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Post by desertwoman on Feb 22, 2018 23:32:27 GMT -5
I'm going to be helping someone build her first raised bed ever (in fact this will be her first garden) I have my way of going about that, but thought I'd get some opinions/experiences from others. My way is to use 2"x12" pineboards, use metal brackets to support the corners, and use rebar to stake along the length and support the boards from bowing. I use metal lath (have used chicken wire in the past) to line the bottom to keep out gophers and such. We had a huge pile of decent soil, from digging for a new septic system, when we first moved here. It got dumped in the area I wanted my garden to be. So we built one huge raised bed to surround and support the soil. It has been 8 years and the boards are holding up well. It's about 10'x 18' . I have stepping stones dividing the large bed into 4 smaller 'beds'. I also have a smaller raised bed- 4'x10' that has been my "bean field" the past several years. I use native soil (nothing bagged) to fill them and then I amend the soil with lots of organic matter and compost- like I would any in-ground beds.
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Post by binnylou on Feb 23, 2018 0:11:04 GMT -5
Love the fence!
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 23, 2018 0:16:13 GMT -5
Around here they are called 'coyote fences'. Made of cedar poles I saw a lot of these fences in India and Nepal and they are everywhere here in Northern NM.
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Post by davidjp on Feb 23, 2018 1:50:45 GMT -5
That looks really lovely. I went a couple of ways with raised beds. One way was just not actually building anything just designating a 4ft wide strip as a raised bed with small paths in between. That has actually worked fairly well and of course really inexpensive. Another area I used the recommendations from Sunset www.sunset.com/garden/perfect-raised-bedBut ended up using 2x6 redwood boards instead into several 4x 10 Ft beds with 3ft paths in between. I haven't had to use any braces and they have held up well with no bowing at all. I tried to convince myself that I could easily trap out any gophers and that has worked to some extent, I caught 26 one year. But I've finally had to admit defeat and am in the process of retrofitting hardware cloth to my dug out raised beds which is a real pain. So I would definitely go with the hardware cloth up front.
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Post by restless on Feb 23, 2018 7:02:11 GMT -5
I don't think pine lasts as long in the Mid-Atlantic, where we get a lot of rain. My pine raised bed lasted four years. Every year for the past four years we have been fixing it in an improvised manner by adding new boards here and there. When I get to the point of building raised beds at the new place, I will be researching longer lasting woods.
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Post by ahntjudy on Feb 23, 2018 7:22:38 GMT -5
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 23, 2018 10:39:19 GMT -5
I don't think pine lasts as long in the Mid-Atlantic, where we get a lot of rain. My pine raised bed lasted four years. I sometimes forget that there are advantages to living in an arid climate! I hadn't heard of ipe wood ahntjudy , Amazing wood! Thanks for the link.
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Post by binnylou on Feb 23, 2018 11:05:26 GMT -5
Our six raised beds are 4 x 8 and made of cedar. The two newest beds have the hardware cloth bottom lining. In addition, the three newest beds have logs in the bottom of the bed, an attempt at hugelkultur. If there are more beds to come, they will definitely have the hardware cloth bottom. And the logs placed in the bottom of the bed will be soaked in a barrel of water, so to allow them to become saturated. Once the logs are placed and covered, it's hard to get enough moisture down there to allow the logs to do their job...that is to become a reservoir for moisture for the plants to draw from.
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Post by ahntjudy on Feb 23, 2018 12:40:16 GMT -5
You're welcome desertwoman ... Ipe also requires no finish treatments...
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Post by pepperhead212 on Feb 23, 2018 17:07:21 GMT -5
If I recall, ipe is one of those woods that they were destroying rainforests to harvest, though they may have some they say is from sustainable forests.
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 23, 2018 20:12:29 GMT -5
I wondered about that pepperhead212 , Just haven't had time to research it yet.
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Post by ahntjudy on Feb 24, 2018 7:15:02 GMT -5
I have read both sides of that subject about ipe as well...
My nephew is a finish carpenter/builder/contractor...He was able to obtain the ipe he used on my bench from left over wood from a house project on which he had worked...I 'profited' from that left over wood...
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Post by binnylou on Aug 10, 2018 22:00:02 GMT -5
Three new raised beds under construction. The beds will have hardware cloth on the bottoms and will have logs in the bottom for an attempt at hugelkulture. DSCF0143 by BLou, on Flickr DSCF0145 by BLou, on Flickr
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Aug 10, 2018 22:24:48 GMT -5
binnylou , your post is so timely, and helpful. I've been working on creating small compost beds that are disguised by a wattle fence, with morning glories or sweet peas, or beans or peas growing up on the "wattles". I wanted to capitalize on the compost by using it as a base in the circular beds. But I wasn't quite sure it would work out well. I googled hugelkulture and realized that I can adapt that to my little above ground in situ compost beds. What kind of logs do you plan to use? Will they be bark stripped? How are you sealing the wood? I'll be anxious to follow your progress.
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Post by binnylou on Aug 10, 2018 22:34:40 GMT -5
SpringRain🕊️, Logs for the beds will be selected from some old oak or some freshly cut maple. With previous bed construction, we have discovered that it takes a lot of rainfall to get those logs saturated, so I'm going to soak them for a while in a garbage can. that way they will be really saturated with water...I hope. At least, this is the plan. The bark will be left on...I figure there is nutrients in it.
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