Raised Beds | SouthernPaddler.com

Raised Beds

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Wannabe

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2007
2,645
2
on the bank of Trinity Bay
I've been wanting to try some of the raised beds that TRR has built and used for several years. I picked the supplies up Fri. After I paid for them I had to wait about 30 Min before I drove off. It took that long to uncross my eye balls from what that stuff cost. But Ron said that that was a one time expense( if ya don't build any more beds). I think TRR built his 4x4. I built mine 3x8. I started about noon today and finished just before dark. I did not get quite enough material for both boxes so I screwed a temp. baffle in untill I can get some more material. Probally go crosseyed again.
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Bob
 
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Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
How long is the growing season there in the ground? By how much is it extended with your new raised beds? How many veggies will you raise during that extended period? Did you get a riding garden tractor for your wife to use to fit the ground, cultivate, and harvest with? Or, do you plan to have her farm with horses?
 
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Wannabe

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2007
2,645
2
on the bank of Trinity Bay
Kayak Jack said:
How long is the growing season there in the ground? By how much is it extended with your new raised beds? How many veggies will you raise during that extended period? Did you get a riding garden tractor for your wife to use to fit the ground, cultivate, and harvest with? Or, do you plan to have her farm with horses?
Click to expand...
Jack,
With a mild winter I can get two years out of a bell pepper plant. As I am not going to be at Pipers next weekend I will tell you this. MY Wife doed NOT need a stinking tractor or horse to plow with. She is capable of pulling the plow her own self. :mrgreen:
Bob
 
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mike

Well-Known Member
Jun 29, 2009
694
9
TEXAS!
Wannabe said:
MY Wife doed NOT need a stinking tractor or horse to plow with. She is capable of pulling the plow her own self. :mrgreen:
Bob
Click to expand...

That is guaranteed to come back and haunt you. :lol:

Mike
 
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Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Yeah, I can't wait to see which end of the hame strap he ends up on. :wink:

Seedtick has a good question. I've seen raised beds on the ground. They gather the water easier that way. Usually, here in frosty climes, a raised bed thaws and warms earlier, so it extends the growing season. Not much other reason for the expense, that I know of. Mother Nature usually does a pretty good job.
 
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tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
I have been using this system for a couple years as well as a normal garden in the soil.
This year everything will be in these raised beds set on concrete blocks.
You have the expense of filling them the first time and then you are finished with a lot of expenses.
No rot tilling the soil is light and fluffy and stays that way,
no weeding are hoeing , the only weeds you will have are blown in and you just pull the up easily,plus being raised and clear of the ground you dont have them coming up from the ground into your beds.
Insect and disease control, the concrete blocks and being off the ground stop most of the insects from getting in your beds. You have made your own soil so it is pretty well disease free
Contray to popular beliefs , setting on the ground actually siphon's water away from your raised beds if the are sitting on the ground. so the mix in the boxes has vermiculite in it so it holds water well, you cant flood it and drown the plants the way they are set up but you use a lot less water.
Jack I had veges 12 months out of the last year with this system , and I will have a lot more this coming year, It is easy to make a pvc frames covered with plastic that attaches to these boxes if you have a hard freeze.
It is cheaper in the long run, no mechanical machines needed to till the ground,the soil stays light and fluffy , you can turn it over with your bare hand.
Very little weeding
No bending over like a regular garden
No fertilizer , when you replant just ad a trowel of compost per sq surface area mix it in with your fingers
Less water, you are not watering the ground between rows.
It is a smaller area that can be controlled , so it can be used extensively
Insect and weed problem minimized
I like this system and I like food that is all organic .
Maybe that answered some of the questions.
Ron
 
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oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
As a kid living with the folks , Dad had a plant nursery and most of the bushes were started as cuttings. We had two mist beads for the cuttings to root in.

The beds were 3 feet by 12 feet with an overhead mist system that watered the cuttings for a set time each day. They were at waist height so there was no bending when working at them. The soil was a peat and vermiculite mix to hold the water and also make the soil a light mix so it did not clump together. Dad had a drainage system so any excess water would flow off leaving the soil at desired wetness.

The beds were made from some corrugated ( 1/2 inch ) asbestos sheets set on a framed in 2x4 and plywood base , with sides about 5 inches high. The asbestosis sheets keep the water away from the wood under them and allowed drainage along the base of the side boards. Anyway I think they were asbestosis , they weren't wood.

A cutting would root in there a lot faster then one in the ground and we never had any weed problems in the beds. I always thought they would make some good gardens but they had to be used for the cuttings since they furnished the stock to keep 10 acres of bushes growing and replacing the ones we sold.
 
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