My raised garden beds.

[Alleyyooper]

I stopped growing a big garden when the kids went off to college and we changed the locks on the doors. I grew a few things I like and a couple that Kare likes in containers. But in 2013 the container stuff didn't do so well for some reason so I decided to try some raised beds, cheap enough to build with 2"x8" 8'x4' and only one to try.  Man did it ever work well. I had 6 tomato plants 2 pepper plants and 2 egg plants and 2 summer yellow crook neck squash in there.



They really grew good with lots of produce, I gave away a lot of tomatoes  but I ate the peppers squash and egg plants my self.

Was a easy thing to cover the plants when they were forecasting a frost although I did it different after I got the picture.



Tomatoes plants got to over 6 foot tall. I have never ever had them get that tall and I only use 95% dirt from the woods and 5% dirt I had dumped out of my old containers
.

Egg plant.



A pepper.



One of the hundreds of pounds of tomatoes.



More tomatoes.



One of the squash.



   Al

[Alleyyooper]

That raised bed worked so well I decided I was going to do two more this year, us recycled 2"x6" lumber stacked up to make a bed 8'x4'x11" deep.

got the first one finished and laid down a inch of old news papers to keep the weeds from growing up thru.



Then filled it with dirt from the woods 100%. I broke up the clods with a garden 3 tine hand tiller in the trailer before I shoveled it in the beds. I was able to get a lot of the roots and such out that way.








Finished it and started assembling the second one and the MONSOON set in 8 days out of 10 it has rained. I got the second one assembled but no dirt yet.
Got me to thinking, OH NO !!!!!!!

Someone told me or I read some place that after melting the wax out of the comb that remaining stuff in the frame was good for the garden. Now I have found no information on that.

So I ask am I loosing my crazy mind or did I really hear or read that information?

   Al

[tbonekel]

Nice beds! Did you change the locks so your kids couldn't get back in? 

[Perry]

You just can't go wrong with raised beds. Less weed invasion, less bending, more heat in the soil.
I built these using rough 2 X 10 hemlock, and they are basically 2 X 8 by 4' wide with a couple of 4' X 4' thrown in for an interesting layout. Our harvest have never been better.

[Les]

We are heading to raised beds also.  Put in strawberries this year for the first time (tired of eating those flavorless ones from the store), so we did a raised bed for them.  Next year we will do another one and on and on until we have all we need.  My neighbor has a very, very bad back and she has put in raised beds that are waist high.  They sit on 4 x 4 posts.  I took care of her garden for two weeks and have to admit, it was so easy not having to bend over.  Still skeptical though.  I have given her lots of vermipods  from my worm bins to put in her beds to help enrich the soil.  I wonder if the earthworms will survive the winter being elevated?

[lazy shooter]

@perry:

You are a neat freak.  That's a good thing.  Your beds are so well built.  Yes, I did notice the level.  Your wife is cute too, and that's a good thing.  It doesn't cost anymore to keep a cute one. 

[Les]

Perry's not a neat freak, if he was he would spray Roundup to kill the weeds outside his raised beds.    Sorry, I just couldn't resist.  Nice job to everyone on the raised beds.....they are a smart alternative to bad and aging backs.

[lazy shooter]

We don't have deep penetrating freezing in my area, so raised beds do not let bulbs and roots freeze.  The benefits of the raised beds are better drainage, warmer soil, easing of my back and the lack of encroaching grasses.

[Perry]

Hey Shooter, yea, she's a keeper (not bees) alright. I shoulda removed that level.

Les, that is all now nice green grass in between the beds. I was going to do landscape cloth and pebble stone but figured I'd save a some money (and work) by going with grass.

[iddee]

Al, yes, I have read several times to add the slumgum from old comb to compost piles. It is supposed to be quite an enrichment.

[kingd]

This is the first year of trying the raised garden thing,So far I like it and am thinking of making more for next year.

[Alleyyooper]

Thanks iddee  I thought I had read that some place or heard some one at a club meeting mention it.

I can not say that it does much to save my back as the beds are only 7.5 and 11 inches tall. When I did the row thing in the old garden I used a counter rotating tine tiller and would run it thu the garden about every 3 days and go between the plants with a home made rake cultivator.

I keep my raised beds (now that I have more than one) far enough apart I can run a 22 inch self propelled mower between them.


Yes the locks were changed so the KID'S couldn't come and go as they pleased any longer. After all they never gave a key to their homes so we could just come and go.


   Al
 

[Alleyyooper]

Having deer troubles first time in 29 years and I used to have a open garden near a vacant over grown field with sweet corn even.
Told Kare they made me mad so come fall I will because I can buy 5 doe tags a day for 5 days and fill them all.  Deer want to eat my veggies I will just eat them instead. Kare isn't happy about that said to put up a electric fence, then turns around and wants me to get a cheap one that won't even make a  dog howl when it pees on it.


   Al

[tbonekel]

I think raised beds are great and I was thinking about making some but what happens 2, 3, or 4 years into it.  No one can tell me that weeds don't start to grow and soil gets compacted. What do you do then?

[Les]

tbone, I don't think the beds will become compacted because you are not walking on them.  If you introduce some nice compost every year, that should keep the soil nice and fluffy.  You are going to get weeds no matter what because some are airborne but the ones that creep out along the ground with runners will not get into the beds.  As an extra edge for me, I placed weed block on the bottom of my raised beds and hardware clothe to keep out the doggone moles before I filled with a combination of garden soil and compost.  We used 12 x 8 x 2 pine boards.

[Alleyyooper]

Because your not walking on the soil it only gets packed from rain fall and snow in the winter. I light dragging of a finger type cultivator thru it loosens it up enough. An if that doesn't satisfy you can always use a garden fork to dig it up. as soon as the snow melts off in the spring cover the whole thing 8'x4' with sheets of black plastic. Heats the soil and any weed seeds will germinate and die because of no sun light. by last frost date the soil is nice and warm for plants and seeds.

   Al

[Perry]

Because your not walking on the soil it only gets packed from rain fall and snow in the winter. I light dragging of a finger type cultivator thru it loosens it up enough. An if that doesn't satisfy you can always use a garden fork to dig it up. as soon as the snow melts off in the spring covert the whole thing 8'x4' with sheets of black plastic. Heats the soil and any weed seeds will germinate and die because of no sun light. by last frost date the soil is nice and warm for plants and seeds.

   Al

Good tip there, something I will have to consider.

[Les]

Alley, agree with Perry.....good tip.  Since our first raised bed is strawberries, just the light finger cultivation is a good idea.  The rest of the garden.......the weeds are winning with all the rain we are getting. I generally like to pull weeds after it rains because they come out easier but unless I want to sit in the rain and pull weeds, they will have to stay put for now.  Heck, it gives my back a respite LOL!

[Alleyyooper]

I think next year I am going to make some depressions in the bed lay down the plastic and just cut a slit in it to put tomato sets in to keep weed out and keep the beds heated maybe put some sort of cover on the black [plastic if and when it gets to hot.

   Al

[Les]

Alley, I don't like the idea of black plastic for several reasons.  One of which is the watering issue.  The black plastic will repel the water.  The other is that the soil does not get a chance to breathe.  Soil is made up of millions of microbes and fungi, they need the sun and air.  Also, plastic eventually gets brittle and wears out and it is not biodegradable.  Raised beds are always much warmer than in the ground gardens so your really don't need the plastic to warm up the beds.  Just my thoughts