Raised beds - you guys inspired me...

[STx]

I went and got 136 concrete blocks and put my wife to work this weekend. Actually, I tried to help her but other than bringing the dirt, she'd have none of it. She put together the 2 raised beds and the paver walkway between them Saturday and spread the dirt out Sunday. We're moving down here full time in April so planting won't happen until then. All my irrigation supplies are already packed up and in a container in Houston awaiting the move.

 

[flusher]

Nice looking project.
I've tried "square foot gardening" in the past, i.e. raised bed gardening on a small scale. Grew lotsa veggies. Had lotsa fun.

Good luck

 

[STx]

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. We just dry stacked the blocks this year to see how we like the size and location. If it works out, we'll probably fill the holes with dirt and grow herbs or flowers along the edges. I anticipate another 5 or 6 of these once we're sure we don't want to make any changes to the original design.

 

[kw22614]

We were thinking of trying this too - maybe easier to keep the squirrels out, they give us fits. Was told not to use block though, because some are made with potash, I think, it's supposed to poison the soil - so not great for the plants. Let us know how it goes, good planting in April.

 

[STx]

We were thinking of trying this too - maybe easier to keep the squirrels out, they give us fits. Was told not to use block though, because some are made with potash, I think, it's supposed to poison the soil - so not great for the plants. Let us know how it goes, good planting in April.

I did some research on that and what I came up with was that if they are actually cinder blocks then it's a problem but concrete block, which is pretty much all you can get these days, don't have that issue. I figure PT lumber has issues as well and we'll all die of something eventually so it seems an acceptable risk. I'll let you know if we grow a 3rd eye or anything though.

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks good. Did you put anything inside the blocks to lock them together?

 

[kw22614]

LOL :rotfl: I agree 3 eyes - bad. Thanks for clearing up the mystery.

 

[STx]

Looks good. Did you put anything inside the blocks to lock them together?

Not this year, they're a "temporary prototype" right now. We'll install them more permanently later if we decide not to change anything.

 

[ustmd]

Looks great.

I use cedar for my raised beds. A little pricey at start up but not too bad.

 

[dbotos]

His and hers. Where are the night stands? Looks good.