Raised Beds

I usually raise my veggies in buckets as my yard is clay soil. This year I am doing raised beds. I will be using my buckets also. I'm doing the square foot method. I found some Greenes Fences raised bed kits last year. They had the 3 tier 4' x 21" x 4' for $15.00. They only had 2 left, so I bought those 2 and they gave me one of the 4' x 8' at 50% off. I purchased some cedar fence post that I will be using to build the other beds. I will be going 2 tiers on the 3 tier kits, This will leave me boards to make another 4' x4' bed. I was having a lot of problems with vines so I first laid down landscaping cloth. My dog Max is having a ball laying on the landscaping cloth. One down (need to add some more soil) and more to go.

Those boxes are NICE! Good score!

I LOVE raised beds and growing in buckets. Works REALLY well. I also grow onions in 2 Earthboxes. Nice score!

This message was edited Feb 12, 2015 8:28 PM

By breaking down the 3 tier to 2 tier I was able to get 2 additional beds. One 4' x4' and one 2' x 2' bed. I will still use my buckets and Earthboxes.

I never have had much luck with growing in pots. What do you use for soil? Do you reuse it next season? If you buy potting soil, do you have problems with it getting old, losing nutrients, and not performing well anymore?

I use a potting soil that is made for veggies. It usually says for flower or vegetables. I do reuse my soil the next year. I take it out of the pot and amend it with compost and worm castings. I feed throughout the season with compost tea. I want to start adding rock dust to the soil, if I can get it cheap enough.

Rock dust is cheap and easy here, so suppliers argue about which rock is best. I gather rocks, especially decomposed granite, aren't handy in parts of the country. In the long run, it is probably a good idea to have some "dirt" in your soil.

Can't find any rock dust in my area so I would have to ship. I imagine it would be heavy to ship.

It's going slow but getting there. I have started on the far back with beds. I am trying the Gardensoxx in one of them.
The first picture loaded upside down.

This message was edited Mar 17, 2015 3:06 PM

In Colorado's high dry climate, we have very intense sunlight. Your setup wouldn't work here because that mat/dark material would get too hot. I don't know about Georgia, but you might want to mulch over the top with something lighter colored, hopefully with some insulation value, too. Like sawdust or newspaper?

Those were older pics. I have mulch around my raised beds along the side of the house. The back of the property is still a work in progress. Here is a new picture of the beds along the side of the house.

Pictures of the work in progress. All of the beds that I had already put up were raised bed kits and they were so easy to put together. I wanted more beds but had to buy wood and put them together myself. I read that it was best to use screws to put them together. On the first one I used screws and my hands were hurting after putting it together and the crazy screws did not want to go completely in. On the second one I said the heck with the screws and I brought out the framing nailer. It went together in no time. Ya framing nailer!

You needed a drillbit for woodscrews, chuckl, just watch for the nails to loosen faster than the screws... good job! Never saw the soxx stuff before, gonna go find a descriptor...

I did use a drill bit but I had to really press on the drill to try and get the screws in. It is difficult when you are doing that from the side and not the top. I also have problems with my joints and that makes it even more difficult.

I have the same kinds of issues, weeding. As my screws are starting to fail (well, it's the wood that's failing more than the screws), I've started reinforcing the corners with the galvanized metal tape plumbers use to hang pipes. It has all those holes in it already, and can be wrapped around the corners. That, with roofing nails, seems to be holding well.

I believe you are gonna need to brace the sides. Once it's filed with heavy wet still, the sides may bow out.

You could pound rebar on the outside, or, pound stakes and screw them in from the outside of the box.

I believe you are gonna need to brace the sides. Once it's filled with heavy wet soil, the sides may bow out.

You could pound rebar on the outside, or, pound stakes and screw them in from the outside of the box.

Like below.

I'm am considering some Kratky hydroponics in the last bed. We'll see what happens.

I like the combination of large pots and small raised beds.

I fight the "bowing out" problem by using concrete paving stones leaned inward enough to counteract the weight of the soil.

It probably helps me that, even after amending, my clay soil is so sticky that it would probably support its own weight as a wall, once it dried out a little.

I use 2x lumber. Even my 10 beds have no bowing in the center. They are 8" high.

My beds are made from cedar fence post, which I think I may be allergic to the wood. I will find a way to reinforce them.

Don't have the rock edged pictures, the 4"cut posts border, but I love the cinder brick as it donates calcium to needy plants. The last bed is edged in liriope to keep the sandy banks of the little wet weather creek stable. My dau and I are about to redo the cedar bed in the middle of those beds-7 yrs has taken its toll. We also laid metal fabric either under or around these, but the metal fabric is only 2" under the dirt, and the moles tend to keep digging under which allows dirt to settle thru so, we are going to add newer base to the old and raise it a bit more.

kittriana I see you use Marigolds in your bed. I just bought some and was wondering if they should be spaced a certain way in the veggie garden.

Kit,
What're those flowers in the last pic? The white ones with the yellow centers?

Those were my paperwhites in Feb and March. I need to thin them some and fertilize, but I love their fragrance. This picture shows how well the marigolds did last fall, and that one has come back 2x now.

I'm almost finished. All of the beds are down. All of the fruit trees have been potted up or re-potted. I only have one bed to place soil in and a few more plants to put in the beds.
The first picture is my garden behind the easement. I have one of my Japanese persimmons in the large black pot and my pomergrante in in the small raise bed by the large black pot. The other beds have kale, chinese cabbage, broccoli, rhubarb, cape gooseberry, tomatillo, tomato, squash, green beans, culinary ginger, various herbs and goji berry.
The large pots along the left side of the second picture contain some of my fruit trees. This is the garden in front of the easement, along the side of the house. I have tree collards, peppers, suash, tomatoes cucumber, corn and onions planted in these beds. I have tomatoes in the 5 gallon buckets and onions, carrots, beets and radish in the earthboxes.
The third and fourth picture is my herb bed.

Marigolds are used to draw spiders that supposedly eat bugs. I can tell you they ignore the stink bugs, but I dont have aphids.
Plants that I use near tomatoes are basil, borage, and monarda.

kittriana thanks for the advice. I need all of the bug control that I can get. I will place some basil among tomatoes and marigold among my other veggies.