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Post by daylilydude on Mar 20, 2018 4:28:42 GMT -5
paulf was talking about his metal tub type beds for gardening got me to thinking just what materials do most gardeners use for their raised beds and the sizes they have, or want to have?
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Post by brownrexx on Mar 20, 2018 8:15:30 GMT -5
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Mar 20, 2018 8:43:42 GMT -5
The fellow that built mine used some scrap we had laying around. Mine is 3 x 8. I wouldn't mind if they were longer, but I think it's a good width. I wouldn't mind if they were on stilts either, but then I'd need a bottom. One thing leads to another.
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Post by farmerjack41 on Mar 20, 2018 9:02:23 GMT -5
Have seen where folks have used insulated garage door panels. They are metal with foam insulation between. They can easily be cut to length. Most garage door installers will give them away, so they do not have to pay for disposal.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Mar 20, 2018 9:37:55 GMT -5
DH usually just uses scraps of wood from other projects. However, he made me a pair of new beds over the winter and he made those out of some kind of plastic fencing that he had leftover. He then used scraps of lumber for the corners and to reinforce the sides. They look really nice, and he's excited about them because they shouldn't need replacing for a very long time.
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Post by octave1 on Mar 20, 2018 9:46:25 GMT -5
Having raised beds is not always ideal. If you live in an area where drought is a frequent occurrence, sunken rather than raised beds are a better option.
I used to have all sorts of materials border my raised beds: bricks, wood boards, logs, etc; but they all became a problem after a while. For one thing, it's difficult to maintain the borders totally weed free. Grass would often grow between and along bricks/logs, and was not always easy to remove. So now I don't use anything anymore. I shape my beds and heavily mulch the paths between them. If grass and weeds start growing here and there there, I mow them down in a second.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Mar 20, 2018 9:50:34 GMT -5
There was a post at Tomatoville that got my attention. The method is called Hugelkulture.
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Post by september on Mar 20, 2018 11:08:17 GMT -5
I converted my front garden to raised beds and never looked back. I liked the beds so well, that when my horses died off, I put raised beds in their old winter corral area, which I call my back woods garden because it's surrounded by tall trees. Here's an old pic of early season prep in the back woods garden in some past year. My beds are shallow, mostly because I have so many of them and doubling up on lumber to make them higher would be too expensive, as well as having to truck in more dirt to fill them. I don't use treated lumber and the beds last for about 5-6 years before they start rotting out. The frames are easy to replace, we just dig out the perimeter and throw the soil in the middle, lift off the old frame and set the new one in place. We used to be able to get heavy rough cut boards from a local private mill, but they have gone out of business. As you can see from my garden charts, there are a lot of beds! The back beds originally had old carpet laid between the rows to keep down the grass and weeds, but now the carpet is disintegrating and weeds are growing on and through it. The front garden looked great for a few years after we had free wood chips delivered by the electric company which was clearing power lines in the neighborhood. Alas, the chips are now disintegrating as well, and my clean look is no longer anywhere near this tidy.
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Post by spacecase0 on Mar 20, 2018 11:17:08 GMT -5
I use raised beds to keep the gophers out. without the gophers, I would like sunken beds. so 4 foot wide 1/4 inch grid hardware cloth on the bottom. for the sides, I use what I have, one box is railroad ties, another is concrete blocks, most of them are wood planks that I made with a chainsaw and an alaskan saw mill. did fancy joints on the ends of the first wood box, it was to much work. then sheet metal strips screwed off to hold the sides for all the rest.
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Post by september on Mar 20, 2018 11:17:52 GMT -5
I really like the stick weaving construction of the bed in brownrexx 's post - It might not have long term durability, but it looks so cool and middle age rustic.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Mar 20, 2018 11:25:18 GMT -5
september, I like it. This is my first year having a raised bed. Although I can remember my Mom had a big square raised bed in the early 70's. I had forgot about her Strawberry bed till just now. You know, I think I will talk to Mom and see if she wants to grow Strawberries with me next year.
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Post by spike on Mar 20, 2018 18:43:51 GMT -5
I only have one 4X4 raised bed, made from wood and love it. I also have a 2X4 raised container made from sturdy plastic.
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Post by bestofour on Mar 20, 2018 20:19:42 GMT -5
I used bricks around my strawberry patch for a long time. Worked well. I plant my squash in straw bales.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Mar 26, 2018 10:09:42 GMT -5
I was just at Aldis today, and they are selling kits for raised beds! Looks like cedar, and a bunch of brackets, to hold things together. The boxes have photos of different sizes and shapes of raised beds, and how many kits would be needed for each. Not something I would be buying, but there is obviously a demand for this type of thing!
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Post by ladymarmalade on Mar 26, 2018 10:13:01 GMT -5
I was just at Aldis today, and they are selling kits for raised beds! Looks like cedar, and a bunch of brackets, to hold things together. The boxes have photos of different sizes and shapes of raised beds, and how many kits would be needed for each. Not something I would be buying, but there is obviously a demand for this type of thing! Costco has raised beds for sale also. I saw them and literally stopped in my tracks when I saw the price tag. www.costco.com/White-Vinyl-Raised-Garden-Bed-2-pack.product.100153335.htmlCame home and told my DH that next winter he needs to spend some time building garden beds and selling them.
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Post by Gianna on Mar 26, 2018 23:58:08 GMT -5
I've had raised beds in the past, now I just have 'beds'. As Octave said, the sides always become a problem. Sometimes I will use concrete blocks, but since there is some slope here, that is just to shore up one side as a mini retaining wall to keep the bed itself as level as possible.
In a dry area such as here, using sides on the beds created several problems. The corners tended to house 'bugs' and snails. And they were more difficult to water. And trying to trap gophers when they would run under the beds was a real pain. Beds with wire underneath were also problematic if you wanted to dig - tools kept getting caught in the mesh. And in a few years it rusts out.
Ack! Ack! Sides on beds! Never again for me - though they certainly work for others.
I also far prefer the flexibility of beds with no sides - you can adjust the perimeters if desired.
As someone mentioned, sunken beds work pretty well too. Except if you pile on organic matter, they soon become raised beds as the organic material gets incorporated. A year or two ago, I made some sunken beds to deflect rain run-off into. Plants did great, then I mulched and 'no tilled' and they are no longer sunken, lol. There are 4 of those beds in front, and two in back, and plants in them are still doing great! Kale, collards, cabbage, flowers, broc (now over) A success story with an unexpected outcome.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Mar 27, 2018 9:42:03 GMT -5
Yeah, it's really different in a dry climate vs. a wet one. Raised beds can be problematic in dry climates.
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Post by brownrexx on Mar 27, 2018 9:52:04 GMT -5
In the last few year they have been building some so called "rain gardens" around here. Basically they are sunken gardens that collect rain water runoff for the plants. These are mostly flower gardens not veggie gardens.
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Post by bestofour on Mar 27, 2018 10:29:54 GMT -5
I started using raised beds for a few reasons. First being that I'm the only one that works the garden and when we had the gigantic garden by the barn I couldn't keep the grass out of it no matter how much hoeing or compost and cardboard was put down. I felt like I worked 24-7 just trying to keep it clean. Then I had the year with the neighbors chickens eating blooms - put up a small fence - which eventually their goats trampled down. Remember, I'm doing all this by myself. Plus the few times the deer showed up and I put up a taller fence which they jumped in but apparently couldn't jump out of and trampled the garden. And there was the year that it rained for weeks on end and everything was flooded and ruined. The year after the flood was when the squash went into straw bales. It was a few years later, after changing garden locations, making smaller areas, threatening to kill the neighbors chickens, tying up the goats and putting a goats for sale sign in my yard, that the raised beds came into the picture. Also, it had become more of a chore than a love because I had so much produce that I gave it away, because I wanted to, but people started expecting it, telling me they needed cucumbers for their next family dinner or that their sister was coming to town and they'd like to send her home with fresh tomatoes. The beginning of the end of the give aways was the day I took a bag of squash to a lady at church, she looked in the bag, and said "this isn't enough". I was done. So I've smalled down a lot. I've already had a lady ask me "when can I expect tomatoes this year?" and I told her to watch at her local farmers market. Last year I planted potatoes in buckets and had a bumper crop.
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Post by brownrexx on Mar 27, 2018 10:37:36 GMT -5
I've already had a lady ask me "when can I expect tomatoes this year?" and I told her to watch at her local farmers market. Good for you bestofour, some people can be so rude! It's shocking.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Mar 27, 2018 12:19:09 GMT -5
That sort of rude, entitled attitude never ceases to amaze me. It makes you want to ask back, "When can I expect you to come weed my garden?"
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Post by ladymarmalade on Mar 27, 2018 12:59:35 GMT -5
That sort of rude, entitled attitude never ceases to amaze me. It makes you want to ask back, "When can I expect you to come weed my garden?" Right?! I absolutely love it when I can share some of my produce and it's genuinely appreciated. It's so much fun when you're having a conversation and someone mentions making a big salad for a family dinner and I can pipe up with an offer of a boatload of salad greens. Or my annual cherry tomato invasion at my church. I have already decided that this year when I get those comments (and I know exactly who will make them) I will be very gracious and say something along the lines of "I would be more than happy to share XYZ with you. If you'll come over this week and help me shovel in a fresh load of llama poo, I'll be sure and send you home with a basket of produce." I wonder if I'll have any takers.
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Post by bestofour on Mar 27, 2018 14:44:31 GMT -5
I actually offered a garden spot to some of these takers. Told them to come whenever they wanted and plant them a garden. I actually had an extra space I didn't plant that was turned over and ready to go for one lady - she never came. We have pecan trees and when people hear that they always want pecans - come by anytime -we don't have to be home - pick up as many as you want - in all the years we've been saying that only 1 couple has done it. Sorry got off topic and a little sassy. Forgive me please.
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Post by september on Mar 27, 2018 15:16:27 GMT -5
You're entitled to grouse at the clueless idiots! I guess some people just think we stand by and watch all these vegetables grow without any human effort involved, no planting or weeding or watering -- crops just miraculously spring from the soil and all we have to do is pick the stuff that appears every year in our gardens. I think I would have been speechless at the lady who said it "wasn't enough", my snappy comebacks always come too late.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Mar 28, 2018 23:26:46 GMT -5
Ack! Ack! Sides on beds! Never again for me Most of my garden (except for all those SIPs!) is grown in raised beds without "sides". I started this in '89, when I got my rear tine 'tiller, with an attachment to make trenches, thus making "raised beds". Works great to prevent water damage during heavy rains - only had one summer since then when the plants were damaged by non-stop rain. Most of the time, even when the trenches fill, they drain within 12 hours, usually sooner. I first do them before the greens go in, in the spring, then trench the areas next to the tomatoes and peppers a few weeks later. Then later in the summer, when there has been a lot of rain, I simply re-trench the garden - usually when I'm preparing the garden for fall greens. Here is an old photo in mid-May, showing the raised beds with the greens, recently planted tomaotes, and garlic, well on its way. 5-22-11001 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Mar 28, 2018 23:52:54 GMT -5
We've had some people say that they love blueberries but nobody wants to get up at the butt crack of dawn to beat the birds and the 90 plus degree son. It can take over an hour to pick a gallon easily. There is a reason that they are not cheap.
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Post by september on Mar 29, 2018 9:15:46 GMT -5
Pepperhead, I really like your garden, it's fun to see how everyone arranges things.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Mar 29, 2018 16:02:00 GMT -5
In the last few year they have been building some so called "rain gardens" around here. Basically they are sunken gardens that collect rain water runoff for the plants. These are mostly flower gardens not veggie gardens. They are promoted here by the city as a way to keep rainwater from overflowing the sewer system. When we first moved to this block, many of the homeowners had them on their front lawns. But as those residents move or pass away, it seems the newer people have no interest in maintaining gardens, not even perennial ones. I can see three if not four houses from here that have torn their rain gardens out last summer alone.
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Post by bestofour on Mar 30, 2018 13:24:10 GMT -5
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Mar 30, 2018 13:57:28 GMT -5
Exactly bestofour, it is sad. Too many yards with high privacy fences and nothing but concrete.
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