Raised Beds

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Jade

New Member
Ok, all of you out there with raised beds, I need your help.
We are going to put in a smallish raised bed for our veggies this year. I would like to get your input in how to make it...ie, what wood? etc. I have never done a raised bed garden.
 

Dor

Active Member
I have 2 and will be make at least 2 more this week and maybe 2 more to follow. If you can get some lumber that is not treated it is best to use that. I am going to use 2X12 X 10ft and cut them in half. Mine will be 5X5. I will be putting landscape fabric on the bottom and line my sides with plastic if I can't find weather resistant lumber. HD has treated lumber and suggested I line all sides with plastic. I will beusing 3 1/4 inch deck screws.

Here is an example.
http://www.hobbyfarms.com/crops-and-gardening/build-raised-beds.aspx
 

richnkim

New Member
Dor, doesn't it keep the heat in to much? We were going to make some out of tin but I thought that it would dry it out faster?
 

Dor

Active Member
Dor, doesn't it keep the heat in to much? We were going to make some out of tin but I thought that it would dry it out faster?

Mine are made from 2X6 lumber and I couldn't tell if there was too much heat. I watered my veggies everyday anyway. The new ones I am going to build will be made from 2X12 lumber. I want them to be deeper as I have clay soil. I talked to my yardman today and advised him I needed more. I will try to buy the lumber tomorrow and have him to put them together for me if he has time on Monday. If not after I get my IV for my RA Tuesday I should be in less pain where I can put them together.
 

richnkim

New Member
Hubby made me one from stainless steal and I love it, I will last for ever..

I'm sorry Dor, I saw the post that sunflower3 posted and I was talking to my granson at the samed time and meant to ask her. My mind just isn't on things when the gradkids are here. LOL Mine are out of wood, also. I like them.

Sunflower3, does the stainless steal bed get hot?
 

Dor

Active Member
No problem Kim, I thought you might have been talking about the stainless steel beds. In the next week or so I will have 4 more raised beds. I should be able to get everything I want to grow in those. Most of my veggie seeds I planted on the 12 & 13th and up and doing well. The first batch had problems so I sterilized my trays and started over. A friend of mine told me about using a heat pat until of the Plant seed heating mats and I am having better luck with it. I can use my gift cards from Walgreens to get a couple more.
 

Bernie

New Member
I will be putting landscape fabric on the bottom and line my sides with plastic if I can't find weather resistant lumber. HD has treated lumber and suggested I line all sides with plastic.

Dor I lined mine with blue tarps from the $1 store. Cheap and lots stronger then plastic. Four years and no holes from garden tools.
 

GardenBear1

New Member
I have one raised bed that my herbs grow in I use treated lumber 2x12x10 and the herbs love it, it drys out faster then the garden but I water it about 3x week, I don't use any kind of liner, just plan old dirt and some old potting mix and every thing grows well
 

Wombat

Active Member
All of my beds are raised and they work really well. Mine are made from hardwood railway sleepers that were excess to requirements and I got them very cheaply from a local timber yard. They were raw timber and thus untreated in any way, so far they've lasted about 15 years with no liners. Mine are similar to Gardenbear's just old soil and used potting mix plus added compost, that's it. All I did was place old newspapers on the bottom to deter weeds and it's been a great success.:)
 

Dor

Active Member
I didn't double check the ones my yardman built last year to see if he used treated lumber. I just gave him the money and a print out showing how to built a raised bed and he took it from there. I had planned to put down some landscape fabric, mulch and shredded newspapers, soil and compost. I just had to add some compost to the existing raised beds. I do have some used potting soil I can used. I have read so much about not growing your veggies in raised beds built from treated lumber. I want to be safe so I will look for tarps at the $ store. I asked one of my friends if her husband could get me some railroad ties but she said they don't give them to the employees.
 

Mainegal

Super Moderator
Staff member
i used my old waterbed frame and made a raised bed then i took the frame out and put bricks in and made another one using the frame then used bricks, would like to make a couple more this yr, got lots of bricks from my cousins when my aunt passed away, they didn't want them and the person who bought the house wanted them out of the yard, they have more at camp that i will get this summer from them, love getting things free
 

richnkim

New Member
Hey MG, Take everything you can get free!

Hubby made me another bed. He put it in on saturday. I filled with soil and compost today. Already planted it with my 3 kind of squash, (grey zucchini, early white bush scallop, yellow crock neck), some pickling cuckes. I get to planting and son't want to stop but I don't have enough room for much. Small yard. He saide he will make me another one. It has to be long and narrow.
I harvested some of the lettuce out of the first bed we made. I had some on a sandwich. Yummy! I have to take out the other four heads that are left, its bibb lettuce. It just gets a little to warm here for it. I got what I could. I harvested 2 today. I put some compost in and planted some beans that I had sprouted. I planted some cukes along the edge to grow up on the fence.
 

Mainegal

Super Moderator
Staff member
You can grown alot in the small space if you grow up. Train the cukes, squash and everything else to grow up.
 

richnkim

New Member
My beans are bush beans but I'm putting bamboo by them with string, will do the same with the cukes. How do you get squash to grow up?
 

Dor

Active Member
My beans are bush beans but I'm putting bamboo by them with string, will do the same with the cukes. How do you get squash to grow up?

I have bush and pole beans to plant. I bought some bamboo stakes to tie them to. Kim how do you place your bamboo. I saw a picture of teepees made out of bamboo. I am new at this so I will be experimenting.
 

Mainegal

Super Moderator
Staff member
My beans are bush beans but I'm putting bamboo by them with string, will do the same with the cukes. How do you get squash to grow up?

train them to grow up whatever yo uhave for them to grow up on, you might have to tie the vines with panty hose or something to get them growing up for awhile
 

Dor

Active Member
Thanks Laurie. I have some pole beans too. I have some bush cand container cucumber seeds that I want to grow in large containers. I can't do much else today as I just got my IV for my RA and need to take a nap. This evening and the rest of the week rain is predicted.
 
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richnkim

New Member
train them to grow up whatever yo uhave for them to grow up on, you might have to tie the vines with panty hose or something to get them growing up for awhile

I will try to make the squash grow up. When I was a kid my dad grew squash and it was so huge. I didn't think you could make them grow in a small space. Thanks for the tip! :)
 

Mainegal

Super Moderator
Staff member
once they set fruit and the fruit starts getting heavy, you can put the fruit in a bra and tie it up or use panty hose to hold the fruit from ripping off the vine from the weight of it
 


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