Containers Vs. Raised Beds?

[Trev]

Hi, I don't know much about gardening but I have 2 little girls that want to grow a vegetable garden this year. I was wondering if its better to used raised garden beds that are open to the ground on the bottom or to use containers. I can get big 275 gallon plastic totes for free from work. Below is a picture of what they look like. They are about 3' x 4'. I figure I could cut them in half and make big planters out of them. Or I could buy some lumber and build some elevated beds. Which would be better?

Right now I'm leaning towards the containers because they would be free and less work. If I go with the elevated beds I would have to buy the material and then do all the work to build them.

[imafan26]

Those containers are used here to store gasoline. What was in them before? You would want to make sure it was nothing toxic that could have been absorbed by the plastic.

For myself, if I had a container like that and it was food safe, I would use them for rain barrels.

As for garden raised beds or containers, do both. I have a lot of plants in containers like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, herbs, ginger, and lemon grass. Some would take up too much garden space, others invasive so need to be contained (like mint) and others live for more than one season and it is easier in a garden bed if I don't have to work around long-live plants or give up space because of the room a large plant takes up. A raised bed in the ground doesn't even have to have sides or be a box. I have a bed that is retained by dry laid hollow tile, I have used wood, but it rots and there are termites here so wood in the ground would need to be treated. The soil can just be tilled, amended and bordered. I have used roof flashing for that and it works fine. All I really want to do is keep the weeds out. You could even build a raised bed by sheet mulching if your ground is hard. It still helps to double dig at least once, but the rest of the time you just keep adding to the top.

[rainbowgardener]

I agree. My church has one just like that, that we use as a rainbarrel. It is tied in to the downspout from the roof gutter. We built a very sturdy platform for it to sit on (water is heavy!), which gives a bit of gravity flow in the hose connected to it.

Imafan is right. Raised beds don't have to be a whole ton of work or money. Check free cycle for materials. It can be brick, concrete block, wood, or whatever else you can get. Or you can just slope the sides down and not have any enclosure. The only point of raising the bed is that it is easier to get to good rich soil by just filling a bed with it to start with, than by amending your garden dirt. Amending your garden dirt will get there eventually; raised beds are just quicker and give you very manageable little patches to work with, that are a bit separated from the weeds and grass.

[Trev]

I forgot to mention these are food grade containers. There's about 20 of them out back that I could have if I wanted. I've thought about setting one up for rainwater collection.

Making beds still sounds like it would be more work than slicing one of those in half and filling it with soil. So I'm still leaning in that direction. This is just a project I'm doing with my little girls. If we have fun with it and become hard core gardeners I may work on building some nice beds in the yard.

[rainbowgardener]

If you are going to go with cutting one in half, be sure you put plenty of drainage holes in.

[applestar]

Depending on how sturdy the plastic is, you may need to keep the cage to support the sides from buckling out. If the cage is cut, will that mean sharp dangerous edges? You may need to come up with a design.

When you fill a container like that, you need good quality growing mix that will have to come from elsewhere. It can't be any old dirt because it needs to be free draining. Also, nutrients are avidly used up and will need to be replenished somehow. You also have to monitor moisture levels and water.

Container soil is warmer/hotter than in ground. Advantage/disadvantage depends on your location and climate and what you want to grow.

If you have open bottom raised bed frame, then you can mix the bottom soil with the amendments. You can also loosen the soil down below grade so that there is even deeper rich soil. A "raised" bed doesn't have to be very high up.

Open to the ground raised beds allow roots to reach down into the ground for water and nutrients to some extent. It provides a bit of thermal regulation. It provides a certain amount of buffer and wiggle room to make mistakes, which can mean the difference if you are new to gardeneing. On the other hand, if you have contaminated soil -- chemical or pest and/or disease, then isolation from th ground can help to prevent contamination and infection.

Rain barrels definitely. I'd love to have access to some of those.
The cage with top and bottom panels removed just inside the top/bottom frames might make a good compost pile surround that you could fill in place and lift the cage off to harvest. The plastic cube cut open could be buried for small pond and bog garden liners. I would definitely cut one diagonally, but I think you could also cut them along organic non linear lines....

[valley]

Something that size would be a raised bed, I think. They would work, unless you're pinched for space raised beds might be simpler.

[imafan26]

Those containers hold 500 lbs or more of liquid so they are thick and sturdy. Cutting them would be a chore for me, but I don't have power tools. Most of the ones I have seen are about about a cubic yard. It would make a good sized kid's garden.

[gardeningwithe]

I don't think it would hurt to try, just have drainage holes and good soil. If you do try keep us updated!

[ReptileAddiction]

I wish I had some of those! If you do decide to go with raised beds you could do something like a 4x4 bed for each of your daughters and let them grow whatever they want. You could put a rim around the top so they have a place to sit and play in the garden. I know some little girls that would love this and personally I think that raised beds would be more enjoyable just because you would have a place to sit and they would look nicer. If in 6 months your daughters are over gardening you could easily get rid of them on craigslist or just plant them with ornamentals and be done with it.

I also highly recommend with whatever method you use, to put in an irrigation system. I recommend a drip system which is fairly simple and cheap. It will make gardening much more enjoyable for you and your daughters because watering is time consuming and not very fun.
Goodluck!

[Trev]

Well we decided to go for it. I brought 2 of the containers home and cut them open to make 4 garden beds. I used a sawz-all to cut them open and it went quick and easy. They sure don't look very pretty, but I imagine these “repurposed” growing containers are a thing of beauty to the green community. From what I’ve heard repurposing is better than recycling because it takes less energy to transform the material into something else.

We filled them with vegetable mix soil from Living Earth in Rockwall, TX. It took 3 yards of soil and there was enough left over to fill several flower pots we had sitting around the yard.

We have been planting them with a whole grocery list of vegetables the girls want to grow. So far we have tomatoes, carrots, peppers, squash, cilantro, strawberries, and watermelons. Watering hasn’t been much of a problem yet. When I get home from work the first thing the girls want to do is go out and water their plants. I sure hope the plants are happy with these two little munchkins taking care of them.

[rainbowgardener]

awwwww ..... beautiful gardens and beautiful little girls!

[dsyukon]

Those are some boss beds ! They will last forever compared to the wood beds that I have, even have cedar and they won't last as long as those will !
Wish my job had those kind of perks ! Wise choice.
By the way the Lil Princesses are just adorable !


HAPPY 2014 GARDENING !

[skinnylegs]

Those are awesome containers! They almost look like they were made for the task at hand! It cost me about $120 in redwood to construct a single 8 x 4 raised garden. Mind shipping about 10 of those to San Diego? LOL

[feldon30]

One thing -- in a raised bed, you can use a mixture of garden mix, soil, compost, etc. In containers, you need lighter materials like peat or coir, vermiculite, etc. which can be more expensive. The cost between building raised beds out of pressure treated wood or using your free containers may end up being a wash when you consider "fill" materials.

[JC's Garden]

I plant in ground, containers and raised beds. I till my in ground plot but wanted to do no till in my raised beds. I made my raised beds last spring. Before filling the raised beds I put down a layer of rock salt and covered it with 6 mil plastic. (I have trees in my yard.) I've been top dressing with compost. This May I noticed one bed was doing way better than the other. Got my shovel out and found out why. Tree roots. I found a 1 1/2" root running into the bed. Had to swing the axe and put down more salt around the bed but now it's producing. If you're ever considering a raised bed or no till, consider the trees.

[ElizabethB]

Your beds look great and your girls are beautiful. Question - did you provide drainage both on the bottom and on the sides?