Raised Garden Beds

[Alan W.]

We found some parts totes that had been removed from a factory. They had drain holes already in them. They were roughly 3’x3’ by 18 inches deep.
Paid $100 for 16 of them.

 

[Cstock]

Beds look great. For drainage, you can use HugelKulture where you put small logs and branches in bottom one foot of two foot deep bed. Then cover with garden soil/mix. Look it up as it has been really taking off in gardening whereas you keep carbon in the ground, reduce watering and will compost over time (in addition to compost used in your garden soil). I used galvanized and red cedar in our beds and the tractor not only brought wood fill and soil fill directly dumped into bed, it also allowed me to carry the beds that were built in the shop during winter to the outdoor site in the spring. The tractor also did the post hole digging to put up the deer fencing.

 

[EddieWalker]

Yours are a lot fancier then mine. I just put two treated 2x8's on thier sides and cut an 8 footer in half to make each bed 4x16. I have 24 beds so far and room for another 40 or so of them. I bought 4 dump truck loads to fill them up and used the bucket on my backhoe to pick up the dirt and spread it out in the beds. It's time consuming, but overall, pretty effective.

Before building the beds, we tried amending the soil a few times a year, and disking it with the tractor. We could get a a lot to start growing in the spring, but when summer hit, we couldn't put enough water on it to prevent the soil from becoming concrete. It was a losing battle with poor results. Having quality dirt in the raised bed has been a night and day improvement!!!!

 

[Diggin It]

Are y'all setting these beds directly on the ground, or elevating them on feet? If elevating, how are you protecting against them becoming havens for things like snakes?

 

[EddieWalker]

for me, keeping it simple is a big part of doing this. The boards are sitting on the ground, anchored in place with rebar and clamps.

snakes seem to like to lay right at the bottom edge of the boards. We killed a copperhead in there a couple months ago, and last year, killed three snakes. I'm sure they are hunting mice, which probably enjoy eating the veggies. This year we are laying red cedar mulch in the walkways. It's expensive, and time consuming, but where it's been done, there are no weed, you can walk there right after watering, and we're hoping that snakes will be more obvious.

 

[3Ts]

Eddie, the buckets next to the trees, is that a drip system you have? Does it have a tube all around the tree or just a hole in the bucket?

 

[Diggin It]

Won't the snakes hide in the mulch? Seems like that would be a nice cool place to lie in wait for prey.

 

[Diggin It]

Eddie, the buckets next to the trees, is that a drip system you have? Does it have a tube all around the tree or just a hole in the bucket?

Can't speak for him, but I've done that with just a hole in the bucket. 1/4" or so, seeps slowly enough to soak in around the roots.

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie, the buckets next to the trees, is that a drip system you have? Does it have a tube all around the tree or just a hole in the bucket?

Quarter inch hole in the buckets that we fill up with a hose, and it slowly drains out. We believe that we get more water to the trees that way.

 

[robertm]

Mine are directly on the ground. We don’t have snakes worth any concern in N. Illinois, except in the woods and by the rivers. I know thousands die a year from grass snake bites, but in 25 years at this location, I’ve only seen rubber snakes I put in my trees to fend off grackles.