Best lumber for raied beds?

[cigarlover]

Any suggestion for lumber for raised beds? Would also consider some other inexpensive solutions as well. And no I dont want to go dig rocks out of the brook LOL. Thats too much like work LOL I'm not lazy, just have to much on my plate already

[greenbear]

We just used untreated 12" lumber. This is the fourth year and they still look fine. Took maybe a couple of hours to contruct. I think they'll last at least 4 or five more years before breaking down or looking crummy. It isn't even cedar, it's just the regular untreated boards you can find at any lumber store. When they start to break down I want to build rock or attractive block walls right around outside of the wood.

Edit:If your beds are going on a grassy area you can use newspaper (5 or so layers) or contractor's paper (1-2 layers )along the bottomand sides of bed and fill with gardener's soil and compost. Year before last one of the raised beds I made the soil I bought was missing something, the results were poor. You might want to have full soil test done if you buy soil and are counting on the production for that year.

I also found it necessary to dig a trench 6" w x 4-6" deep and around the beds and filled it with river rock. It's not perfect because soil washes into the rock and the grass roots and weeds still grow but with a little maintenance it's easier to keep the grass roots from growing into the raised bed. There's probably a better system but that's what I had to do with what I already had.

[AlterEgo]

I have used plain pine treated real good with linseed oil. My newest ones I made from cedar that a contractor had laying around and sold cheap because he was going out of business..

I use that landscape weed guard on the bottom. Keeps out the nemotodes and lets the water drain.

[StackerKen]

I used what ever I had laying around
So, none of them "Match" but that's ok. They grow good veggies

The latest one I built was from steel studs I got free from my work....lol

I don't like to spend money if I don't have too.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/baytraderken/planterdone.jpg


Here is how I " fill it with soil"
wifey wrote this :)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2790432/lasagna_gardening.html?cat=44

[skid]

The best lumber is no lumber at all. Use concrete blocks or rocks. Definately don't use treated. Cedar will last for 10 years or more.

[cigarlover]

Thanks for the replies. Think I'll go to the local sawmill guy and see what he has layin around. Sounds like I'll get several years out of just about anything.

Ken that article was great. Thank you wife for that. I was going to burn all my cardboard boxes that I used to move so they now will become soil. Sounds like an awesome way to get rid of em.
One thing I wanted to mention is be careful with color print flyers and newspapers. I know it breaks down but the inks are heavy metal contaminants. Not sure if theres enough to worry about in newspapers but someone told me about that awhile ago.

[Light]

If you want a raised bed of 8 inches or so you could use cinder blocks. It's very effective and economical.

The blocks definitely won't rot or warp.... which lumber will.

This is my first post here; I hope this forum continues and grows. :)

[greenbear]

Ken, I read your wife's article previously. It's great info! Thanks for sharing it.

Mayhem, my only concern with landscape fabric is that it may keep the worms out.

[AlterEgo]

I took the liberty to convert Ken's wife article to forum format to bring here. If that is a no no I will delete it. Ken?


_________________________________________________

Turn Your Trash to Gold (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2790432/lasagna_gardening.html?cat=44)

We live in the foothills and trying to have a garden is challenging to say the least. Between the deer, rabbits, squirrels, gophers and birds it was pretty much a no win situation. The fact that our soil is made up of mostly decomposed granite (http://www.associatedcontent.com/theme/1175/granite.html) didn't help matters either.

Last spring, while surfing the internet trying to find ways to beat the odds, I stumbled upon something called Lasagna Gardening. (http://organicgardening.about.com/od/startinganorganicgarden/a/lasagnagarden.htm) Lasagna gardening (http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/1183/gardening.html) is basically layering materials that are biodegradable such as paper products, cardboard, leaves, straw and whatever else you may have lying around, directly into the garden rather than heaping it into a compost bin and waiting for it to break down. When I told my husband my plans he had his doubts.

Gophers were our biggest challenge so we decided to take some old railroad ties and build a raised bed. We placed wire netting on the ground, then built our raised beds on top of it to keep the gophers from being able to tunnel underneath and eat all our vegetables. Then we started layering.

We started by placing thick cardboard on the bottom to help keep any weeds (http://www.associatedcontent.com/theme/1130/weeds.html) from growing through. We have a horse, a goat and chickens, so we didn't have to go far for our source of fertilizer. We purchased a few bags of top soil and mixed it with manure from all of the animals. We placed a thin layer of this mixture over the cardboard. On top of this we threw a layer of household paper waste products that would normally have gone in the recycling (http://www.associatedcontent.com/theme/607/recycling.html) bin and hauled off. This included paper towels, paper plates, coffee grounds and filters, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, all paper products such as junk mail, pages torn out of old catalogs, magazines and telephone books, and all vegetable and fruit scraps. Over that layer we placed another layer of the manure/soil mixture. And we continued layering this way until it was full. It will settle quite a bit as everything breaks down, so fill it up to the top and water each layer before placing a new layer. We topped it all off with a layer of pure top soil.

n addition to some of the things already mentioned, you can use lawn clippings, leaves, straw, wood shavings, peat moss. I even mixed in some perlite and vermeculite that I had on hand. Don't use any weed clippings, trailing grass clippings such as bermuda, or grasses that are going to seed. You don't want those sprouting in your garden.

Once the lasagna garden was finished, we built a fence around it to keep the deer, rabbits, and squirrels out. We watered it well, let it sit for a day or two and then planted our garden directly into it. This is where my husband had his doubts. While we were making our lasagna garden he kept saying that all the cardboard and paper I put in it would take years to break down and nothing was going to grow in it. I kept telling him to just wait and see.

Within just a few days of seeding our garden we had sprouts. Those sprouts grew into lovely plants which then gave us some very good fruits and vegetables all season long. Our lasagna garden was a success! I even canned some delicious, if I do say so myself, dill pickles, and also some pickled watermelon rinds. Don't knock the pickled watermelon rinds, they taste much better than they sound.

Once the season was over we placed a layer of straw over the top and let it sit. Now, here it is, planting time again and time to get the gardens ready. We had two small lasagna gardens that we decided we didn't need so we decided to move the soil from those to the larger beds. My husband was dreading having to try to dig through all that paper and cardboard to move the soil over. Well, guess what? There wasn't a piece of paper or cardboard to be found anywhere. No sign of there ever being any paper in it at all. It was all transformed into beautiful soil which was loaded with beneficial earthworms. And this is like gold to any gardener. Give Lasagna Gardening (http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/1183/gardening.html) a try. Not only will you get a wonderful garden, but you'll be recycling (http://www.associatedcontent.com/theme/607/recycling.html) and making your trash work for you.

[AlterEgo]

Ken, I read your wife's article previously. It's great info! Thanks for sharing it.

Mayhem, my only concern with landscape fabric is that it may keep the worms out.


I will go down to the bait shop and get worms. The nematodes kill everything if I don't. And Copper Sulfate is getting very hard to procure.

[greenbear]

Ah, good idea to buy your own worms. I nematodes are what kill my zucchini plants turning the "trunk" to mush? And do they lay their larvae inside cabbage leaves? I will try copper sulfate or maybe another solution this year.


Nematodes in agriculture
Depending on the species, a nematode may be beneficial or detrimental to plant health.

From an agricultural perspective, there are two categories of nematode: predatory ones, which will kill garden pests like cutworms, and pest nematodes, like the root-knot nematode, which attack plants and those that act as vectors spreading plant viruses between crop plants.

Predatory nematodes can be bred by soaking a specific recipe of leaves and other detritus in water, in a dark, cool place, and can even be purchased as an organic form of pest control.

Rotations of plants with nematode resistant species or varieties is one means of managing parasitic nematode infestations. For example, marigolds, grown over one or more seasons (the effective is cumulative), can be used to control nematodes.[13] Another is treatment with natural antagonists such as the fungus gliocladium roseum. Chitosan is a natural biocontrol that elicits plant defense responses to destroy parasitic cyst nematodes on roots of sobyean, corn, sugar beets, potatoes and tomatoes without harming beneficial nematodes in the soil.[14]. Furthermore soil steaming is an efficient method to kill nematodes before planting crop.

CSIRO has found [1] that there was 13- to 14-fold reduction of nematode population densities in plots having Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) green manure or seed meal in the soil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematode



Chitosan. This looks promising. It doesn't kill beneficials. $25 would last me at least a year I would think. Has anyone used this before? Does copper sulfate kill indiscriminately?

http://www.yeacrops.com/

[StackerKen]

I have heard Red worms are best for breaking down paper into castings.
They love paper!

oh..and No problem about the article.


These are what I found in the soil after last years lasagna bed
They just came up from the ground, and made their home in the beds.
I was blown away by how many there were!

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/baytraderken/wormsindirt.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/baytraderken/worms.jpg

They ate all the paper and cardboard in one season!

[cigarlover]

When I had my house in CT I had to move a bed I put in. I had also laid paper on the bottom and 2 weeks later the paper was already getting eaten. I was impressed.

I do have some cinder blocks around and I havent even checked out the sheds yet so there may be some stuff in there I can use.

[Desolation LineTrimmer]

I will go down to the bait shop and get worms. The nematodes kill everything if I don't. And Copper Sulfate is getting very hard to procure.


Could you share the symptoms of this nematode infestation that you have?

[JJ.G0ldD0t]

Nematodes don't like marigolds...

I used to keep some planted in the vege garden... But I planted real early - before the bugs - this year. Plants are mature enough to survive the bugs better now.

[StackerKen]

Nematodes don't like marigolds...

I used to keep some planted in the vege garden... But I planted real early - before the bugs - this year. Plants are mature enough to survive the bugs better now.


I have read that marigolds repel Aphids too.

[gunDriller]

I used what ever I had laying around
So, none of them "Match" but that's ok. They grow good veggies

The latest one I built was from steel studs I got free from my work....lol

I don't like to spend money if I don't have too.


yep, the best lumber is scrap lumber.

i find patience yields major dividends. i used 2x12 that i got from a facility that recycles yard waste. sometimes people dump wood (and computers, bicycles, etc.) into the yard waste and so they just pile it all up & sort it out.

i think the 2x12 x 8 feet cost me $3.20, not great.

all the rest of my raised bed is scraps from Home Depot. about $2 for the raised bed & maybe $3 for more scraps for a 'gopher fence' for an area about 8' x 8' (wood going into the ground about a foot to deter the gophers.)

anyway, between the scrap bin at Home Depot, and places like recycling facilities, you can get bargains on scraps that are useful for raised growing beds.

i don't know if you have to deal with gophers. i put a wire mesh under the raised bed, that was my big investment. cost about $15.

i grow "root plants" like carrots & potatoes in the gopher protected area.

[LuckyStrike]

I've heard it suggested to use cinderblocks, then in some of the cinderblock holes, plant marigolds and other things to keep bugs away.

I haven't done this personally but it seems like a great idea, I plan on doing it next time I come across some cinderblocks.

[StackerKen]

Yeah, Gundriller; We have lots of gophers here too.

All our raised beds have 1/2 inch wire mesh on the bottom

Lets the worms in and keeps the gophers out

[greenbear]

Your garden is a thing of beauty. :) It must be a pleasure to work in it.

[jaybone]

Copper Sulfate is getting very hard to procure.


Copper sulfate solution is easy to make,
similar method as making colloidal silver,
two copper electrodes, small dc power source and some pure water spiked with sulfuric acid.
The acidified water will turn blue after awhile, indicating copper sulfate has been formed.


I tried to find cedar boards for my bed for awhile to no avail,
finally bought a cedar bed kit at the depot; 4X4X10" $60,
used two kits so I have a deeper bed for the 'maters.

Not ideal, and not cheap, but it seems to be pretty good quality.

[Bildo]

I tried to find cedar boards for my bed for awhile to no avail,
finally bought a cedar bed kit at the depot; 4X4X10" $60,
used two kits so I have a deeper bed for the 'maters.

Not ideal, and not cheap, but it seems to be pretty good quality.



I use old tires for my potatoes. It's easy to stack on another tire as your plants grow and harvest is a cinch. Granted tires aren't as pretty as wood, but we put them behind a retaining wall and grow some tall flowers to help keep them hidden. A couple phone calls to garages and tire centers usually nets me all the free tires I can use.

For my raised beds, which hold everything else but the corn and sunflowers, I use untreated scrap lumber which still looks okay after 6 years.

[Phil_Schnieder]

IME You don't need wood edging at all. In fact the way my friend builds his you can also grow on the angled side of the bed.

Can't find a picture of his, but it's like the one posted below only with 8" more soil and sloped about 40 degrees.

http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/Fall%20Raised%20Bed%20Garden.JPG

[cigarlover]

Ima thats a beautiful garden. Thank you for the inspiration. Now all I need is the motivation LOL. I did get an order from seedsavers today. I cant believe the UPS guy drove all the way up my driveway LOL. Thats all the motivation I needed actually. STarted planning my beds and will order lumber tomorrow. I'll call the sawmill guy and see what he has.

Oh as far as the tires. I think the snakes around here like the tires so I'll leave them be. I have a deal worked out with snakes. They leave me alone and I'll do the same. Actually I have no choice in that cause I have government snakes. Yes only our federal government would drop rattlers all over the place around here and make it 100k fine for killing one. I'd like to round up a few and drop em on my congressmans front porch and let him study them up close if he's so concerned about em.
Anyway I do have an idea for a potatoe bin though.

[akahagar]

Very impressive garden Imacannon.

Could you please post other pictures?

Thanks

[akahagar]

WOW!!! Your garden is amazing! Nice boots too. ;D

Your garden is just beautiful and inspirational.

Thanks for sharing

[Black Blade]

Wow! That's one impressive garden. Gives me something to aspire toward when I can be around in one place long enough. :)

[akahagar]

I agree, keep the silver. :)

Seriously, why have a rocks between the raised beds? It might look nice but wouldn't add to functionality. Or am I missing something?

[cigarlover]

Just an amazing garden Ima.. The shooting isnt bad either :). Nice job.

I have a question for you on those indoor lights your running. Are those 400 s? Metal Halide I assume? Have you ever grown vegies indoors using just the lights? I know for some it would be cost prohibitive because of the electric bill but some states the electric is actually cheap. If you have I was just wondering what kind of production you could get from say a 1000w light or maybe 2 600's.

[akahagar]

One less thing to weed!


Ahhh, the weeding thing. That makes sense, why weed at ground level when you've built all those raised beds!

Thanks for showing the pics of your indoor growing operation. This is my first year starting indoors and it's going pretty good. Just tomatoes this year and no lights, but it's fun to get started a little early. Especially up here in WI.

[cigarlover]

Thanks Ima, Yes for vegging your plants Metal Halide is the bulb to use. For flowering switch to HPS (High pressue sodium). Usually you need different ballasts to do the different bulbs but you can also buy a HPS conversion bulb that you can run with your MH ballast. You can also veg with just HPS bulbs. I set up to do this next winter so I can have those yummy tomatoes and fresh veggies even when its snowing out. I can also use the excess heat to help with heating the house.

Last year was the first time I used them, yes two 400 halide. I planted my seeds way too early last year, some of the things started fruiting..... I was eating cucumbers before it was warm enough to plant the plants. I moved them outside during the day and a sneaky bee got to them! One of the reasons I got the lights was so I can grow indoors - if need be. The place where I got them, grows plants all summer long with his lights... He does hydroponic, which is not up my ally, but they were doing good. I bought the book below, it shows the amount of space that you can grow under with different wattage bulbs. I am not very educated in the matter. I told the store owner to fix me up with something that will grow my plants.
I think their are different bulbs for growing and for fruiting. He was trying to educate me on the matter but it was in one ear and out the other, my excuse is the Coin store was 2 doors down and I had silver on my mind! As for the power bill, I was able to turn the heater off in my shop.. The lights put off a lot of heat. Anyway..... to answer your question, yes, you can grow and fruit with the lights.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51onuI7uRyL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

[ximmy]

Super looking garden ImaCannin :o Thanks for sharing all the pics... :)

[jaybone]

I just found this place with really nice raised beds.
http://www.mastergardenproducts.com/bambooraisedbed.htm
they have cedar too.

I am regretting buying one at the hizzle dizzle, these looks so much nicer for the same price.

oh well, maybe next year.

[Korbin Dallas]

Ima, your garden is a work art! I get garden envy every time I see pics, which I first saw on the old site.

[Korbin Dallas]

I did, but they are made with decorative stone. I like the look, layout and size of yours. I wish I had that much space, but I'm stick in suburbia (for now).