Need all the help I can get, building raised beds

[socalgardengal]

Hi everyone I'm very new to gardening and after 3 months of bringing it up, I finally talked my other half into building me a raised bed in the next 2 weeks. YAY!! The problems I'm facing are it will be in the backyard along a brick wall and I REALLY, REALLY,REALLY don't want to double dig. I rent the house and there are irrigation pipes under where we are building it. I was going to take the heads off and cap them. I'm thinking 17X3.5 ft. I have alot of questions.
#1 What should I put on the ground first? I have lots of weed blocker material, cardboard or plastic sheeting
#2 How high? 18" or 24"
#3Angle brackets, can I use wood or should I use metal??I will only be living here for another 3-4 yrs.
#4 What to fill the bed with?? ie. soil, fert.?? Husband says he's doing this CHEAP. He's ONLY going to Home Depot, so no ordering from websites, local suppliers
#5 I have wildlife here, Cats, Racoons, Skunks, Rats, etc, how to keep them out!!! Especially my 4 cats that LOVE to use any dirt for the bathroom
#6 And whatever else you can think of
I will be planting my tomatoes in this spot maybe with a few peppers as well
I'm sure there are alot more things I need to ask but it's a start.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE HELP, I truely appreciate any and all help

[bestofour]

I've never used plastic sheeting because I try to be green so I use cardboard then as much newspaper as I've saved up then I use bagged soil that I get at Lowe's. I don't have a problem with weeds. My beds have metal brackets. We live in a rural area and have 2 cats but haven't had a problem with animals getting our raised bed crops anymore than the ones in the ground. I guess you could always cover yours with netting if you find you're having trouble. I use my raised beds for squash because I have a problem with squash bugs when I plant squash directly in the ground.

[Rockporter]

I don't know the name of it but I would put some wire down first to keep critters from digging from underneath the bed.

You might want to look into square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew?? I think that is his name and your beds will be real easy to get started.

[dpurdy]

socalgardengal,
If your going to fill a raised bed you can look locally for someone who sells and delivers soil by dump truck. Some nurseries or landscapers sell a garden mix which usually consist of topsoil & compost, or with manure mixed together. It's much easier to have someone deliver it to your home than hauling bags of soil from Home Depot. Besides it will make your husband happier, unless he has a truck and doesn't mind . Most times is cheaper to buy it in bulk. There are different mixes that people prefer to fill their raised beds. You have to make sure that whatever you fill your beds with that there's enough organic material and amendments in it, so that your soil doesn't compact down and become hard. As far as height of your raised bed, it's up to the individual to decide what best. I've seen raised beds range from 12 inches high to 24 inches high. Mine are about 18 inches high. I did notice that it would be easier to work on a raised bed that was 24 inches than one that is shorter. Not quite as far to bend over, but it takes more soil to fill the bed. You also mentioned that you were building your beds next to a brick wall. You may have to think about the reflective heat that will be emitted from the wall. During the early part of Spring and Summer, the wall will actually hold heat for your plants and help to maintain soil temperature. As far as materials for building your raised bed, I would buy untreated dimension lumber (ie. regular 2X6's). I wouldn't spend the extra money buying treated lumber being that you will be leaving that house in a few years. The untreated lumber will last you for that period of time. On the bottom of my raised beds I used a heavy weed blocker material and laid on the ground, and then I laid the raised bed frame down on the material. I then traced the outline of the bed on the liner. Remove the bed from the material and cut it to size and then place the bed frame on the cut weed blocker and fill with soil. You can google building raised garden beds. There should many videos and articles that show you ways to build raised beds. I'm confident that you'll see that it's not too difficult. I've read on this forum that some growers use a 50/50 mix of potting soil and composted manure to fill their containers. I've had my cats in the past use my flower beds or vegetable garden for a litter box. If you need to, you can put plastic mulch, straw or something similar on the top of your bed to protect from the cats. If your not using drip irrigation, it's a good idea to mulch your plants to retain moisture during the heat of summer. Hope some of this helps. Any more questions, just PM me.
DP

[Father'sDaughter]

Once they're built and filled you can't easily move it, so it's good you're giving it a lot of thought!

They don't need to be too deep unless you want the extra height. I have two beds that are just 12" high and were built on top of the lawn, and I'm able to grow successfully in them. I started with landscape fabric at the bottom because we had a roll of it sitting around.

I agree with the suggestion for buying your fill in bulk. Mine are 24'x4' and I think it took about three cubic yards to fill each. That would take a lot of trips to Home Depot and a lot of bags! I think I paid about $26 per cubic yard for good garden compost from the local nursery, and if you bought three or more yards they delivered for free.

Hopefully you've thought about sunlight and whether your location will get too much or too little. Unless it has to go right up against the brick wall, leave about three or four feet between them so you'll have a wide enough pathway to walk and work behind the bed. If it's against the wall, plan your planting arrangement so you're not blocking your reach to the plants in the back.

I'm sure you've already done this, but if you haven't, talk to the property owner before doing anything. If they haven't approved the whole thing (preferably in writing), you could be stuck with the expense to fix what they might see as "damage to the property" when it's time to move out. Or even worse, they could turn around and insist you remove immediately after you've built it, filled it, and put your plants in.

And finally, if you're making changes to the irrigation system, consider whether you will be leaving portions of the yard without water. If sections of lawn or flower beds will be losing their water supply because you've capped heads, you'll need to make sure you hand water these areas regularly to keep things alive. Also think about how any of the remaining heads might be hitting your garden. I was lucky in that I could locate mine between heads in such a way that the garden gets fully watered along with the lawn.

Good luck with the project!

[emcd124]

Hooray for gardening. I've only been doing this a handfull of years, but here's my 2 cents:
#1 What should I put on the ground first? I have lots of weed blocker material, cardboard or plastic sheeting

I think weed blocker is the bane of my existence and I would never recommend its use unless you are planting on top of a patch of the world's most robust crabgrass. if you are just putting these on top of regular grass, then I'd suggest what I've done in the past: lay down a layer of wetted coregated cardboard that completely cover the bottom ideally extending about an inch past and underneath the box in all directions. You will likely need to layer to achieve this with the size you propose. Then if you are concerned about burrowing animals coming up from beneath, get yourself a roll of chicken wire from HD and put it along the bottom. Put the box on top. The cardboard will help kill the grass beneath, but it will eventually become a delicious attraction to earth worms, who will help improve the soil in and around your box, and it will also allow your plant roots to penetrate more deeply into the soil should they need to.

#2 How high? 18" or 24"
Mine are only 12" high and they grow great. So I'd say this sort of depends on what else you intend to put in place to deter visitors. 24" probably still wont keep your cats out, but if you have lazy rabbits (ours are) it would be plenty high. That said, it will be a lot cheaper to build and fill 18" and then just put up another short foot high "fence" or cage around the stuff in there. Personally I'd also recommend you pick up some 2x4s and build yourself a little perch across the front top so that you can more comfortably sit your tush on the side and drink coffee in the morning while enjoying your garden and pulling a few weeds.

#3Angle brackets, can I use wood or should I use metal??I will only be living here for another 3-4 yrs.

For a box to only last 3-4 years I dont even think you need angle brackets. We've just screwed into the wood to hold the corners together and it easily lasts 4 years, though with a taller box containing more soil perhaps you would like the extra reinforcements.

#4 What to fill the bed with?? ie. soil, fert.?? Husband says he's doing this CHEAP. He's ONLY going to Home Depot, so no ordering from websites, local suppliers
If cheap is the foremost order, then I'd suggest you first call around to see what resources are available in your community. If you use the Mel's Mix formula it can be $50 or more to fill a 4x4 bed, so that is meant to be good and long lasting but not cheap. Where I live the city gives away free compost to anyone who comes to pick it up, so we got a truck load of free compost and 50% of our beds are filled with that. Then I added in some bags of veg garden soil, some peat moss, some perlite. Pretty much whatever I could get my hands on that was on sale and seemed like it would add something beneficial to the mix. You might also try to persuade your husband that if cheap is his foremost consideration, he may have to bestir himself to go somewhere other than DH, because they dont often sell bulk soil cheaply, but you could save a bundle driving somewhere else. Just call around first so you can have the numbers to persuade him its worth his while.

#5 I have wildlife here, Cats, Racoons, Skunks, Rats, etc, how to keep them out!!! Especially my 4 cats that LOVE to use any dirt for the bathroom

We used to have tons of trouble with feral cats when I lived in nashville. The short answer is that once the garden fills in, it wont look so inviting and they'll be less likely to use it as a litter box. The longer answer is that if you just cant wait you can google around for tricks to keep cats out. We used a combination of sprinkling coffee grounds around and using sticks and odds and ends to poke out of the ground and take up the open space until plants filled in. Others suggest creating an alternate sandy patch for them to have as a preferred outdoor litter box. For rabbits I get rabbit mesh from DH and make little cages for most of my plants (though they leave the hot pappers and tomatoes alone).

[bughunter99]

I would go with:

1: Cardboard. Its cheap, worms love it too.

2. 18". This will be a comfortable seating height. The bed can double as extra seating in the yard if you have him add a wide enough edge to it.. If you want onions or potatoes you also need that extra depth. I can't state enough how much more you will like this raised bed if you have it built to allow for seating.

3. That's big bed. Calculate out the area of it and then price out what it will cost to fill. It is likely you will be able to go a lot cheaper buying in bulk than buying bags from a box store. Make sure you do a look around your area for free fill. Stables sometimes have free aged manure, other places have free compost. You may also have finely shredded leaves from your own yard you can add.

4. If you have him add posts to the bed, you can put up temp chicken wire surrounds that you can take off and on for access. You could also stick the motion activated sprinkler in there (google the scarecrow).

No need to double dig at all. That is terrible for the soil. Just put down the cardboard and build on top. Remember if finances are tight you don't have to fill the whole thing at once, you can partition it off and just fill a bit at a time. Using free compost, chopped leaves etc to fill the other parts as it is acquired.

Good luck!

[socalgardengal]

What a wealth of info. I'm glad I asked because there's alot to consider. The wall is southfacing amd made of grey retaining wall bricks??(brainfart) gosh forgot what you call them lol. Anyways, its 3.5 ft tall and has a fence on top to separate my fruit trees. Will that be too much radiant heat? It gets sun all day there. I thought about moving it away from the wall to utilize the sprinklers but then the thought of mildew came to mind, don't want that because I might have some squash going in there also. I think I'll use the cardboard idea. My local dump does have compost for free but is it good?? What do I look for in good compost? Makes sense to me but hubby can be stubborn
I din't have any gophers, thank goodness, or rabbits around. Just skunks that love to dig up the yard for grubs. I could do the cage thing if it becomes a problem.
Off to do some thinking. Thank you for all the info and questions to think about

[bughunter99]

Originally Posted by socalgardengal

What a wealth of info. I'm glad I asked because there's alot to consider. The wall is southfacing amd made of grey retaining wall bricks??(brainfart) gosh forgot what you call them lol. Anyways, its 3.5 ft tall and has a fence on top to separate my fruit trees. Will that be too much radiant heat? It gets sun all day there. I thought about moving it away from the wall to utilize the sprinklers but then the thought of mildew came to mind, don't want that because I might have some squash going in there also. I think I'll use the cardboard idea. My local dump does have compost for free but is it good?? What do I look for in good compost? Makes sense to me but hubby can be stubborn
I din't have any gophers, thank goodness, or rabbits around. Just skunks that love to dig up the yard for grubs. I could do the cage thing if it becomes a problem.
Off to do some thinking. Thank you for all the info and questions to think about

You will want to avoid the local dump compost if you plan to garden organically. If not, it is not likely to be any worse than bagged compost at a box store and could be substantially better.

Plants like tomatoes are best waterered from the bottom to avoid splashing water on their leaves so no worries about having to use a sprinkler.

Someone from CA will have to answer your question about the heat of your location. In Illinois that would be a perfect spot for tomatoes. You get more sun than us, however.

[socalgardengal]

Thanks bughunter, I'm kind of reluctant to use the dump compost. I am going organic and I have seen ads on Craigslist for aged manure for free. There is also a mushroom farm that gives away their compost/soil that they grow in after harvest. Do you think that is ok to use?

[LDx4]

SoCalGardenGal,

City Nursery on Home Ave in San Diego has soil and compost by the cubic ft/yard
that is cheaper than Home Depot. If your husband has a truck, you can go there and get a truckload. I don't know for sure if they deliver, but they probably do for an extra charge. It would save your husband a lot of time if you were able to get all of the soil/compost at once. I would stay away from the city's free mulch/compost program, since you want to eat the vegetables from your beds - no telling what all is in that mix and some of it is probably harmful.

Lyn

[bughunter99]

Yeah, I'm the same way about dump compost. The free is tempting, but it just doesn't marry at all with organic growing. However for those that are going to put a lot of chemicals in the soil anyway, it probably is just fine.

Mushroom compost can be an excellent addition to the garden for providing humus however it can have huge variations in salt levels within it. In some cases none and in others toxic levels. You can get around that issue by mixing it in well in the soil and making sure that it is not the dominant soil type in the bed. Some mushroom compost can also contain contain pesticide residues, particularly organochlorides used against the fungus gnat.

The older mushroom compost is, the more the salts leech away so if you have your choice of which pile to pick from, pick the older one with the weeds growing in it. I use it from time to time but get it in the beds early so the spring rains can have at it a few times before I plant in it.

Stacy

[socalgardengal]

Thanks Lyn for telling me about City Nursery, I'll be sure to check them out! Stacy, thanjs for giving me great info on dump compost. Definently not going there

[Deborah]

I'm in San Marcos but I always have cardboard boxes that I break down. They're from buying hay for my rabbits.
The recycle trucks won't take them here. Anyone who needs them, they're free and I almost always have some. Would love to get rid of them.

[kilroyscarnival]

Congrats on getting started!

This is my first year gardening, I just started a few months ahead of you.

I used the six (or more) layers of newspaper that Redbaron suggests in the "no till" thread. I haven't seen any weeds push up from the bottom... only a few tiny things have landed airborne on the surface that I could easily pluck out. Mulch blocks most of that.

I started with one small raised bed (3 x 5 feet), built them 12" high but they were only filled to about 10" and some of the material settled a bit. I had a trash can full of homemade compost, but so wish I had more, because it took a lot of bagged soil, compost, peat, etc. to fill even that small space up. Then we built a second one. I'll be happy when I have lots more compost at the ready. Every time I hear about all the great things other people grow I want to give them a try! I have a bunch of stuff in containers too.

Best of luck. Oh, by the way, both my cats and the feral cats tramped through the empty boxes before I planted them, but surprisingly, no holes were dug, just pawprints. My kitty Bella will sniff the plants but doesn't bother them much. But, I do have some netting if I see signs that critters are getting to my plants. For me, it's been mostly aphids, and frost.