raised beds

shinnlinger

Member
Hi,

Doc hates empty forums so here is a thought. I was all about rototilling, but the wife said no, she wanted raised beds so she found an organic farm near us that has to change out it's topsoil every two years or something so we can buy the stuff for cheap and it is WAY better than the soil we have here anyways, so down went landscape fabric (old newspapers or cardboard would do) and we dumped piles of this organic stuff in little cribs I made. Since it was all loose it was easy to work by hand and it produces good stuff!

I at least used the FEL to load the beds and to auger the post holes for the deer fence.
 

mobilus

Member
Shinn, I tried the raised bed thing, but they were only about a foot off the ground. It helped, but it would have been really cool if it was higher...i.e., the height of a stool. I made mine out of landscape timbers that I was given. All this was back before I had a tractor...ugh.

My dad uses tractor tires with one sidewall cut out.

What did you use?
 

shinnlinger

Member
Well I would say keep going with the crib. I used old logs cut in half lenghtwise on the sawmill (But I split some lenghtwise before I got a sawmill) as the wife didn't want them higher, but I suppose a log cabin look would do nicely. YOu could always fill the first foot or so with good ol' dirt before you finished it off with a foot or so of good topsoil.

I was afraid to use treated lumber as I heard the chemicals can leach into the soil so I compensated with 20"logs. When in doubt build it stout...if your gonna build it, overbuild it.
 

Archdean

Member
I winter over and start spring plants in a 3 sided greenhouse (faces south)

Work a 30x60 raised garden with my tractor and 4' landpride tiller around the end of April (last potential Frost) in NE Oklahoma. Added 14 yards of mushroom compost (available locally) although any kind will do as long as it is sterilized (weed free). Won't add any more for two years!

Plant around May1'st thru 15th. (gives time for two growing seasons here)

Just some progress pictures follow and I also weed with Round-up as it goes inert upon contact with the soil!
 

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shinnlinger

Member
That is a nice garden...can you feed the whole town with it?

Mobius,

WHat about putting some beefy legs under your raised beds....say an oil tank cut in half...or just plant a garden in the bed of the c-10 and use the cab as a green house....my wife didn't go for that one either.
 

shinnlinger

Member
I like those pre '73 chevs but I am a ford man, Used to have a 69 f-100 out in Oregon, probably right about the same shape as your c-10.
 
N

Nicahawk

Guest
Well I would say keep going with the crib. I used old logs cut in half lenghtwise on the sawmill (But I split some lenghtwise before I got a sawmill) as the wife didn't want them higher, but I suppose a log cabin look would do nicely. YOu could always fill the first foot or so with good ol' dirt before you finished it off with a foot or so of good topsoil.

I was afraid to use treated lumber as I heard the chemicals can leach into the soil so I compensated with 20"logs. When in doubt build it stout...if your gonna build it, overbuild it.

Shinn....I wish I had 20" logs available like you do. And a sawmill! Wow.:respect: Only thing around my place are some old cottonwoods and scrappy elms.

I love building stuff out of "what's available" when I can, instead of buying what I need. Salvage and recycling should have been my middle name.
 
N

Nicahawk

Guest
Dean, that's a nice setup for starting and growing. Like your harvest pics. Come on spring!
 

Archdean

Member
Thanks to all for the atta-boys! As you all know it's a never ending task but at my age it provides a reason to get up and do something useful~and it does help feed the neighborhood not to mention that it keeps GF busy!:chef:

I do have one last tip and it concerns pest control, Get a martin house, you can't see it in the picture but it is on a 15' pole near the center of the garden and 20 or so of those aerial acrobats are tireless bug snatchers and I only need to dust on rare occasions!

Hope this invigorates you all to get started.
 
No pictures (yet) since I swapped computers and left my old photo files in the ol' Dell that is now put out to pasture.

But...

I have several raised beds, all made with 3 rows of landscape timbers. I do a lot of composting. We fill a new bin each year. Once it ages for 3 years, they get emptied into the beds. One is for lettuce, spinach, and radish's. Another is for onions and garlic. One more that's flowers grown for seed. Building yet another bed this year. I'm planting strawberries and Rhubarb in this'n. (Hoping I get to eat them...sigh)

Living on a hilltop, drainage is never a problem for my regular garden spots. I've done quite well growing the same crops without the beds in the past.

Oh, by the way, planted seed for some of my tomato plants yesterday! Time is coming:cool:
 

Erik

Member
around here the neighbors tend to use RR ties 3 high -- line the sides with black visqueen and you don't get the leaching problems.
 
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