Waist High Rasied Beds.

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Meerkat said:
I don't care for this one because if bottom comes out or rots it will be a mess to redo and clean up.

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I built a small one like that out of cedar fence boards so my wife could grow radishes. It was marginally successful. She had a problem with it drying out and had to water several times a day. Not using it this year.
We do have an old water trough full of soil and use it to grow flowers.
I would like to plant tomatoes in it but the flowers were from my wife's sister that died so of course, they are a protected species and if I did anything to replace them there would be hell to pay.
 
backlash said:
I built a small one like that out of cedar fence boards so my wife could grow radishes. It was marginally successful. She had a problem with it drying out and had to water several times a day. Not using it this year.
We do have an old water trough full of soil and use it to grow flowers.
I would like to plant tomatoes in it but the flowers were from my wife's sister that died so of course, they are a protected species and if I did anything to replace them there would be hell to pay.
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Yes I could see a off ground bed drying out. Its hard enough to keep an in ground bed watered sometimes. Mulch is our friend and some soil ammendments,but I'm sure many have succes with them.
 
If we build a high bed I think I'll make sure we have pelnty of ' forest' in it. I put fallen tree limbs in tthe one on the ground now and it did seem to help.if we can stay at it guess we'll see.
I think just trowing stuff on it now and then will be easier than trying to make compost all the time. Its getting harder with age to make enough compost.
 
When I first saw this thread, I thought of bed - like to sleep in. And thought, I know! They are making beds so tall, it's crazy. You need a step ladder to get in.
And then I saw it - the reeeeal reason of the post 😂
I have noticed my "raised beds" dry out quicker. I was worried about that when I first got them but equally frustrating is dealing with voles which the tanks would certainly detour.
 
I knew a guy that built his raised beds out of concrete, they were really a good setup and all that was needed was a small hand held rototiller. If concrete is used, it's always a good idea to have a drain so that the soil doesn't get water saturated and turn sour. When we first moved here I made raised beds on the ground, they worked great for kale and other plants that could be concentrated in a 3' X 20' area. I have two raised beds that are 2' X 12' next to our house that are made out of incense cedar, they work okay but need to be placed in a full sun area. Right now I have a variety of potatoes and a few garlic plants in one and I have a small box of potatoes that are getting full of roots, they'll be planted in the other raised bed that grew Swiss chard last year.
 
viking said:
I knew a guy that built his raised beds out of concrete, they were really a good setup and all that was needed was a small hand held rototiller. If concrete is used, it's always a good idea to have a drain so that the soil doesn't get water saturated and turn sour. When we first moved here I made raised beds on the ground, they worked great for kale and other plants that could be concentrated in a 3' X 20' area. I have two raised beds that are 2' X 12' next to our house that are made out of incense cedar, they work okay but need to be placed in a full sun area. Right now I have a variety of potatoes and a few garlic plants in one and I have a small box of potatoes that are getting full of roots, they'll be planted in the other raised bed that grew Swiss chard last year.
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That is a serious raised bed!
 
cbrianroll said:
I would make them out of concrete if I were going to do it. Wood just doesnt last long enough.
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Ours has lasted a good while the one we turned into a chicken yard has lasted over 20 years,but we haven't used it in about 15 years.We built some closer to the house about 14 years ago andthey still do fine,and they aren't treated but getting about time to replace lumber.
 
cbrianroll said:
Nice! How big were the timbers? Maybe the moisture in my area causes rot faster?
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We used 2X12s and try to stay organic as much as possible so we didn't use treated,but now it looks like that was a good idea since things are in short supply. I'm we have all kinds of fallen treelimbs in the little forest here plus all kinds of green limbs and some hen manure.Not sure how long we are going to turn compost. But its als oaccording to your soil and weather.Some soil will rot wood faster and lots of rain maybe snow [I don't know about snow] isn't good for it.
 
@cbrianroll ,here are some pic we took lately,first one is drying out after a couple weeks of rain ,both were taken last year.Some of that lumberwas used in old raised beds 20 years ago.Some aree only 15 years old.

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Ug....clay....we compost some and add organic soil when needed to only where we seed. It's a pain kinda but used to the routine now. The clay does hold moisture when saturated so that's good though. Right now I've got the chickens in part of the garden area tearing it up....they do a good job!
 
cbrianroll said:
Ug....clay....we compost some and add organic soil when needed to only where we seed. It's a pain kinda but used to the routine now. The clay does hold moisture when saturated so that's good though. Right now I've got the chickens in part of the garden area tearing it up....they do a good job!
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Well ours is shifting sand so may need some major engeneering if we go down,lol.
 
Our soil is Red Clay with a layer of gray clay about a foot down, not good for growing anything but bricks. We tried gardening on grade here for several years and then the wife got sick and couldn't bend, so I made our first raised beds.

They were 20" tall and spaced so you could just walk between them, I made a small padded plank seat and the wife would put it across between two of the beds and sit while she worked the garden. Worked out well, I eventually made a car-hop type tray that I could hang on the side of the bed when harvesting or planting. It took me several years to settle on a standardized design (3'X7') that worked for me, I could make them using 10' long 2X10s with just 1 cut per board. I think the oldest of the raised bed boxes are about 18 years old now. I like the 3' width because I can reach all the way across from one side so I can work 2 beds from a single walkway. The 7' length just fit the space I had, but it let me use standard 8'-2X4s to make overhead watering and retractable hot-box lid supports for each of the standardized beds. This year I replaced 2 small (2'X6') beds that had been re-used (I think they were from my first attempt, making them 18 years old) to grow tomatoes on the concrete. The replacement beds are 3'X8', they will still be my primary tomato beds but they will also provide room for some companion plants. I plan to grow the tomatoes on the vertical this year so I added a 7' tall trellis in the center of each (I have never done it this way so it is an experiment). I hope that this allows me to maximize my space utilization.

I used pressure treated wood and lined them with just a small opening in the bottom so they would drain at the center. I have 3 on a concrete slab that I fully line, I put a layer of compost/grass trimmings in the bottom to hold moisture as I used to travel (Pre-COVID) for several weeks each month and the wife is no longer able to walk in the yard to water things.

My summary of my experience with different dimensions:
2'X (6,8 or 10) too narrow to grow much beyond a single line of plants, but my grape vines are happy in one that is up against a trellis providing yard privacy.
4'X (4, 6 or 8') too wide, need to have access from both sides to work the plants, wouldn't be bad if you have a lot of space.
3'X (6, 7, or 8') I like these because I can reach all the way across the bed from one side maximizing my growing space. I like to make short 3' rows so I end up with a variety of plants in each box.

I like the idea of using the metal boxes, but I would suggest that you line or coat them with something to keep them from rusting out.

The other consideration for me is that I work alone (just the way thing shake out) so everything I build has to be 1 man movable, I can move 1 layer of all my boxes using a rope tied to both sides and then supported across my shoulders as I stand in the middle (I don't want to carry them far, but I can move them if I need to).
 
i knew a lady who was older, lived in a subdivision with a small yard and she got those hard plastic kiddie pools, punched holes in them then filled iwth potting soil. then she planted her taters in one, onions in another, tomatoes, green beans, garlic, squash, etc in others. she had one with corn that wasnt alot of corn but she got corn. it looked really nice, she had a stool she sat on to reach down and weed if necessary--but no real weeds growing in the pools. i think she had one with kitchen herbs like basil, oregano etc too.it was very pretty hopw she had them arranged in her yard.
i alwasy thought id do that one day.
 
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