Putting in a bed, moving away from containers

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by KathyDC

...Building this one row took all the material I had, so I'm going to have to go grab a few bags of compost and I guess probably beg for other peoples' leaves for the top dressing on the next one. That'll have to wait for another weekend though....

Funny story: I saw a "horse manure available" notice some years ago on another gardening forum, and it just happened to be in the Virginia town where my cousin lived. So I jokingly emailed her the info. Well, it turns out that her husband had been wanting a horse (or maybe already had one) and wanted boarding facilities closer to home! They figured, where there's horse manure, there are horses! So they followed up, and discovered a great place to board the horse.

I visited a month ago and finally got to meet the horse...and shovel some horse manure. But it turned out that they don't actually use horse manure at their house!! (or maybe don't need the steady supply the horse provides).

Anyway, back home, I've been getting free horse-manure compost from a local boarding place. It's been working out pretty well in my gardens.

[Misfit]

Kathy that looks really nice!

For pavers or bricks, check Craigslist in the "free" section. I frequently see posts where people are giving that stuff away.

-Jimmy

[easttx_hippie]

Originally Posted by creister

Kurt,

On your third point, you put stakes on the soil side of your board, or against the outside side of the board? When using the 90 angles on the corners, do you just buy nuts and bolts and not use the screws that come with the angles? If so, would you advise using a lock washer with it?

Thanks for the tips,
Curt

Curt,

I made my raised beds out of 2x6's that I simply screwed together with drywall screws. For each bed I made two 4'x8' frames and stacked one on the other. Along the outside of the 8' side I drove 2' stakes every 2' and screwed those to the frame with drywall screws. I then filled them with leaves, manure, grass clippings, and I don't know what all. Well, it's been six years and my beds are still in great shape with some really rich dark soil.

Mac

[drew51]

I made 4x4 raised beds for blueberries. Then in an attempt to keep raspberries in a bed I added a 24 inch by 24 foot bed behind the three 4x4's. I wanted to grow corn so added an 8x12 bed. This was a mistake as I have to constantly step into it. Probably best to grow corn out of the ground. Although the first crop was awesome! I now use the bed for strawberries and melons.



I added some small beds inbetween the 4x4. just 1x4 beds for beneficial flowers


I then added a 3x4 foot beds at the end of each 4x4 bed and also added a bed against my shed it is 3x12
It's turned into a jungle!

[drew51]

In the above photo to the right are my fruit trees. I use the backyard orchard culture techniques to keep them small. Originally the first beds were for blueberries. As in rasied beds I can keep the soil acidic. We have a basic clay loam, not very good for the blues.
The beds were built in 2012. Here is one of the blueberries today, well the shot was taken yesterday. The plant is showing full fall color. Strawberries are used as ground cover in the beds. They have been thinned and renovated. Straw soon will go over them for the winter. Wonder where they got the name strawberries?





Anyways just showing what i did with raised beds. Good luck! I do grow tomatoes in the 3x 4 beds.
I rotate beans, melons, tomatoes or peppers in the three 3x4 beds at the end of the 4x4 beds.
Here tomatoes to the left, then the blueberries (one is in a netted cage as the robins like my blueberries)
And to the far right raspberries.


Pays off to net blueberries!

[creister]

Drew,

What type of boards did you use? They don't look like the usual pine I see in stores these days.

[drew51]

Originally Posted by creister

Drew,

What type of boards did you use? They don't look like the usual pine I see in stores these days.

They are just pine but stained with an acrylic stain. A water soluble stain. They probably will rot quickly. I use acrylic paint on my fruit trees, so not that worried about it. I'm moving in 3 years, so they should last that long! Even if they don't it would be easy to replace a board here and there. At the new house I think I will use the copper treated wood. I spray my fruit trees with copper, so it's not any worse. My house pipes are made of copper.
The stain was left over from my cedar cottage which I stain every few years.

[kurt]

Originally Posted by creister

Drew,

What type of boards did you use? They don't look like the usual pine I see in stores these days.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...light=termites

[drew51]

No termites here, we do have carpenter ants, but they seem to prefer rotted trees.
I myself would think landscaping cloth would be better than plastic. The wood is cheap, easy to replace, so I'm good to go. It is already is 2 years old and no rotting yet. I give it another 2-3 years.

Oh i should mention I layed gravel underneath the wood, so it would not be on the ground.