Building Wattle Raised Beds
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- Опубліковано 4 гру 2015
- Wattle has been used to build all sorts of things - fences, borders, screens, arches, windbreaks, etc. We're using it to build raised beds for our garden, and it has worked out fabulously.
There are definitely some things we wish we'd known when we started that nobody talked about in other videos we've watched, so here's our two pence on "The Things You Should Know When Building Wattle Structures."
Be sure to harvest branches from appropriate areas. Do not disturb protected areas (primarily wetlands). Do not harvest where it is restricted. If you need a permit to harvest branches, be sure to obtain one. If the riparian area ("pretty-isn little wilderness areas") are on private property, be sure to ask permission before harvesting.
Since hazelnuts don't grow wild where we live, through experimentation, we found that black walnut whips work really well for wattle-ing. If you don't have either hazelnut or black walnut trees where you live, you may have to do some experimenting of your own to find a suitable type of branch for wattle weaving.
Whatever you choose, the best type of branches are long, straight, and strong but still somewhat flexible.
I know this was six years ago , but if anyone wants to know a tip here;
Soak the sticks for at least 48 hours before weaving as it will cause the branches to be more pliable and easier to work.
I have heard the branches need to be harvested before spring to be supple.
Thanks this tip might just come in handy for me. I am about to clear a lot of saplings in order to fence off a rural property, while I recognize the saps could be useful to make a privacy screen later, I won't have the time during this project, I ll just have to store them for a month or two then try your tip.
Omg, too much work
We have tons of willows. This is my plan for a cheap raised bed garden as we also have tons of clay. I've been collecting rebar pieces for my posts in place of posts. Any wood in our area aside from willow is very expensive so not cost effective. I can't wait to start my wattle gardens and see how it goes!! Thanks for this video...so practical and visual.
Thank you SOOO much for such a great educational video! I've been wanting to do this and set up more raised beds and now I have a much better idea what we need to do.
I’ve loved gardening forever but I’ve never heard of this. We are never too old to learn! Great presentation...
Those beds look awesome!
Thank You so much for the visual... I'm beginning my Willow Wattle Wall in a couple of weeks.. I burned a bit of area today to put the cardboard...
Thank you for this video it helped me understand how to keep the upright poles straight 👍
Thank you for spelling it. Many of us are accustomed to "waddle". 😀
Thank You; I am really feeling this method; and I have nothing but tree branches around me; permaculture at best; thanks you from the west side of Motown!!!
Great video! Love watching present day old school method!
These tips are great! Thank you so much. I’ve seen various videos on wattle fences now but the tips on this one are the best
Thank you!
Great instructions! I’m about to do one tall raised bed with wattle. Good to get the insights you shared about how to handle the material.
God bless you that’s definitely a labor of love.
Thank you so much for this video. You really helped with the tip on keeping the posts straight immensely. I am going to try that for raised beds if I can get any posts into my ground, which here in PA is crushed slate, rock and sandy fill over a rock ledge, LOL. Don't know how far I can pound anything in that. I did see some videos where they used timber frame on bottom and drilled holes for the posts to fit in. Might work. I am really interested in making a privacy fence in the bottom of my overgrown hemlock 'hedge". I neglected it badly for quite a few years and all of a sudden I had 30 ft trees instead of a 6-8ft hedge between me and my closest neighbor. The bottom branches died from lack of sun so I had the dead wood trimmed down to the trunks. Now I have too much empty space and I think the wattling might be just the thing for that problem. The trunks can be used for the posts, although I might have to add a couple here or there. I think I'll be using black birch since we have so much of that here and probably some forsythia and wisteria vines. Thanks for the ideas, very informative.
I just found your video. Thanks for posting it. You have explained what I have been wanting to do for a long time. Great video.
love it!!!! i cant wait to make my own, thanks!!
Great job!
Great video. Now I know what to do with my fresh brush piles!
Doing outdoor work in flip flops is such a MOOD, omg I know it's dumb but seeing you do this really just make it work for me lol
Well done ❤
Looks great and you get a work out too!
Great job, thanks
We are building our daughter a tree house (well a house in the wooded area) and are planning on building a small wattle fence. Your video is fantastic BUT I was like... hey I like her! She is wearing flip flops while building! A woman after my own heart. :D
:) Not always, when gardening. Usually I wear hiking sandals, actually. But I wear flip flops a lot.
Informative and interesting! Thank you
+Marlene Guth You're welcome! I'm glad you liked it. :)
I'd love to see an update of the gardens!
I'll put one up probably late spring, when it's at its best for the year. :)
an amazing workout too!!!
This is great would have loved to have seen how you set the posts first
Very clever. You are very smart woman . thanks.You're a fan of FERI.
We have a natural border of hazelnuts that this would be an excellent use for! I'm always trimming them and have raised beds (log lined atm) but will be doing this for sure! Thanks 😊
Awesome
im thinking about moving to the family farm in Minnesota thats been in the family farm since 1880 and its not been farmed in 90 plus years so there is a lot of trees their and this is a perfect idea to use there
These are exactly the kinds of "been there done that" tips I was looking for! Love the balanced two-branch start tip. I'm about to start my first wattle fence raised bed (all bamboo), so I appreciate you taking the time to share this, because I was going to do exactly what you did on your first try!
You can use whatever local wood you have...we use alder branches for the posts (alders shed large branches all winter - it’s a hardwood and fairly durable - and the late winter prunings from our apple orchard for weaving. The apple withes are very flexible and durable and we have tons of them every spring. The whole thing cost nothing except a little time.
Nice😍
The stationary silly walk........And thanks!!!
I told my neighbors I was wattling and they think Im crazy. I'm using mostly alder branches, they are nature's coppice. Small softwood poles straight from forest for the posts. In a few months the wetland will be a nightmare to harvest. Thanks for the tips.
how long do the alder poles last in the ground? do they rot easily?
I'm building my first wattle fence and I was concerned about the longevity of the posts, then I thought, well, after the horizontals are in place, it becomes a free standing structure anyway. Perhaps a few cedar posts every 10 foot to keep things upright, but mine is a round.
Hope to see an updated video
great
Thank you for making this video . Would it help to leave them soaking over night before working with them?
wow this is amazing! Have you ever tried using apple tree branches?
So, when are you going to give everyone an update? It's been over 2 years. Thanks!!
6 years now...
It has been 8 years but I need a follow-up video!
❤❤❤
Would it make a difference if you soak the limbs in water? I am going to use grapevines. I have about 10 acres of grapevines...
I love the look of the weaving raised beds, but it is too labor intensive for me and also I’m afraid that when it rains or through watering it will loose a lot of dirt through the openings. Red wood is expensive but other wood can be used instead for a less expensive result that won’t be as labor intensive. Back at my grandparents day this was a very popular style and still many are still standing. Thank you for presenting this style of beds. They will look beautiful when all done and have a very nostalgic look!
I wish you still made videos
What kind of poles are in the ground? How tall are they, what are they cut from? and let me ask you a question, are they sharpened to a point at the end? Can you post a picture of the ground end of one of them? Thank you!
Have you tried using short (5 foot) steel fence posts for longevity?
Do you have any specific recommendations for a minimum height for a raised bed? or a preferred maximum area for a raised bed (for ease of use)? As an example, would 2 10ft x 10ft beds be better than a single 10ft x 20ft bed? or are there benefits to as big a bed as you can get? Thanks for the video, very informative.
Edit: The reason I ask for the minimum height is that were were thinking a half foot raised bed for better drainage. Should the wattle raise up over the edge of the soil (keep out pests?)? or should they be relatively flush with eachother? Again, thank you for your help. Keep being awesome.
I didn't see a reply to this and I don't know if you still need the information, but my group prefers 4-foot by 8-foot raised beds, because most adults can reach about 2 feet over to work while sitting down (and we were working with hardware-store lumber, which tends to come in even numbers). And we don't go very high at all, only 6 or 8 inches, with the dirt just about to the top. I hope you had good luck with what you did!
Your garden is lovely but I fear that the black walnut slips will cause allelochemical juglone, a very toxic substance that can kill your vegetables. I hope this is not the case. Good luck.
It doesn't, actually. We've had no trouble with the juglone at all. Since the wattle weaving isn't above the vegetables, it doesn't affect them. Any that is released goes straight down into the soil, well below the beds where the vegetables are.
Terry Bullough : You are very funny !!!!
@@kenbrown438 why is that funny?
@@ChristopherJones16 I was wondering the same thing lol
That's the first thing I thought of, too. Willow is better, I think.
Just found you. What part of the country do you live? I’m wanting to do this, so looked it up and found you. Thanks!
how do you finish... do you just dump the dirt in as is... or do you line it with something first? This is really great!
I just dump the dirt in. It holds it well enough without a lining so you don't have to worry about plastic stuff.
Drying off then Soaking the wattle before weaving stops it being so brittle
I've started doing some wattle here with, oddly enough, black walnut. It is what we have. Never thought about it for raised beds, though. Couple questions:
a) You said you expected it to last 'quite a while' but what is your actual projection for the wood in direct contact with the soil?
b) Are you at all concerned about juglone at all? Have you taken measures to avoid putting sensitive plants near areas which might leach significant amounts? Or is that a concern at all as you're using only the narrower whips with their lower concentrations?
Thanks for your comments.
I expect the posts to last 5-7 years, perhaps as much as 10.
I expect the branches to last about the same length of time. Because they still have bark on them, they may last longer. The bark helps protect the wood from rotting down. Also, they're not in contact with as much soil as the posts are, and because we use drip irrigation, they're not constantly in a flux of wet/dry conditions, which increases the speed at which they break down.
As far as the juglone that is exuded by black walnuts (all walnuts, to some degree), no I'm not. We actually use wood chip mulch from English walnut branches, and we've never had a problem. You do have to let the wood chips sit in a pile for about a year - the rain naturally leeches the juglone out and washes it away, and then it's fine to use. The branches, being intact, will exude the juglone much more slowly and, being on the perimeter of the bed and rarely coming into contact with the roots. Also, since they're not above the plants, but on the side, they don't leech the juglone onto the plants, but straight down into the soil below.
hi, I'm wondering why you didn't soak the weaving strips? I don't know anything about wattle fences but I did take a master class in weaving and you always soak the wooden strips used for weaving. Soaking the sticks would open up your options of a source material. Great video though. Thank you so much for posting.
It was unnecessary to soak them. They were freshly cut and very bend-able for my purposes.
🌻🥰🌻
I would be concerned using black walnut. We have several on our property. I was told that several plants do not like to grow around black walnut trees. If you have an update please let me know how the black walnut worked for you. Thank you
Any update on the finished product?
Wish I knew how to do the corners
Does black walnut split well?
Just how long do the sticks last? I used reg 2 by 12 on mine n they lasted about 4 years be4 being rotted. Ur sticks look like a awfull lot of work.
They're on their third year, and no sign of rotting yet. They are very dried out, and have become brittle, but they still hold soil just fine.
What about willow ? Ive got a lot of willow but probably is not gonna last compared to hard wood branches
Willow is ideal actually for wattling! Before this I was reading an article about how the practice came from England and that's what they use.
Juglone is a toxic substance exuded from the Black Walnut tree. I'm curious if your plants thrived in and around the fence. Did you notice any issues?
Uh, toxic is beyond too strong a term for anything to do with walnut trees. True enough some plants won't grow or are stunted by growing in the root zone of walnut trees, but many don't seem to mind at all. I have two mature walnut groves on my property that were planted in the 1920's. As you can imagine the trees are quite large now (80+ feet tall) and their root zones reach out a good ways. Directly under one section of the grove we have shade gardens that flourish and well within the root zone I have peach and pear trees growing and producing nice amounts of fruit. Think about it; people and squirrels love walnuts, it doesn't seem to harm them. The amount of juglone released into the soil by these branches is going to be so small as to be irrelevant. Also within the root zone of the other grove I routinely grow tomatoes, peppers, basil, onions etc...
This is the comment I came looking for.
Is this mostly for looks? I can't imagine a waddle would keep most animals out (it looks very climbable). Does look nice though.
depends how high you build, that all comes down to preference and the amount of sweat equity you want to put into the wattle. Wattling can be used in numerous ways, in one case, she proved it can be used to hold gardening soil in a raised bed if you weave tight enough. Supposedly, it would mean the same for larger things like cats and dogs but keep in mind animals jump and climb. it's definitely more appealing to look at than a chain fence or a picket fence painted eggshell white
Did you say "treated" posts? The green color indicative of arsenic? To make a garden fence with arseniced posts and walnut slips (also poisonous to plant and beast) seems like you either don't want your garden to grow, or you want to poison someone.
I thot BLACK WALNUT WOOD was not a good wood to use around edible plants, many annual veggies! I’d look for an alternative wood/vine?!
Starts at 2:49
I want to know how many calories you burned here!!! LOL what a fun video tutuorial!
Is this way to make a raised garden better than concrete blocks? They are sort of cheap, too.
I was promised an update? 13:09
where do you get the posts?
Taber Dean Look on craigslist for fence posts. I would personally NOT use chemically treated stuff. Only pressure treated posts. You will be eating from the area. Ive seen people get rid of them for free or charge a dollar. One ranch post would make like 5 of those posts. Youd need to do sawing though. I myself am using dead or dying pine, fir, and larch 3 inches or smaller. It wont be nearly as pretty or last as long though, and will be irregular. But free.
Yes, I would recommend the same. We actually didn't know that the posts we used were chemically treated. As we have to replace them over the next few years, we'll use different posts.
Thanks everyone!!
your bed are huge. it be hard to garden. also i make waste high as easer garden and fill lots good soil
Some of them ARE huge. If I could do it again, I would divide them in half and make them smaller.
Only bad part about this is that it take 3years to complete
Aint no straight lines in nature ay?
And these aren't straight by any means. :P
Haha