Late Fall>Early Winter Project: 'Raised Bed'

[TBDonnelly]

Very nice job. My only question is the wood. It looks like treated wood, is it?

If it is you might want to line the box. Treated wood isn't anything you want near herbs.

Good thought. Yep...it's treated wood. I thought about lining it with plastic but I think that would hold to much moisture against the wood. Maybe styrofoam sheeting would work. Since we're going to use the planter box as a cold frame in the early spring, styrofoam should be a good insulator.

Don

 

[TBDonnelly]

If you take a run at the gate you'll never have to worry about that little problem again.

Ya...stuff they make movies out of.

I should probably consult with Txdon. He seems to have the gate issue mastered.

Don

 

[jimmy1]

Very good idea! I have a Home Depot type green house beside my raised beds but your new bed looks much more manageable ( no transplanting etc.).

Perhaps if you line the box with styrofoam or something like that the soil may warm up sooned as well? Then you could also add wheels the you could tow it through the gate length ways?

Nice job.

Jim

 

[TBDonnelly]

Then you could also add wheels the you could tow it through the gate length ways?
Jim

It's been suggested I attach some wood wheels (see attachment) on the sides, a wood seat on one end and cover the hoops with a white canvas.

Don

 

[TBDonnelly]

I'm thinking of ways to warm up the soil, in the raised bed planter, in the early spring, to give the seeds/plants a head start. I have a 15 gallon (tank type)electric water heater on hand. Would it be feasable to set-up a closed loop system that circulated warm water thru pipes installed under the dirt. What kind of pump would be required to circulate the water -or- any way to plumb it so it would naturally circulate on it's own? ......and would a 15 gallon electric water heater be able to hold, say a 60 degree temperature, while constantly circulating the water through say...45 feet of pipe?

Thanks in advance!

Don

 

[Rob-D]

Several factors have to be met.
First I'm not sure you need a pump, the natural hot water would rise and circulate the system. The hot water line (from under ground) would enter at the top of the tank and the cold water return would be at the bottom. I think this would create your natural circulation condition.

What you will have to do is run the pipes deep enough to sit where the ground is 55 degrees F all year long. The other thing is to have the diameter of the pipes large enough to keep the tank at the 55 degree temperature.

Actually I've been thinking about making a system of this type in my cold climate to help heat our house in winter and cool in the summer much like a heat pump does.

 

[Rob-D]

One more thing. We did some experiments on using compost to maintain a small frame in the winter and it worked. Do some searching and you might find the articles on this. We did it a number of years ago and had things growing in the fame all winter. Even after brushing the snow off the box and opening it we found lush green vegitation.

 

[TBDonnelly]

What you will have to do is run the pipes deep enough to sit where the ground is 55 degrees F all year long. The other thing is to have the diameter of the pipes large enough to keep the tank at the 55 degree temperature.

Actually I've been thinking about making a system of this type in my cold climate to help heat our house in winter and cool in the summer much like a heat pump does.

Interesting. As the planter box sits now, I'm only about 6 feet away from my garage wall. I could locate the water heater inside the garage......and run the pipes through the wall to the planter box. I could locate the water heater on the floor of the garage -or- raise it off the floor...whichever would promote better circulation. If I went underground with the pipes....I wonder how many feet of pipe would need to be underground? Of course the most convenient route would be direct from the garage wall to the box. I'm not thinking all winter (not yet anyway) ...probably 4 to 6 weeks in early spring.

My hopes are to have veggies 4 to 6 weeks earlier in the season and to extend the season 4 to 6 weeks on the tail end.

I already have a good size compost pile actively cooking. To nestle a cold frame down into the pile sounds like a good idea. I've turned the compost pile in January of years past and it still was cooking in the middle.

Don

 

[jimmy1]

It's been suggested I attach some wood wheels (see attachment) on the sides, a wood seat on one end and cover the hoops with a white canvas.

Don[/QUOTE


Yeah, then you have to buy a team and harness.....

I don't know any of the logistics to heating with that hot water heater but I'm sure it can work. I know someone that uses a hot water heater in his garage and ran some lines under the concrete floor when he built it and runs hot water from the heater through them for infloor heat. Works really well and I think he even has a thermostat on it somehow.

 

[jinman]

My hopes are to have veggies 4 to 6 weeks earlier in the season and to extend the season 4 to 6 weeks on the tail end.

That sounds like a great plan to me, Don. I have an old shack on our property that needs to be torn down. It has several aluminum windows in it and four plate glass windows from a storefront somewhere. The former owners were "hunter-gatherer" style builders. I remember back in the '50s, my uncle having a hotbed for early planting, and he used an old casement window over it. I bet I could cobble together a fairly nice little greenhouse from the materials in this old shack. It even has 1x12 planks on the outside like barnwood. Now you got me thinkin'....