View Full Version : Raised Beds
Persephone
03-11-2005, 03:07 PM
What's the best way to make raised beds? Landscape timbers? Retaining wall bricks?
I'm talking about something I can sort of do myself with only a little help. I think the landscape timbers might be too heavy for me.
What's the best way to make raised beds? Landscape timbers? Retaining wall bricks?
I'm talking about something I can sort of do myself with only a little help. I think the landscape timbers might be too heavy for me.
I would go with the bricks, but take that with a grain of salt, i cannot stand the way landscape timbers "look"
Let me know how it works out, though. I think I'm going to do raised beds in Arizona. :)
Persephone
03-11-2005, 07:09 PM
I went to Lowe's and Home Depot. The retaining wall bricks are $1.98 each, which is about what the landscape timbers are. Building the beds in bricks would be expensive. The timbers are too heavy, and I'd have to pay somebody to do it for me.
I'm thinking maybe I'll just use a shovel and some edging and make my beds the old-fashioned way.
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 05:01 AM
Suth.. make sure you use interlocking stones.. there is nothing as irritating as the bricks spewing all over the yard.
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 05:03 AM
I'm very much looking forward to gardening this year.
Last year was a funk year.. my father died, I had just moved back into the house, it rained all summer.. I was a mental mess.
This year.. look out weeds. 8)
Persephone
03-12-2005, 06:49 AM
Suth.. make sure you use interlocking stones.. there is nothing as irritating as the bricks spewing all over the yard.
I probably need to get somebody to show me how this works before I try to do it on my own, huh?
NorNec
03-12-2005, 06:56 AM
What's the best way to make raised beds?
How high is the bed? The fitted sheet is always the hardest part. Start at one corner, tuck the elastic part under the mattress. Then go to the oppisite corner and..... ;)
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 02:58 PM
How high is the bed? The fitted sheet is always the hardest part. Start at one corner, tuck the elastic part under the mattress. Then go to the oppisite corner and..... ;)
;D ;D
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:00 PM
I probably need to get somebody to show me how this works before I try to do it on my own, huh?
Ask tileman.. he should remeber how..unless.. ;D
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:13 PM
Maybe I just need to buy a tiller instead. :)
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:15 PM
Maybe I just need to buy a tiller instead. :)
I made all my beds by lifting the sod and turning the soil with a shovel. No tiller necessary.
Maybe I just need to buy a tiller instead. :)
I've had this before, the Mantis Garden Tiller (http://mantisgardentools.com/ttrack.asp). They have knock-offs like them at Home Depot for less money.
http://www.homedepot.com/cmc_upload/HDUS/EN_US/asset/images/eplus/161176_4.jpg
$189.00 at Home Depot.
The Mantis is about $300.00.
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:19 PM
I made all my beds by lifting the sod and turning the soil with a shovel. No tiller necessary.
Yeah, I've done that before. It's hard work. Plus, the ground here is clay. You have to add topsoil to it if you want to grow good stuff.
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:20 PM
http://www.homedepot.com/cmc_upload/HDUS/EN_US/asset/images/eplus/161176_4.jpg
$189.00 at Home Depot.
The Mantis is about $300.00.
Somehow that still looks like hard work. :)
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:21 PM
http://www.homedepot.com/cmc_upload/HDUS/EN_US/asset/images/eplus/161176_4.jpg
$189.00 at Home Depot.
The Mantis is about $300.00.
Oh.. that's very freakin' cool.
Somehow that still looks like hard work. :)
Well, there's always the grocery store...
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:22 PM
I need to purchase a weed whacker this spring.
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:23 PM
Well, there's always the grocery store...
Not the same.
I've got something growing in my herb bed that looks like cilantro, smells like cilantro and tastes like cilantro. I've been eating in hopes that it really is cilantro, but I don't remember the cilantro ever coming back from one year to the next on its own before.
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:24 PM
Yeah, I've done that before. It's hard work. Plus, the ground here is clay. You have to add topsoil to it if you want to grow good stuff.
Oh. Eww.
Oh.. that's very freakin' cool.
They work great. The Mantis ones have all kinds of attachments to them. They bounce around a bit if you have hard soil until you get down a few inches and then it's smooth sailing. After it gets started, it's all over but the harvesting...PLUS, and this is the really cool part, you can take off the tillers on either side and have one side rotate so you can weed with it in between very close rows.
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:26 PM
Not the same.
I've been eating in hopes that it really is cilantro,
Somehow, I think if you desire to retain your image as "responsible professor" you shouldn't pass this on in the classroom. ;D ;D
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:27 PM
They work great. The Mantis ones have all kinds of attachments to them. They bounce around a bit if you have hard soil until you get down a few inches and then it's smooth sailing. After it gets started, it's all over but the harvesting...PLUS, and this is the really cool part, you can take off the tillers on either side and have one side rotate so you can weed with it in between very close rows.
My little Ariens works the same way, really., but that one looks so much more feminine and managable.
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:29 PM
Somehow, I think if you desire to retain your image as "responsible professor" you shouldn't pass this on in the classroom. ;D ;D
;D
It hasn't killed me yet.
but that one looks so much more feminine and managable.
I'm sure it doesn't come in pink or lavender. I think you have to glue the rhinestones on it yourself.
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:33 PM
I'm sure it doesn't come in pink or lavender. I think you have to glue the rhinestones on it yourself.
:)
;D
It hasn't killed me yet.
Cilantro is a perrinial and comes back year after year for those too lazy to cut it down before it turns into corriander.
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:34 PM
Cilantro is a perrinial and comes back year after year for those too lazy to cut it down before it turns into corriander.
That's good to know. :D
I guess I could get some whiskey barrels and try container gardening.
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:36 PM
*sigh* The only thing we have growing here is the amount of dogshit in the snowbank. :-\
That's good to know. :D
I guess I could get some whiskey barrels and try container gardening.
How about burlap sacks and grow potaters, mmmhmm in 'em?
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:41 PM
How about burlap sacks and grow potaters, mmmhmm in 'em?
Heh. I plan to go to at least some effort to make this attractive even if I do redneck it up.
I'm leaning toward cinder blocks at the moment. ;D
Heh. I plan to go to at least some effort to make this attractive even if I do redneck it up.
I'm leaning toward cinder blocks at the moment. ;D
Once the taters start growing, all the leafs will cover the sack and you won't even see it. When you're done with the growing and harvested them, you can recycle the soil that was in them in your raised beds.
Barring that, I suppose you could dye the sacks pink or lavender and put rhinestones on 'em, I guess.
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 03:45 PM
Container gardening..
Too time consuming with watering.. and one good dry out and anything the least bit stressed goes to seed overnight.
To have adequate root growth you need to start with bagged soil.. eepecially if you have clay soil on your property.. and fertilizing is necessary to maintain the nutrient level in the barrel.
I am not a fan of container gardening.
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:47 PM
Once the taters start growing, all the leafs will cover the sack and you won't even see it. When you're done with the growing and harvested them, you can recycle the soil that was in them in your raised beds.
Barring that, I suppose you could dye the sacks pink or lavender and put rhinestones on 'em, I guess.
My dad always grows enough potatoes, corn, green beans, and butterbeans for everyone. I was leaning toward squash, eggplant and peppers for my garden. And tomatoes, of course, but I already have a place where I plant tomatoes.
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:49 PM
Container gardening..
Too time consuming with watering.. and one good dry out and anything the least bit stressed goes to seed overnight.
To have adequate root growth you need to start with bagged soil.. eepecially if you have clay soil on your property.. and fertilizing is necessary to maintain the nutrient level in the barrel.
I am not a fan of container gardening.
Yeah...since I have plenty of space to plant things in the ground, container gardening is not my first choice.
Persephone
03-12-2005, 03:57 PM
I need a little physical labor to keep me from cracking up over all of the mental work I've been doing lately. Besides, there's nothing better than watching your own garden while you read that book.
My family has always grown its own vegetables. It just doesn't seem right not to.
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 04:00 PM
It's extremely satisfying to watch things grow.
Persephone
03-12-2005, 06:05 PM
Mine too thats where my cousins come from ;D
;D
It's extremely satisfying to watch things grow.
Yeah, I always heard you were a "Party Ninja."
Thrilling to watch paint dry and bumpers rust, too, I suppose? :D
Whiskey4bfast
03-12-2005, 06:58 PM
Ummmmm.
Taters............ I lak taters....
Ummmm.................
ponygurl
03-12-2005, 07:02 PM
Yeah, I always heard you were a "Party Ninja."
Thrilling to watch paint dry and bumpers rust, too, I suppose? :D
I admit I"m boring.
I'll miss a garden this year. :'(
Ya'll take some pictures for me, right? ;D
ponygurl
03-14-2005, 05:01 AM
What is the point of the curved shaft and the straight shaft on weed eaters?
Just for accessibilty under furniture?
What is the point of the curved shaft and the straight shaft on weed eaters?
Just for accessibilty under furniture?
I have no idea, weed whacking is my husband's job.
As for the tiller, you should get one if you can swing it. I luuuurve my tiller, it makes gardening and all kinds of yardwork really, really easy. :)
kathleen
03-14-2005, 11:35 AM
Suth, there are wonderful and less expensive ways to build a raised bed without needing too much physical exertion.
You can build the retaining walls out of anything that can hold the soil - though some people recommend not using any chemically treated wood if you want to go the organic route.
Wood, stone, bricks, cement, logs - all of that will work. If you don't want to build it yourself many garden centers sell inexpensive kits that you just put together yourself. If I remember correctly, I saw one for less than $100 US and came with all the parts you need including the screws to put the walls together.
If you make your own compost (or know someone who does) than that brings the cost of building and filling a raised bed down even more.
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