Garden fence build

[gsganzer]

Oh man Mr. Eddie!

Am I ever thankful my wife does not access the tractor forum! "...I want garden beds just like Mr. Eddie Walker...!"

I know!! Eddie is the over-achieving friend that we never want our spouses to learn about.

I've already spread all sorts of lies about Eddie to my wife. I suggest y'all do the same!

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you, but it's a work in progress and I'm always hesitant to post pictures because I see everything that's not done or needs to be fixed. Our ultimate goal is to build 24 more raised beds from cinder blocks, replace the existing wooden raised beds with cinder blocks, and get the watering system automated. But before I can do that, I have to finish off a few other projects that never seem to end.

 

[BackRoad]

That'll be close to a full-time job just to keep the garden under control...

 

[dlctcg]

My beds are 4 feet wide and 16 feet long. This is a picture that I found online that shows what she wants me to do. Except I'm going to put the T Posts in straight and tie the panel to the T Post

View attachment 3162506

So instead of T-posts I've made a few using fairly inexpensive EMT conduit & fittings. I have made them to be used with both the sting trellis & with wire grates. They work out nice & you can adjust the angle of the trellis base on what you are growing... at the end of the season you can leave them or lay them flat. (can get you more details if wanted). The EMT & fittings are galvanized & hold up well in weather.

Here is a small one I did...




Oh, the best thing we have done is design & implement an automated water drip system...

 

[EddieWalker]

That's similar to what I'm supposed to create for her in her garden. I already have a bunch of T posts, so that makes it easy. I just need to hook up the trailer and take the time to drive to the store to buy the cattle panels.

 

[drumminj]

I went and got our cattle panels a few days ago. Felt pretty silly hauling two cattle panels on a 1500lb trailer but not sure how else to do it <shrug>.

 

[drumminj]

So instead of T-posts I've made a few using fairly inexpensive EMT conduit & fittings. I have made them to be used with both the sting trellis & with wire grates. They work out nice & you can adjust the angle of the trellis base on what you are growing... at the end of the season you can leave them or lay them flat. (can get you more details if wanted). The EMT & fittings are galvanized & hold up well in weather.

Here is a small one I did...

View attachment 3168957


Oh, the best thing we have done is design & implement an automated water drip system...

Where'd ya get the bracing for that planter? Seems cool if it supports interior and exterior corners like that.

 

[gsganzer]

Eddie,
I'm interested in the equipment you use to prep and maintain your beds. Especially for a garden that size. Do you use a small gas powered tiller/cultivator? What do you do for watering?

 

[EddieWalker]

We used to rent a tiller, but then Karen took the Master Gardener course and learned about no till gardening. She adds different amendments to the garden beds every other year.

For now, we're using two T-Post waterers. We started with the ones from Atwoods, but now they are all Orbit's from Amazon.

 

[dlctcg]

Where'd ya get the bracing for that planter? Seems cool if it supports interior and exterior corners like that.

Yes, they are nice & have held up for 8+ yrs... Those were from Garners, but they were way cheaper when we purchased them (kind of pricey now)... Not sure I would pay the current price for them.

 

[drumminj]

Some progress - finally got all the beds into the garden and got our cattle panel trellises up.

Looks like the 'natural' arc of a 16' cattle panel requires the ends to be 6' apart. We're at 5' so they bow over the beds a bit, but it'll work. Used 2' rebar (12" into the ground) to hold them in place against the beds.

Now we just need to move a bunch of dirt...

 

[EddieWalker]

Are you buying dirt? My soil is red clay mixed with iron ore in areas. It's great for pine trees, but not so much for gardening. So far I've had 3 dump trucks and one dump trailer deliver full loads of garden dirt. Then the wife adds stuff to the dirt like pete moss, top soil and whatever else she decides that it has to have. That's kind of never ending. Probably the most labor intensive part of the garden is getting the dirt into the raised beds.

 

[drumminj]

Luckily we don't have to buy all the dirt.

We do have some leftover from a local nursery we're mixing in, but for the most part we're using the broken down mulch from when our land was forestry mulched. It's been in a huge pile the past three years slowly doing it's thing, and much of it is in good shape to use in the garden (after some filtering of rocks and larger chunks of wood that need more time).

Agree with you that moving the dirt is the most labor intensive part. We did just the four square beds yesterday, about 2/3 full. Need to figure out how to get the tractor involved to be more effective...

 

[workinonit]

You have to make provisions for the tractor when you build the fence.

 

[drumminj]

You have to make provisions for the tractor when you build the fence.

Yeah, I'm not that smart . (actually, I just don't want a gate that big on the garden).

I did go out with the tractor today and loosen up all the soil with the grapple. Everything's nice and fluffly now and easy to shovel, so shoveling is faster.

 

[ning]

Yeah, I'm not that smart . (actually, I just don't want a gate that big on the garden).

I did go out with the tractor today and loosen up all the soil with the grapple. Everything's nice and fluffly now and easy to shovel, so shoveling is faster.

It's actually all a plan to get a mini track loader or SCUT!

 

[workinonit]

Well mine is slightly larger than yours. I think I put up 6 rolls of 8' wire wrap fence, 330 ft per roll. There was maybe 50 feet of scrap left.

 

[bigtiller]

Can you rent an electric wheel barrow? This one is 29" wide.

 

[drumminj]

Can you rent an electric wheel barrow? This one is 29" wide.

I didn't know such a thing existed. That's really cool!

We're just using a gorilla cart which works fine. It's not the moving of the cart that's so much work, it's the shoveling from the dirt pile into the cart (screening as we go to get rid of rocks and large sticks), then shoveling back into the beds.

The gorilla carts do have a dump feature, but the height doesn't work out with 12" tall beds. I'll be looking at that some more today though.

 

[EddieWalker]

Just remember that after you get the beds full of dirt this year, they will need more dirt next year after this year's dirt settles. But that's when we ad compost and other things that require more money and trips to Lowes