EZ raised garden beds - how to

[LadyGarnetRose]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Well, you can do it the way I do - frantically hammer things together while trying to keep ahead of my planting schedule, or you could do it the way I should be doing it - putting it all together during the off season...

If your hubby is a carpenter, you'll probably have to stop him form doing too good a job... he might try to make them look as nice as a coffee table .

THIS!! lol we're lifting beds this year, putting in better drainage, and adding more beds in for next year. La Nina won't be here next year, so hopefully we won't have the amount of water problems we did this year, and by adding in better drainage, even we do maybe it won't all turn to a swamp anyway.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

What's your soil like, LadyGarnetRose?

Hopefully it's not heavy clay - it's so hard to get that to drain. The water just sits on it like it would sit on solid concrete.

Do you have to dig out drainage lines and sumps? I've never tried doing this, myslef... When I lived near Detroit, we had a bad drainage problem. That whole area is drained swampland, so it lies low, and the soil was swamp clay muck. Very fertile, but always wet. And stunk to high heaven when I dug into it.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Where I used to live was that swampy, clay type stuff. Here it is rocks, rocks, and more rocks. I could swear I'm on the moon sometimes. There aren't a lot of crop farms because of it - the machinery gets ruined too fast.

[LadyGarnetRose]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

What's your soil like, LadyGarnetRose?

Hopefully it's not heavy clay - it's so hard to get that to drain. The water just sits on it like it would sit on solid concrete.

Do you have to dig out drainage lines and sumps? I've never tried doing this, myslef... When I lived near Detroit, we had a bad drainage problem. That whole area is drained swampland, so it lies low, and the soil was swamp clay muck. Very fertile, but always wet. And stunk to high heaven when I dug into it.

It's actually awesome soil, I put the raised beds in for ease of planting, not because the ground is bad. The only problem is when you get 34 inches of rain in 45 days, plus snow pack melt all at the same time, nothing can keep up with that. The whole state about a month ago was declared a disaster area because of the floods.

Our raised beds are actually a modified version of Mel's Mix, instead of peat we're using coir as coir is renewable and peat is not. What we're doing to increase drainage in the raised beds is actually raise them up another 6 inches, drill drainage holes in the sides, and fill with gravel, then place the bed back over the top. Thankfully we lined with landscape cloth so we can use the skid loader to lift them up.

[Madness]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Funny, we were building raised boxes around the same time! My project got put on hold for the winter and I'm still finishing it up. Same concept as yours but with a few changes.

I did use the toxic boards. I did my research and decided to live with it. I can go in to that, but basically I don't think it's going to get into my food. And because I used the toxic boards, I used outdoor decking screws (the framing nails would rust and be crappy before the wood rots!). And I went bonkers on the size of the boxes. Still 8 feet long - but I did them 3 feet wide. And, ahem, 16" tall (two 2x8's). That's just for the pretty beds at the front of the garden, the rest are just 8". Here's some pictures:

Single box:


Double boxes stacked along what will be the walkway (you can see the 'mock up' boxes in the background where the main garden will be):


Cutest helper ever:

(sorry, parents just have to toss in pictures of their kids, huh?)

I really hope to have it all done by summer planting!

[B. de Corbin]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Very nice! I used to have helpers like that to plant onions.

[thalassa]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

For peeps with a balcony instead. Of a yard... http://lifeonthebalcony.com/how-to-t...into-a-garden/

For a tiny yard... http://www.lushe.com.au/2010/06/15/d...rtical-garden/

Saw them on a Riyadh show a while back...not really raised beds, but sort of


LOL, DIY=Riyadh

[GypsySeaWitch]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Suddenly, I wish I didn't live in town in an apartment. I do have a mini backyard, but I'm not sure how the manager would like me setting up a raised bed garden. I might get away with it by placing a small one near the fence. I will be using these ideas as I help out a friend's mom with her garden this year. Seems I'm the local go-to-girl on starting plants from seeds this year. My dad just bought some new property and is planning out a huge garden. I'm so excited about it. I love fresh veggies.

[LadyGarnetRose]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Suddenly, I wish I didn't live in town in an apartment. I do have a mini backyard, but I'm not sure how the manager would like me setting up a raised bed garden. I might get away with it by placing a small one near the fence. I will be using these ideas as I help out a friend's mom with her garden this year. Seems I'm the local go-to-girl on starting plants from seeds this year. My dad just bought some new property and is planning out a huge garden. I'm so excited about it. I love fresh veggies.

Instead of raised beds you can use containers as well. 2 5 gallon (don't have to be food grade) buckets nested in each other (auto watering link to follow) will grow 1 tomato plant, or 1 pepper plant, 1 cucumber plant, a dozen carrots, 3 bean plants, or a large amount of herbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8kJ3l4yPLU

[B. de Corbin]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

I was thinking...

The Walmart bakery gets frosting in five gallon buckets, which they sell for about a dollar when they've used up the frosting. These buckets are great, because they are big, cheap, and food safe. I use them for al kinds of things, like beer making.

They'd also be good for planting.

If I cut the bottom out of one, I could bury it mostly in the ground, and fill it with good garden soil. That would make an easy small raised bed. Good for people with tight space.

[GypsySeaWitch]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Instead of raised beds you can use containers as well. 2 5 gallon (don't have to be food grade) buckets nested in each other (auto watering link to follow) will grow 1 tomato plant, or 1 pepper plant, 1 cucumber plant, a dozen carrots, 3 bean plants, or a large amount of herbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8kJ3l4yPLU

That is my goal this year with a few vegetable plants. I can't wait to be outside planting everything. Thanks for the link!

[LadyGarnetRose]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

That is my goal this year with a few vegetable plants. I can't wait to be outside planting everything. Thanks for the link!

Very welcome! And Happy Gardening!

[Veronica]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Ooo, thanks for this! I'm excited because we start a garden here every March and by August everything is a bust. But I'm in South Texas and the heat and drought have been really taking it's toll. I think I will do this much closer to the house where we can get some more shade on the poor little plants and hopefully we'll have more success!

[B. de Corbin]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Here in the frozen north, we don't start planting until late May, early June, usually. By August, everything is going to seed here too.

Good luck!

[Madness]

Re: EZ raised garden beds - how to

Time for gratuitous winter Texas garden pictures! These were taken a few weeks ago. Psst - Veronica, grow stuff year round! It's sooo much easier in the winter here!

Here is one installed raised bed which is empty at the front. The second bed over from there (with the red leaves - Bull's Blood Beets), is also a raised bed.






And some recent harvest pics (these are our CSA boxes):







Ahhh. I have to gloat about something being better about living in Texas...