Raised Herb Garden for Karen

[EddieWalker]

This is something Karen wanted and she did all the research onto what it required and the size she wanted it to be. She will be filling them with scraps from cooking, coffee grounds and things like that. Later on, once the garden gets going, she will be adding stuff from there too. The way I understand it, she will fill up one bin at a time, periodically turning it over with a pitch fork. How this works out, I have no clue, but she cried several times while building it, so I think it's what she wanted.

The wood is "Yellow Wood" that I bought at Home Depot. There are a few scrap pieces in there that you can see are more green colored, which are just regular treated wood.

The paint will be mostly for looks, she wants it to match the house. After a month or so, we will sand it, caulk it, prime it and then paint it. Until we built Oscar's house, Karen had never painted anything before in her life. This is her second project, EVER!!!! She has spent her whole life working, going to school and raising four kids by herself. She is the smartest person I've ever met, but she has missed out on doing a lot of the things that everyone else seems to have done all their lives.

Eddie

 

[2LaneCruzer]

This is something Karen wanted and she did all the research onto what it required and the size she wanted it to be. She will be filling them with scraps from cooking, coffee grounds and things like that. Later on, once the garden gets going, she will be adding stuff from there too. The way I understand it, she will fill up one bin at a time, periodically turning it over with a pitch fork.

How this works out, I have no clue, but she cried several times while building it, so I think it's what she wanted.

The wood is "Yellow Wood" that I bought at Home Depot. There are a few scrap pieces in there that you can see are more green colored, which are just regular treated wood.

The paint will be mostly for looks, she wants it to match the house. After a month or so, we will sand it, caulk it, prime it and then paint it. Until we built Oscar's house, Karen had never painted anything before in her life. This is her second project, EVER!!!! She has spent her whole life working, going to school and raising four kids by herself. She is the smartest person I've ever met, but she has missed out on doing a lot of the things that everyone else seems to have done all their lives.

Eddie

Neat. She sounds like a great lady. Is she a Texas gal? My companion of 50 years I abducted from a Nazarene preacher in Gilmer.

 

[EddieWalker]

Her dad was a retired navy captain. She was born in CA, grew up all over the place, settled in Ohio and then came to TX for work a dozen years ago. She is three classes away from her Phd in nursing and has her masters in nursing and business. Once she gets her PhD, she will be the highest educated person in the entire hospital where she works as a nurse manager over 120 nurses. She is very impressive!!!

Eddie

 

[MossRoad]

This is something Karen wanted and she did all the research onto what it required and the size she wanted it to be. She will be filling them with scraps from cooking, coffee grounds and things like that. Later on, once the garden gets going, she will be adding stuff from there too. The way I understand it, she will fill up one bin at a time, periodically turning it over with a pitch fork. How this works out, I have no clue, but she cried several times while building it, so I think it's what she wanted.

The wood is "Yellow Wood" that I bought at Home Depot. There are a few scrap pieces in there that you can see are more green colored, which are just regular treated wood.

The paint will be mostly for looks, she wants it to match the house. After a month or so, we will sand it, caulk it, prime it and then paint it. Until we built Oscar's house, Karen had never painted anything before in her life. This is her second project, EVER!!!! She has spent her whole life working, going to school and raising four kids by herself. She is the smartest person I've ever met, but she has missed out on doing a lot of the things that everyone else seems to have done all their lives.

Eddie

Composting can work well... I use a three bin system. I fill the first with green and dead material and some soil. Layering it as I go. Once I fill the 1st bin to the top, I turn it into the 2nd bin with a pitchfork and start filling the 1st bin again. About every two weeks I turn the 2nd bin into the third, then back into the 2nd, after three-four turns I leave it in the 3rd as it is done and ready to use in the garden. I only get 1-2 bins done every year. Its amazing how much it rots down in the 1st bin over the summer. I also add to it over the winter and make my first turns in the spring. Anyway, its free fertilizer and a great soil enhancement. Now you need some fancy schmancy porcelain bucket or pot with lid to keep in your kitchen to haul scraps out the composter after dinner each night! :laughing:

 

[forgeblast]

We compost, just two bins, also have a box of worms in the basement to eat paper/coffee grounds. Honestly the biggest eater of our food scraps are our chickens. They recycle just about everything into eggs for us

 

[Western]

Eddie looks great man!! Looks like she hired a good carpenter and you hire a good engineer/architect:thumbsup:

Just an idea, I bet you could make a detachable holder that would connect over the edge of the planter box portion, She could keep tools/cut herbs and whatnot in it and it could be moved down the frame as she works her garden, then taken off and moved to the other side. Like a portable "work station".

 

[i579rbd]

Hi Eddie,
How deep will the soil be in your raised garden bed? Also what will you line the inside of the garden bed with to hold the dirt and keep the wood from rotting? Will you have holes in the bottom of the liner to keep to much water from accumulating?
Thanks I appreciate your time to answer.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Composting can work well... I use a three bin system. I fill the first with green and dead material and some soil. Layering it as I go. Once I fill the 1st bin to the top, I turn it into the 2nd bin with a pitchfork and start filling the 1st bin again. About every two weeks I turn the 2nd bin into the third, then back into the 2nd, after three-four turns I leave it in the 3rd as it is done and ready to use in the garden. I only get 1-2 bins done every year. Its amazing how much it rots down in the 1st bin over the summer. I also add to it over the winter and make my first turns in the spring. Anyway, its free fertilizer and a great soil enhancement.

Now you need some fancy schmancy porcelain bucket or pot with lid to keep in your kitchen to haul scraps out the composter after dinner each night!

:laughing:

We have a good supply of those; they are former 1 gallon plastic ice cream containers with lids...And they work really well! We put nothing down our garbage disposal, out of habit from when we were on septic. The meat scraps go into a plastic bag and into the freezer and then into the trash. Meat scraps (I don't turn my compost very often) attracts varmints, stray dogs and cats, so they don't go into the compost. Grease goes into the trash also.

Would be nice to have a chipper shredder, one that could handle bones.

P.S. Things we don't put into the compost: Grease, meat, pet droppings, grass roots. We don't put paper in either, but it's recycled. Without a chipper, woody stems take a while to decompose.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, never put meat in a compost pile. beef, chicken, etc.... Or cat or dog poop (or human, yuk). chicken droppings are OK but can be too hot. Cow manure is too hot. Composted cow manure is OK. Horse manure is great stuff. goat poop. And roots are the worst. They won't die from the heat and will just pop up again.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hi Eddie,
How deep will the soil be in your raised garden bed? Also what will you line the inside of the garden bed with to hold the dirt and keep the wood from rotting? Will you have holes in the bottom of the liner to keep to much water from accumulating?
Thanks I appreciate your time to answer.

The dirt will come up to the bottom of the lip, so, about 3ft. But Karen said she is going to put a layer of gravel in there, and better potting soil will be on top of the gravel. How much gravel and where it will go, height wise, I'm not sure.

I haven't committed to what I will use for the inside just yet. I'm thinking of something like what's used to waterproof a basement. It's thick and waterproof. I figure it will fail, but that it will give me a good level of protection above what the wood is treated for if left unprotected.

I'm open to suggestions on what to use!!!

Eddie