5 Best Galvanized Angles For Raised Garden Beds Old Farmers Trust
Explore the top 5 galvanized angles for building durable raised garden beds. Learn which time-tested options old farmers rely on for structural strength.
You can tell how long someone’s been gardening by looking at the corners of their raised beds. Bowed sides and separating corners are the tell-tale signs of a structure fighting a losing battle against soil, water, and time. The secret to building a bed that lasts a decade instead of a season isn’t complicated joinery; it’s a simple piece of hardware old farmers have relied on for generations: the galvanized angle.
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Why Galvanized Angles Are a Farmer’s Secret
The enemy of any wooden raised bed is pressure. Wet soil is incredibly heavy, and it exerts a constant, outward force on the boards, especially after a heavy rain. Over time, this pressure will pop screws, warp lumber, and pry apart even the most carefully constructed corners.
This is where galvanized angles change the game. They act like an external skeleton, locking the corners together at a perfect 90-degree angle and distributing the load across the entire joint. The galvanization—a protective zinc coating—is crucial. It prevents the steel from rusting and disintegrating, ensuring your bed’s structural integrity year after year, through snow, rain, and relentless sun. A few dollars spent on the right hardware saves you a whole weekend of rebuilding down the road.
Simpson Strong-Tie A33: The Gold Standard
When you want to build something once and forget about it, you reach for Simpson Strong-Tie. Their A33 angle is the benchmark for a reason. It’s made from a heavy gauge of steel that feels substantial in your hand, and it won’t bend or flex under the immense pressure of a fully loaded garden bed.
The A33 features precisely placed holes that give you plenty of options for securing it with structural screws. This isn’t flimsy decorative hardware; it’s a structural connector designed for construction, which makes it more than tough enough for garden duty. While they often cost more per piece, the peace of mind is worth it. For a large, deep bed you plan to keep for a very long time, this is the smart investment.
Everbilt Zinc Angles: Affordable Durability
Walk into any big-box hardware store, and you’ll find Everbilt angles. This is the workhorse option for most hobby farmers. They offer a fantastic balance of strength and affordability, making them perfect for when you’re building several beds at once and need to keep an eye on the budget.
While the steel might be a slightly lighter gauge than a Simpson-Tie, it’s more than adequate for most standard bed sizes, like a 4×8-foot bed made from 2×8 lumber. The zinc plating provides good weather resistance, though you’ll want to pair it with high-quality coated deck screws to prevent any weak points. For 90% of garden projects, Everbilt gets the job done reliably without breaking the bank.
National Hardware V31: For Extra Tall Beds
The taller you build your bed, the more pressure the bottom boards have to withstand. A small 2-inch angle on a 24-inch tall bed is simply asking for a blowout. For these bigger builds, you need more surface area, and that’s where something like the National Hardware V31 series shines.
These often come in larger sizes, like 4-inch or 5-inch angles, and are stamped from thick steel. A larger angle allows you to put screws into multiple boards if you’re stacking them, effectively tying the whole corner into a single, solid unit. It provides the leverage needed to resist the bowing force that is much greater at the bottom of a deep bed. Don’t skimp on corner hardware when you’re building tall; the physics are not on your side.
Grip-Rite Gusset Angle for Maximum Rigidity
For a truly bomb-proof raised bed, especially one that’s exceptionally long or built on a slight slope, a gusset angle is the ultimate choice. A gusset is a small, triangular piece of steel welded into the corner of the angle, providing massive reinforcement against twisting and racking forces.
This feature prevents the rectangle of your bed from being pulled into a parallelogram. While a standard angle resists outward bowing, a gusseted angle like those from Grip-Rite also fights the diagonal shear forces. It’s arguably overkill for a small 4×4 herb planter, but for a 16-foot-long asparagus bed, that extra rigidity ensures the entire structure stays perfectly square for years.
Hillman Group Corner Brace: A Versatile Pick
Not every project needs to be built like a bunker. For smaller, lighter-duty applications like a flower box, a low-profile salad green bed, or an herb spiral, the Hillman Group’s corner braces are an excellent fit. They are often lighter gauge but provide more than enough strength for these situations.
Many of these braces also have a more decorative look and a cleaner finish, with countersunk holes that let your screw heads sit flush. They are perfect when aesthetics are just as important as function. Just be realistic about their limits. You wouldn’t use one to hold together a 3-foot-tall bed for potatoes, but for a 6-inch-high strawberry patch, they are a simple, clean, and effective solution.
Choosing the Right Gauge and Size for Lumber
The hardware is only as good as its match with the lumber. Two key factors matter here: gauge and size. Gauge refers to the thickness of the steel; a lower number means thicker, stronger metal. For most beds, a 14- or 12-gauge angle is ideal. Anything thinner might bend over time.
For size, match the angle to your boards.
- For single 2×6 or 2×8 boards: A 2-inch or 3-inch angle is plenty.
- For 2×10 or 2×12 boards: Step up to a 4-inch angle for better grip.
- For stacked boards: Use a longer angle that can span across both boards, tying them together. A 5- or 6-inch angle is perfect for this.
And don’t forget the fasteners. Using cheap, non-coated screws is a classic rookie mistake. They will rust and fail in a single season, rendering your strong galvanized angle useless. Always use exterior-grade coated structural or deck screws.
Proper Installation for a Long-Lasting Bed
The best hardware in the world won’t help if it’s installed poorly. The first step is to get your corners perfectly square before you drive a single screw. A framing square is your best friend here. Clamp the corner together so it doesn’t move.
Place the angle snugly into the corner and use every single screw hole provided by the manufacturer. They put them there for a reason. Driving screws into just the top and bottom holes saves you thirty seconds but creates a pivot point in the middle. For extra-long beds (over 8 feet), add reinforcement. A simple trick is to run a cross-brace of 2×4 lumber across the middle of the bed and secure it to the sideboards with angle braces on the inside. This completely eliminates bowing on long runs.
Building a raised bed that endures is about respecting the forces of nature and using the right tools to work with them, not against them. A galvanized angle isn’t a shortcut; it’s a smart, time-tested method for ensuring the work you do this weekend is something you can be proud of for many seasons to come. Choose wisely, build it right, and get back to the important work of growing food.
