raised bed saga

[rainbowgardener]

The development of my raised beds from 3-3 to 4-24. You can click on it to enlarge and then click again to enlarge again.

[AnnaIkona]

wow! Nicely built! Did you build them yourslef or have them installed by workers?
Also what wood is that made of? It looks really dark and neat! Exactly what I want my raised beds to looks like.

[rainbowgardener]

Built them myself. They are ordinary pine landscape timbers:



They cost me $3.37 for one 8' length. The beds are three high, so nine 8' pieces, three of them cut in half for the short sides. So each 8x4 bed cost me $30. That's about as cheap as you can get. The 4x4 in the middle is actually plastic fake lumber. I would never buy plastic, but a friend gave it to me for free, so .... .

I stacked the boards, then drilled holes all the way down through the stack (electric drill). Then I pounded 3' steel rebar all the way down through the holes and into the ground, with a sledge hammer. Very solid, those beds are not going anywhere! (I will say that now that I am pushing 70, I have to take more rests working with the sledge hammer than I used to!)

Then I sanded it, stained it dark, with polyurethane and stain (all in one), two coats inside and out. That helps protect the wood so it lasts longer, seals it in case anyone was worried about the pressure treatment stuff leaching out, and makes it look prettier. Those cheap landscape timbers are very rough. Sand and stain and polyurethane and you can make anything look like fine furniture!

So kind of labor intensive, but they only have to be built once. That's why I was still working on all this well into spring.

I built similar ones at my last house, but with better wood -- 4"x 4" pine fence posts stacked four high, held together the same with steel rebar, and then given the sand and polyurethane/stain treatment. They were beautiful and twelve years later when we sold the house, those beds are still going strong, very solid. This is what they looked like maybe six or seven years or so after they were built



The first raised beds I built at the house before that, I did out of 2"x12" boards. Used lots of angle braces, corner braces, wood braces on the outside and still in 3-4 years, they were all falling apart. I really recommend dimensional lumber instead of flat boards.

[imafan26]

You garden looks really good. You put a lot of work into it.

[applestar]

That really was a lot of work my friend, but totally worth it -- it really transformed the space. (and I love that you put the same Welcome plaque against the center bed )

Now to sit back and watch them grow.

[Lonesomedave]

man....beautiful....I wish I had a couple of those

I have one raised bed 4 x 4 (maybe 5 x 5), and I have about 250 strawberries in the ground, but the rest of mine is not so much raised beds as it is really big containers

but your work is just outstanding....what is the total square footage of raised beds in your yard...sorry if you've already answer and I missed it

I am sure they will serve you well in years to come

/dave/

[rainbowgardener]

Thanks for all the kind words!

I found one more picture that should have been in the series. This was Feb 1. Shows the wood before it was stained:



Re sq feet: Pictured is four 8x4's and a 4x4 = 144.

But then there is this:

circle garden quadrant.jpg (44.22 KiB) Viewed 11451 times

That is built but not filled yet. It is one quarter of a circle, 9 foot radius (of the raised bed part). When filled, it will be another 64 sq feet. But then eventually I will build the other three quarters of the circle, with paths through the middle and around the outside. Then it will be 254 square feet, plus the 144 above = just almost 400. My goal is to get one more quarter built this season and possibly the third one by planting time next year. It is work and $$.

Then there's this:



right now it is a 4x4 potato patch, but soon it will be a 10 or 12 by 4 foot patch. So all told when I finish building I will have about 450 square feet of raised bed gardens. Plus I am planting native flowers and shrubs all along the side fence lines in the back yard and I have a ton of containers on the deck with flowers and herbs.

[rainbowgardener]

RE: (and I love that you put the same Welcome plaque against the center bed )

I still have the bunny too. Currently he is on the front porch greeting visitors, but maybe he should be re-united with the plaque.