New to Raised Bed Gardening

[EddieWalker]

Why filter it?

My thinking is that it will take all day for the solar pump to fill the tank and then once it's full, I will use a manifold with sprinkler valves and a timer to open each line and keep it open for the amount of time I want it open to get the amount of water I want in each bed.

 

[farmer2009]

Why filter it?

My thinking is that it will take all day for the solar pump to fill the tank and then once it's full, I will use a manifold with sprinkler valves and a timer to open each line and keep it open for the amount of time I want it open to get the amount of water I want in each bed.

Where is your water source? Ponds and streams have algae and sediments to deal with. Wells still deal with sediments. An emitter that puts out 0.9 gph is small and will plug easy. Besides unless you dry the tank every day you will get some algae growth. Algae is very nasty and will string together to form it's plugs.

 

[STx]

If you don't filter it, it will plug your emitters, even if you're using soaker hose or PVC with small holes in it. Pond water isn't clean.

If you're going to run pond water through irrigation vales, you're going to need scrubber valves to deal with the dirty water also. I think the best solution would be to filter it coming out of the pump and use low flow drip valve without the regulator for the drip zones. Keep them sized at 300' of drip line or less and you only need about 15 - 20 PSI. 300' of dripline requires less than 5GPM, that'll irrigate 300 sq/ft of bed. Even a small solar pump should be able to handle that. The .9GPH emitters will irrigate about 1" per hour so you'd be looking at about 1 hour per zone, probably only 2x per week tops or you're going to keep it too wet and run into issues there.

Even a small solar pump should be able to handle 15 PSI at 5GPM.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Good info.. how can I get my hands on your book? I am planning on doing narrow beds, how long do you consider long? Narrow to me is 4'.. I am not vertically challenged 6'4" with long arms. I am thinking of doing 16' or 20' long beds leaving them open on the ends to drive either my tractor or tiller through the bed if I choose to each year. I am saying all of this but since I have never done it I very well may change it all up a lot. This is just what I'm thinking.. I am actully about a half hour from finishing this coffee and going and putting the chain on my saw (came off last time I was running it) and getting started today.

Follow the link after my posts and you will see one to the book. I was given permission to advertise it on here in the Members' items for sale section, so am safe in telling you this. You can download a sample, but that sample has to be the beginning of the book which is all about me and where I have farmed - England, Australia, Scotland, Portugal. My suggestions of what you might do with your own land (such as those above) come later on. The index gives you the chapter headings so you can see what is in the whole book.

The idea of longer beds is really only suggested if you are using poultry to manure the plots. It is easier to drag the shelter and run two feet than to lift the whole thing over to the next bed. Just saves a bit of work that is all. Any length is fine, my own are between 25 and 30 feet long because the area was already fenced and narrows towards one end. I have 21 of them, plus a comfrey plot of about 140 plants on the end. Width is up to you and I found 4 feet was fine before I came to Portugal 13 years ago, and knowing I was getting older cut that back to three and a half. I am 5'10" due to having short legs - only 29" inside leg.

I would add that my experience of many years irrigating is that STx knows what he is talking about. I hope he does not find that patronising, it is not intended to be. I use drippers for my olive trees, but I prefer sprinklers for the garden beds. They give an overall coverage whereas the drippers apply water to one spot and it does not cover the whole bed. I use standard agricultural sprinklers at one end of the beds with a 9m arc and 6m spacing (fits my beds nicely) and restricted to 180 degrees so that they cover only the beds and paths. and not a full circle. In the flower and shrub gardens I set up 16mm (5/8th) poly pipe with push in mini sprinklers wherever required. I have runs of a few metres with no sprinkler in places between the gardens and do not want emitters in those runs, so the "place them yourself" idea is preferable to the one metre spacing of the drippers. This pipe and drippers are extremely cheap.

 

[JRobyn]

Paint just the ends of your ash logettes with some copper-based preservative like I mentioned earlier. Should significantly increase their rot resistance where in ground contact.

 

[2ndhalf]

Paint just the ends of your ash logettes with some copper-based preservative like I mentioned earlier. Should significantly increase their rot resistance where in ground contact.

Thanks for the info.. I will probably pass on that.. may just deal with the rot a little sooner. I don't know that I want anything that preserves anything around my veggies... even in close proximity for the rain to wash it into the soil.

 

[kryptzard]

Ok, I have considered all that I have read and you have posted. I have decided I'm doing this... see pic.. I have access to a lot of dead ash trees and will most likely use that. I'm still planning on leaving the ends open on my garden.

Like this s lot!! Not sure how they are so methodically placed and sized... What is holding them together?

 

[NorTracNY]

I can't find a picture, but when I made my raised beds, I used cedar pickets. They are not very strong, but they aren't rotting or poisoning my soil. They were very cheap from HD and have worked out well for the last 3 years.

 

[JRobyn]

I'm a bit concerned about the preservative too, but am hopeful (maybe foolishly?) that a lining of fabric-reinforced poly on the inside will prevent it from migrating into the soil in the bed. I'm thinking that I will make a "foundation" of a layer of roofing shingles too, both to keep out weeds around the base and minimize water and bugs getting into the bottoms of the siding wood.

 

[farmer2009]

If I was going to coat the insides with shingles. I think I'd just get a bucket of tar and roll it on. Although your worried about a copper based preservative getting to your food but you're willing to replace it with oil. Copper is naturally in the soil already, although at much lower rates.