What did you use to build your raised beds with?

[gixxerific]

Yeah I have seen your garden before. That is a great idea but It wouldn't work for me I would loose too much valuable space. You have a bunch of land there I have a somewhat small patch.

Those beds look very nice, If only I had a few acres.

[Miss Sprout]

hi there recently I bought some gardening tanks. they are basically a water tank cut in half! although they sound ugly they actually dot look that bad! they come in lots of different colours and if you have no grass or dirt to put it on you can take out a few of your bricks and plop them in! they are wonderful and I would defiantly recommend them to everyone!

hope it helped

[pharmerphil]

Yeah I have seen your garden before. That is a great idea but It wouldn't work for me I would loose too much valuable space. You have a bunch of land there I have a somewhat small patch.

Those beds look very nice, If only I had a few acres.

Gix, that land in the distance is ag land, and the only reason I can't be certified organic...even though the neighbor respects my property and garden, and does not even come within 50 yards with any spray applications (Yep they are GREAT FOLKS)...There isn't enough distance or buffer to be certified Organic.
Actual garden area is a little over 7100 sq. ft.

We do have a great sized area, but these beds till under, and you don't find yourself 2-3 years down the road needing to rotate your crops in a permanent raised bed...and no options left to do so

the walkways are so wide and I do loose a few feet to them, but I can get the garden cart in to move out the produce

[gixxerific]

Yeah I have seen your garden before. That is a great idea but It wouldn't work for me I would loose too much valuable space. You have a bunch of land there I have a somewhat small patch.

Those beds look very nice, If only I had a few acres.

Gix, that land in the distance is ag land, and the only reason I can't be certified organic...even though the neighbor respects my property and garden, and does not even come within 50 yards with any spray applications (Yep they are GREAT FOLKS)...There isn't enough distance or buffer to be certified Organic.
Actual garden area is a little over 7100 sq. ft.

We do have a great sized area, but these beds till under, and you don't find yourself 2-3 years down the road needing to rotate your crops in a permanent raised bed...and no options left to do so

the walkways are so wide and I do loose a few feet to them, but I can get the garden cart in to move out the produce

mine is only about 200 square ft.

[tedln]

Dono,

I think I've told you before that I use a triple layer of landscape timbers to make my 4' X 8' beds. I wait for Home Depot to put them on sale at $1.97 each. Since each bed only requires nine timbers, each bed costs a little over $17.00. I always start my beds with the cheap topsoil from Home Depot. That is about twenty bags per bed at $1.14 per bag so the dirt costs about $23.00. I use about 10 of the long galvanized nails or spikes ( about 12" long) to hold the timbers together. They cost I think $1.20 each so add $12.00 dollars. I rake up or using my gas powered blower, I suck up and grind the leaves from a lot of oak trees plus clippings from our rye grass lawn. I add all of that material plus some hay our cattle discarded or dropped to the beds. I start the spring gardening season with a really nice bed that cost about $50.00 and can be used for many years. You can save the spike cost by using something else like less expensive nails. I harvested over $200.00 worth of squash from two beds this year at $1.69 per lb at the market. That more than paid for the beds. I also harvested a lot of tomatoes and peppers from the same beds. I think I saved money by building the beds.

Ted

[tedln]

hi there recently I bought some gardening tanks. they are basically a water tank cut in half! although they sound ugly they actually dot look that bad! they come in lots of different colours and if you have no grass or dirt to put it on you can take out a few of your bricks and plop them in! they are wonderful and I would defiantly recommend them to everyone!

hope it helped

Miss Sprout,

Any chance you can post a photo of that "gardening tank"? When you say "a water tank cut in half", are you talking about a water trough for farm animals? Where do you buy the gardening tanks?

Thanks

Ted

[gixxerific]

Thanks ted, are you talking about the timbers that are flat on top and rounded on the sides. I had problems with them rotting at my last house. I am going to go to lowe's later today I will look again at what they have to offer.

[tedln]

Dono,

Yes, flat on top and bottom, round on the sides. I've had them last as long as ten years. Since they use copper sulfate as the treatment to prevent rotting, they last well and the copper is non toxic. Just remember to pick straight ones. Don't buy them until you are ready to build. When Lowes/Home Depot receive them, they are still wet from pressure treatment. When they are pulled from the bundle, they start drying and will twist up like a pretzel as they dry. If they sit long unattached to anything, they become almost unusable.

Ted

[gixxerific]

Yeah I no about the pretzeling thing. I just went they are 3.97 right now. They looked pretty rough. They also had the 4x4's they were like 9$ or something for 8 footers. I believe I will go with those though, still time to think about it.

[stella1751]

Gix, just a word if you decide to use landscape timbers. I know you've got a rambunctious dog; I've got two of 'em. I build my raised beds higher than Tedlin's because when there's a squirrel on the horizon, my dogs forget all my rules about gardens

I've got a friend who builds her waist high because she has a bad back and can't bend over without discomfort . . .

[gixxerific]

Gix, just a word if you decide to use landscape timbers. I know you've got a rambunctious dog; I've got two of 'em. I build my raised beds higher than Tedlin's because when there's a squirrel on the horizon, my dogs forget all my rules about gardens

I've got a friend who builds her waist high because she has a bad back and can't bend over without discomfort . . .

I hear ya Stella, If I'm next door at the neighbors my dog will jump over the garden fence to get closer. I need to move my fence I have now it doesn't cover my new section. Also I am looking at some 3 ft high fencing with tight bars at the bottom to keep out rabbits and such. I If go raised I will probably u-bolt them to the side which will probably give me 4 ft or more of height. My dog can jump fences, well at least her mom and dad were famous for that, so don't tell her she can please. She doesn't know it yet.