a welder who can build me the connector pieces so I could still use the boards. In short, I’m paying the money to get the board to build a planter box. After posting this review I did get a refund on this item so whoever thinking about this planter box could take it with a grain of salt.