Gopher-Proof Raised Beds

This year, given all the turmoil and nascent food shortages, I decided to upgrade my 4' x 8' raised beds. My old ones were not so great - slapped together when I first built my garden. Over time, the gophers figured out a way to get into the beds - either through the rotted wood on the side of the bed where dirt had piled up, or through the rusted hardware cloth gopher barrier at the bottom, or through gaps between the hardware cloth and the wood.

So, like Carl the Greenskeeper in his all-out war against gophers, I redesigned my beds to be as gopher-proof as I could think, starting with stainless steel hardware cloth. I'm not saying my design is perfect - it's probably overkill - but so far so good. All of the returning gophers have been totally frustrated, and are probably in the local gopher dive drinking whiskey and listening to Johnny Cash on the jukebox.

Anyway, the design is in the pictures below, with an actual photograph of the end product.

Update: The raised beds are awesome and the crop is coming in well. The gophers are digging under it, but can't figure out how to get in. Success!

If I were to change one thing, though, it'd be this: instead of using two 2x6s per edge, I'd use a 2x4 at the bottom and a 2x8 at the top. That would prevent the blocks twisting relative to each other, and the bottom board, which needs to be replaced more often, is cheaper.