Raised Bed My new raised beds

[nomifyle]

I've got four raised beds that are 6" high. They've done well this year, but it killed my back to plant and now to pick from. So DH is building me a different kind of raised beds. We first though using cinder blocks, 3 blocks high. Besides the expense the ground is way uneven. DH is buying those 275 gallon tanks in an alluminum basket. The man had some not in the basket they he is giving away free. We got one and DH cut it in half and made a container using pressure treated lumber, its really nice. My concern is watering a a bed that is not on the ground.

Several years ago I tried growing tomatoes in buckets and they did not do well at all.

Any tips on using the new raised beds, that are about three feet high. I'm putting a layer of limbs in the bottom.

TIA, Judy

 

[China Connection]

The more lose the material you have in such a unit the more it will need water and fertilizer. The more dense the better it will hold





Description

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[Border Collie Dad]

I use equal parts sand, compost and peat moss in my beds.
Peat moss helps hold the water and you need to soak it pretty good at first

 

[hummer]

At my old place my neighbors made 2' high raised beds for me....4'x8' for veggies, and 2'x4' for my cactus. They were wonderful. The veggie ones I threw in rotting logs and leaf compost from woods, branches from woods, then dirt, peat moss and years old horse manure from the neighbors. Our veggies were wonderful. For my cactus beds I put in pea rock and 1"1/2" rock , mixed sand, soil and pearock on very top around cactus.. Worked great. I could sit in my lawn chair and work the raised beds without pain. Eventually the logs, branches rot, and I simply mixed more dirt and compost in....mix it all up .

 

[dioptase]

I personally would never use pressure treated wood for any raised bed I was growing edibles in, as I would worry about leaching toxic matter into the soil, and said stuff being taken up by the plants. All of my raised beds are made with either ipe wood or white cedar, untreated, unpainted, unstained. Both woods are very rot resistant.

These raised beds are about 24"-26" high. 6" is just way too low to be of much good, both for aching backs but also wrt soil depth (if the native soil is hard-as-concrete clay like ours is). You ideally want a nice deep bed with good soil. Things like lettuce may do well in short raised beds because they have a smaller root system, but tomatoes need more depth. A further benefit of taller raised beds is that you don't have to worry about plants drowning/rotting if you get a heavy rain with modest (not talking about hurricane level) flooding.

 

[nomifyle]

DH started cucumber and squash seeds this morning to put in one of the new raised beds.

Judy

 

[nomifyle]

I personally would never use pressure treated wood for any raised bed I was growing edibles in, as I would worry about leaching toxic matter into the soil, and said stuff being taken up by the plants. All of my raised beds are made with either ipe wood or white cedar, untreated, unpainted, unstained. Both woods are very rot resistant.

These raised beds are about 24"-26" high. 6" is just way too low to be of much good, both for aching backs but also wrt soil depth (if the native soil is hard-as-concrete clay like ours is). You ideally want a nice deep bed with good soil. Things like lettuce may do well in short raised beds because they have a smaller root system, but tomatoes need more depth. A further benefit of taller raised beds is that you don't have to worry about plants drowning/rotting if you get a heavy rain with modest (not talking about hurricane level) flooding.

I agree on the non use of pressure treated wood, but DH has a hard head. He's my hero though.

Judy

 

[cyberiot]

Handy dandy . . .

I solved a lot of my back problems by getting a garden kneeler seat. You can work on your knees way down low, or flip it over and sit on your butt at bench level. The side handles help you get up and down. I liked mine so much, I got another one for inside the house. I'm no damned good to anyone if I'm injured.