# Raised bed gardening?



## PopPop

I have been considering a few raised beds but dont have any good ideas on materials for the frames. If any of you have any ideas, I would love to hear them, Thanks!


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## Concerned_ Citizen

Ben fillin em up | Flickr - Photo Sharing!We are using shelving from stores that go out of business.......


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## Reblazed

Concerned_ Citizen said:


> Ben fillin em up | Flickr - Photo Sharing!We are using shelving from stores that go out of business.......


What a super idea! :2thumb:

What did you use to hook them together?


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## BadgeBunny

I dry-stacked two rows of cinder blocks. Not nearly as economical as some other ideas but I needed the sturdiness they provided. Worked good enough that I am gonna build two more beds with them this spring.


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## CulexPipiens

I'm considering using Trex or some other similar product as it should have a longer life span and unlike treated lumber, shouldn't leach anything into the ground. On the other hand, the warehouse where I work gets shipment crates with fairly long boards. They just get cut up and tossed after being unpacked. There is a group of us that scavenges many of the useable boards (1x3 up to 1x6 sizes) for a variety of things. These won't last more than a handful of seasons in the ground, but being free it might be worth it to just replace every few years and let the old ones continue decomposing into the ground.


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## ComputerGuy

Great idea for recycling. We are using old RR ties and the wife is doing square foot farming.

Last year (our first) wasn't a bust, but not a failure. Need to rotate crops and planting cycles


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## mosquitomountainman

ComputerGuy said:


> Great idea for recycling. We are using old RR ties and the wife is doing square foot farming.
> 
> Last year (our first) wasn't a bust, but not a failure. Need to rotate crops and planting cycles


Good that you've already started though. You're way ahead of the game! We get so many people say that if things get bad they'll "just throw some seeds in the ground." Yeah, right! It usually takes two years or more to get good at gardening. Especially in this locale where the ground is so poor. It takes us about threee years once we break ground to begin getting decent crops from it and another two years for the soil to be where we want it. And we use every trick we know!

We use rocks, logs and tires for raised beds. Go to a place that sells truck and tractor tires and they're usually so happy for somene to take their old tires that they'll help you load them. Use a knife or sabre saw/sawsall to cut the sidewalls out and you'll have the makings for a raised bed that will last a couple of lifetimes.


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## ComputerGuy

Yeah, we learned that potatoes grow best in tires and are easier to harvest that way. We are also very blessed because we raise chickens, and turkeys and the by product is great soil.

So eggs, great soil and turkeys for eating..Good stuff.


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## BasecampUSA

Hmmm... -wondered what to do with them old tractor tires that are stacking up here, great idea, I'll try that.

As for the raised beds, I'm lazy (and gettin' old) and like to till my beds with my Troy-bilt, so I just lay lonnnng logs down parallel to each other about a foot wider than the tiller and stake them in place for long raised bed rows - _without any ends!_ --That way I can drive the tiller right up on the bed from the ends.

Between the logs, I filled in loam and sand with compost and manure all mixed up, to get it ready to plant.

Sure, the logs will rot in 3-4 years, but I have 12 acres of dense forest, and a lot of tree culling to do each year, so the non-toxic logs are no problem to replace.

- Basey


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## catsraven

Pallats can be taken apart and used. The best part, they are free Just ask.


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## Herbalpagan

we used regular timber boards, 2" thick, 12" wide. got ones that were 16' long and made beds 4' widex 16' long. most are on their third year with no real wear and tear.


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## CulexPipiens

ComputerGuy said:


> Yeah, we learned that potatoes grow best in tires and are easier to harvest that way.


I've seen many references to growing potatoes in tires but wonder if the tire leaches anything into the soil or is basically inert in this application? Anyone know?


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## BasecampUSA

Quote CulexPipiens:
_I've seen many references to growing potatoes in tires but wonder if the tire leaches anything into the soil or is basically inert in this application? Anyone know?_

Well, I don't think they harm living organisms...

Because when tires lay around here collecting rainwater they are the best breeding grounds for *Culex Pipiens *



> Mosquitoes can find many suitable
> spots for breeding on farms.
> A favorite breeding
> place around many farms is the water
> collected in full-casing tires used to
> anchor bunk silo covers.


http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/uc185.pdf

-couldn't resist... sorry, no pun intended 

- Basey


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## ComputerGuy

I don't see problems with leaching

How to Grow Potatoes in Tires | eHow.com


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## mosquitomountainman

We stacked tires and grew potatoes in them one summer and it didn't do well. I believe the water wasn't getting all the way to the bottom so next time we'll put in a section of pvc drain field pipe and pour the water into it. That should get the water all through the column. (We hope.)

We've never known of a leaching problem with the rubber.


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## sailaway

Several Boy Scout Eagle Projects have been to build raised gardens at our soldiers & sailors home. They have used old railroad ties. I believe they build them up about 42"s. They put crushed stone in the bottom and then layer dirt.


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## CulexPipiens

BasecampUSA said:


> Because when tires lay around here collecting rainwater they are the best breeding grounds for *Culex Pipiens *


But of course I already know this. 

Short term exposure usually isn't a problem... it's the long term exposure. Year 4 or 5 or 10 or... whenever. Cumulative buildup is my concern. I don't know that there actually is any, just something I've been curious about.

Now, using old railroad ties would concern me. http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/factsheets/chemicals/creosote_prelim_risk_assess.htm


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## Concerned_ Citizen

Reblazed said:


> What a super idea! :2thumb:
> 
> What did you use to hook them together?


The shelves had holes already in them so we just bought nuts and bolts and bolted them together.......laid chkn wire and carboard on the bottom


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## PopPop

Thanks for the ideas, I think I have found the solution. I made a deal on a bunch of cross ties and have located some rubberized casket liner material to line the beds with. Now the challenge will be the construction and filling with suitable material.


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## tikiman

We've been using 2x6 or 2x12's for several years now. sealed the wood with old fasion high gloss tree paint to keep from weathering so bad. still doing good. I put a good mesh wire in the bottom to keep the gophers out, fill 1/2 with my dirt ( nothing wrong with it ... just the damm ghophers ) and then a mix on top.


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## Cahri

We used 2x6's reclaimed from an old building. We just used linseed oil and slapped them together


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## IrritatedWithUS

PopPop said:


> I have been considering a few raised beds but dont have any good ideas on materials for the frames. If any of you have any ideas, I would love to hear them, Thanks!


Garden Raised Beds at FreeWoodworkingPlan.com

This link has a DOZEN or so plans (.pdf) on how to build raised beds of different styles

That site in general is awesome.


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## dawnwinds58

People have different preferences when it comes to raised beds on looks, and purposes. I can tell you how mine worked and you can take that with a grain of salt and pick or choose what you want to do. I don't recommend treated lumber of any sort due to chemical leaching into the soil and then into your vegetables. Many of those treatments are from an arsenic base as well. Too risky in something you plan on eating.

I built 3 raised beds, 4ft x 36ft and filled them with medium such as wood chip, dirt from the pasture, the pile up where the horses wintered over on big round bale hay and chicken leavings from the henhouse. They were made out of slab wood from a local sawmill. Now slab wood means when a tree is cut, sometimes some bark is still on one side. Makes it no good for barns and such, but quite nice for the raised beds. I topped the sides at 30" with another board to make 32" with the flat board on top. Reason is I have a bad back and I planned on sitting on the edge for weeding. 

Weeding meant sit down and start scooting. I started at one end and scooted all the way around pulling by hand what I could, and had a small 2 ft kids size hoe that got the deep stuff out that had gotten in through the mulch. 

On the inside of the bed sides I put weed fabric that just draped to the ground. The permeable side faced the wood to draw moisture in and the non-permeable side faced the soil to keep it in. It only draped the ground by 4 or 
5" so water and rain could drain.

When I planted I used a tiller attachment on my weedeater to break it up, laid a layer of hay, added a soaker hose looped from one end, around the other end, and back up to where I started. Regular hose connected outside the bed till I got to the last bed where I capped it off. Then I put another layer of hay on top to hold the moisture inside when the summer winds were hot and dry. This way watering meant hooking one hose on one end and it fed all the beds. It was quite efficient. Just put high water users first, and lower water users last with the rest stepped in between. 

Every time the family found worms, they were collected and added to the raised beds. Made it our fishing worm farm as well. Any preying mantis were collected and added as well. Some stayed quite happy. Lizards, small ones like skinks went in too. Some stayed and some didn't. Spiders found there own way in and were left unmolested. 

I don't use pesticides or non-organic fertilizers. Sick plants and any over ripe produce is removed and burned to prevent molds, mildews, and fungus. Spent coffee grounds are added to the acid users and crushed egg shells were added for high calcium plants like tomatoes. Epsom salts, just a touch, helps with other mineral requirements. Then pepper/soap spray homemade, helped with the bad ones like Japanese beetles and potatoe bugs.

I made trellis to send what I could vertical, but planted pretty close together to hold the moisture. You risk disease transfer, but in the summer the heat indexes in this part of KY head to 105. Moisture is vital.

Were they pretty? Nope, and with the ground uneven they swagged a bit. Did they grow? ABSOLUTELY!! I had stuff being given away when others had a burned brown collection of twigs.

The way they were built it only took some step in fence posts, leftover half circles of water line, and a roll of plastic to turn them into starting beds to begin the season. Any old board repaired them when one came off. Two braces crossed the top at 9ft spacing for soil stability.

They lasted 8 years well and 2 more after the wood started giving out on us, 10 total. Not bad for cheap old scavenged beds. Then one year after the repairing was beginning to get ahead of us we had a spring of huge storms and a flood. That did them in, but we got so much produce out of them, we didn't consider it a loss as much as a sadness they had finally passed. This year? I'm trying something new. 

We found a local concrete company stuch with about 7000 specialty blocks left over from a government dam project. They 8x8x12, just 4 inches short of a regular concrete block and at least an inch thicker in the walls, no center split. We're buying them for 50 cents each and planning on rebuilding in block with all the other details the same. They'll have scrap rebar pegged in every 4 ft, and a wood topper much like a huge screen door frame with a cross bar. That will be attached to the top and bolted on to keep water out of the blocks.

These will be permanent beds as we now have the area we wanted to begin a cottage garden over a greywater system to reuse the house water. There will also be a rainwater saver, gravity tied into the soaker hoses as an alternate water source.

We're putting permanent "cottage" fruits in and around the walls of the enclosed garden, grapes on arbors, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and kiwi, also an arbored fruit. We plan on wasting no space going vertical where we can, like with pole beans and cucumbers. They all go up. 

I'm setting up a protected corner to try some figs up here. I had them as a kid in Louisiana and figured all they could do is winter die on me, but I might get one harvest in to introduce them to my grandchildren. 

Well, this is how we did ours and plan on doing new ones. Your call on whether any of the above is useful to you or not. It's just an option, and one that worked great for us. I have 5 children and 15 grandchildren, and no one did without fresh homegrown vegetables while they were producing. Watch planting things that will cross though. With plants that close together, if they can cross, they will and your seeds will be corrupted. 

Good luck!


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## dunappy

Hubby got a bunch of old non treated 2x6 boards in varying lengths. They made three odd sized raised beds. The smallest being 2x3 and the largest being 4.8 x 3.5 
Free non treated lumber is always good!



PopPop said:


> I have been considering a few raised beds but dont have any good ideas on materials for the frames. If any of you have any ideas, I would love to hear them, Thanks!


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## FireHeart

*raised beds*

I have used old railroad ties before, but more recently used treated lumber...it is no longer made with arsenci. Use galvanized 3" deck screws and staked it with scraps 1" x 2" x 12". I also used 2" x 4" x 48" as fence posts to secure rabbit proof fencing and also attached the raised beds to them when they connected. I also built my 2 bin compost bin in the garden; one was active, put in food scraps, the other was composting.


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## Ezmerelda

CulexPipiens said:


> I've seen many references to growing potatoes in tires but wonder if the tire leaches anything into the soil or is basically inert in this application? Anyone know?


From what I've read, the tires may leech zinc into the soil (steel-belted?), but that the amounts of zinc are actually good for the veggies. I have no idea if that's accurate, and now I can't remember where I read it.

It's a moot point for me, hubby absolutely refuses to have tires laying around the yard! :dunno:

He insisted on using pressure - treated lumber, but because of my concerns, he lined the boards with cut up pond liner to minimize contamination of the plants. So far, it's working better than the railroad ties I originally tried to use. :surrender:


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## BuggingIn

I have everything from damaged lumber from Lowe's to pallets and lumber from a dismantled trailer in my garden. Makes for some interesting layouts, but I think I like the whimsical look.  I really like how easy it is to maintain the raised beds. I put down soaker hoses and mulched everything with straw, so weeding is very easy. Not many weeds and they pull out really easily when I do get some. I have about 30 of various sizes from 2'x4' to 16'x4', plus the extra long ones I made around the existing raspberry and rhubarb rows. I'm still in the building and filling stages for even more, including some that will have hardware cloth in the bottom to keep the voles out of my potatoes.


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