I have an idea for limited space gardeners. My "Micro Raised Beds" measure 8"x8"x5", and are made from free butter / cooking oil jugs used by restaurants [ same material as milk jugs ]. I cut them in half and get two beds from each. I filled them with a premium soil mix and didn't fill them all the way up with soil so that when I water the water will stay isolated to the plant. I also put in some newspaper as mulch to keep weeds from sprouting and retain moisture. The bottoms are open so roots can dig down below the container at will.
Advantages: I had no garden area, a limited budget, and a limited amount of compost from last year, so here's what made me develop this system.
Very Efficient use of your premium soil - concentrated soil mix right around the immediate plant ONLY! I made a soil mix of 15% peat moss, 15% composted manure [ both from my local Menards store ], added 20% topsoil, and lastly 50% home made compost, amended with some dolomite lime and epsom salt for sulfur, magnesium, and calcium [ plus the lime helped counteract some of the peat moss acidity ]
Don't need a garden space - I just placed these micro-beds along a fence area that receives full sun. You can weed whack right up to the container without damaging it, and mow right along side the square bin sides.
Free beds - Jugs are free if you don't mind 'dumpster diving' around your local restaurants.
Less watering - When you water the plant, the sun won't evaporate it away since you have the newspaper around the plant stem. Plus the plastic bed keeps moisture around the roots, and it eventually drains into the soil below.
No weeding - The newspaper prevents any weeds from cropping up.
Put them anywhere for perfect plant spacing - Just walk off the distance you want, and the space in between isn't wasted garden area, it's just regular lawn!
Free trellis - If you have some chain link fencing like I do, place any 'climbing' plants along it and let them crawl up it to their heart's content.
I'm new to this. Anyone with ideas for improvement or suggestions please reply.
Micro Raised Beds...
Last edited by docboggle on Fri Jun 08, 2018 5:17 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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- Greener Thumb
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Micro Raised Bed Cluster - 06/09/18
That watermelon is off the hook I tell you! I built a small trellis with a piece of cattle panel and a couple of sticks lashed into a tripod.
That watermelon is off the hook I tell you! I built a small trellis with a piece of cattle panel and a couple of sticks lashed into a tripod.
Last edited by docboggle on Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Right on, this is the essence of gardening to me. Making the most out of a little. It seems you did that and then some. I would add course vermiculite to your potting mix sometime. It holds onto water and creates air pockets for soil. It's part of the mix Mel Bartholomew (guy who invented square foot gardening) used. I'm big on container gardening myself and sucked it up and bought a big ole bag-
https://www.amazon.com/Coarse-Vermiculi ... ermiculite
I bought that and a bag of perlite from the same seller and it has been a good investment so far. As far as I understand perlite is like Vermiculite but retains less water but at the same time allows more air for the roots than vermiculite. This is the best deal on vermiculite I could find by far
https://www.amazon.com/Coarse-Vermiculi ... ermiculite
I bought that and a bag of perlite from the same seller and it has been a good investment so far. As far as I understand perlite is like Vermiculite but retains less water but at the same time allows more air for the roots than vermiculite. This is the best deal on vermiculite I could find by far