User avatar
Greywolf
Senior Member
Posts: 180
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2010 12:30 am
Location: Western Tennessee

Simple Raised Bed - using scrap materials

I have a lot of cut pieces of tree trunks laying around, and during spring clean-up I also ran across some 1 x 6 planks.
Result?

Check it out:
(it's in process)

Image
Image
Image

AnnaIkona
Greener Thumb
Posts: 801
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:20 pm
Location: Canada zone 8b

Wow! That looks really beautiful and definitely an outstanding idea! :)

j3707
Green Thumb
Posts: 306
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:11 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest, Zone 8, 48" annual rainfall, dry summers.

I like it!

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

That's a nice look. I also like that these corners would provide handy places to put things down, sit, or work surface, as well places to display container plants. :D

HoneyBerry
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1216
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:10 pm
Location: Zone 8A Western Washington State

Thank you Greywolf. Great idea. And nicely presented. I like the Levis analogy.

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Very nice, has the elegance of simplicity.

I don't know if that is just where you were working on putting it together, but it is not a good idea to have a raised bed right up against your house. Not good for the plants, because the house shades it and not good for the house, because it keeps moisture against the foundation all the time.

AnnaIkona
Greener Thumb
Posts: 801
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:20 pm
Location: Canada zone 8b

Yes Rainbowgardener is right. You may wanna consider making the bed triangular by placing wood across, rather than adding two more sides to make it a rectangle.
It would still look amazing :)

User avatar
GardenThrive
Full Member
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 9:38 pm
Location: Central Alabama

Looks good! Built in garden seating. I know I always enjoy recycling old materials into something useful anytime I can too. I agree with the moisture up against the foundation can be bad but if you move the raised bed away from the house slightly and it's on the south side of the house it shouldn't be shaded and will get plenty of sunlight. You'll have to update us with some more pics once you get it planted.

User avatar
Greywolf
Senior Member
Posts: 180
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2010 12:30 am
Location: Western Tennessee

Okay - here comes the video and the final outcome of it:



I DO hear you about your concerns, and wonder about a few things myself - but DANG!!!

Ain't no lack of materials, and it beats letting them just go to rot!


I saw also that from farther away it followed the contour of the ground. I like the "Shibui" aspect of it though. It follows the natural contour of the ground easily because of short sections being set in. It is also very changeable
- you can pick up the parts of it and move them if you want to...

So what it IS, it's a raised bed made of left over materiel that can also be altered or moved around.

Like the "FUTURE" it is "not set" - it can become whatever is necessary over time, flexible. Adaptable...

~ and I like that too

*On a final note - I considered cutting down the height of the tree sections. (Making them level with the tops of the boards)
I have no idea what the end height or "Tallness" of that raised bed will be - but when I thought it over I realized that it may change
over time. It is good that it is so 'Malleable' or flexible. I can always use a longer log section next time, and in between the soil
will pack down and conform to the shape it was put in.

~So it's all good! It will become what it will.


Wolfie out


* If you were wondering about what that chainsaw was - it is a "SUNJOE" "SAWJOE" 18" electric saw, and
it is about the best saw I have ever had. I am not telling you this because I am getting anything paid to me
to say it, it's just a damned good saw. It has an OREGON bar and chain, and I cut an OAK tree down with it

User avatar
Greywolf
Senior Member
Posts: 180
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2010 12:30 am
Location: Western Tennessee

The principle reason why I built that bed came from the last five years of trying to grow lettuce and greens.
I have struggled with bolting plants again and again - and what I think the mistake is:

Lettuce needs to have the growing conditions that FERNS do.

Shelter, water (moistness), average temperature (shade), and DO NOT FERTILISE!!!


So I have created a place just for them in the back of the house (it's the north side) where I wanted to see what they did out there
in the very hot summers of Memphis Tennessee.

A "Created Environment" just for them - that's the entire reason for all of that.


As you look at the video and other pictures - you see small green stuffs.

~ Those are what I am interested in back there. Plants that by their habit must grow in shade

The Memphis TM region is miserable in the hot summer

AnnaIkona
Greener Thumb
Posts: 801
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:20 pm
Location: Canada zone 8b

Thank you for the video! :) I really enjoyed it, and once again, AMAZING IDEA!!

Mr green
Green Thumb
Posts: 372
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:08 pm
Location: Sweden

Thanks for the idea, its awesome and pretty looking!



Return to “Raised Bed Gardening”