You’re exactly right on in my view. One I think under appreciated benefit of the in-ground beds in cold climates is the thermal protection when trying to eek out every last Fall growing day and I also expect an advantage to cooler root zone during heat of summer in hot summers like ours. I think not a giant benefit but every bit helps.
I had little choice but to use raised beds. My back yard used to be a small parking lot so there is no actual soil. Just rock, sand, bolders and concrete chunks with a layer of gravel on top. I would have had to put out a lot of cash to get that all dug up, hauled away and garden soil trucked in. So .. I built raised beds mostly out of upcycled wood, then filled the bottom half of them with leaves and soil on top of that. Gardens do great! Between the beds I put a good layer of wood chips (chip drop) and inoculated them with "winecap" mushroom spawn. I get lots of mushrooms spring and early fall. I also planted multiple fruit trees. Where the trees shade, if there is a garden there, I plant stuff that likes shade. I also planted grape vines, kiwi vines and some other vine plants for the flowers which help bring on lots of bees and other good insects, birds, and so on. I do a little bit every year. 12 years at it so far and I have myself a little backyard food forest lol.
I plant marigolds in my polytunnel to attract pollinators & can't say I've had any pest issues (never knew they were supposed to repel pests but the do attract hoverflies & bees. The last raised beds I built were from plastic scaffold boards, themselves made from recycled material. I moved home 10 years ago but have kept in touch with & visit the people who bought my last place & those beds are still as solid as when I made them in 2008. Today, I grow at ground level - much less hassle & with going 'no till' I do a lot less bending (I'm happy to sit on the interbed paths to weed & harvest, as they're all woodchip).
Love how you're collaborating with Greg at Maritime Gardening! Love both of your channels! Thanks so much for a great video! Ive been teaching how to use raw & reclaimed materials to construct raised beds & support sections for swales & berms - trying to help build some excitement locally to better care for our environment. 😊
Pavers make excellent raise bed material and you can usually get a truck load for free it you are willing to lift them from some ones driveway because they either did not maintaint it or lay them properly ( often both ) . And drive way pavers are usually 2" thick so they build up quite quickly . When I used hem I also did a border around the bed with the pavers 1/2 buried in the lawn to make a mowing strip. I also like to do the same with pavers for borders 1/2 buried sideways they are perfect for retaining mulch and again a second row flat for a mowing strip. However I am lazy so 3 times a year the "mowing strip" gets a quick one over with 1/2 strength glyco phosphate .
There might be one regional consideration. In regions where drought is common, adjacent trees will eventually invade your raised bed garden. The roots from the trees suck up the nutrients and moisture and significantly reduce productivity. I had to convert my raised bed garden to container gardening. The productivity is much greater.
Oh, yes, indeed. My trees are loving the raised bed nutrients. It's a lot of work - yet, I'll just share & try to feed both the trees & plants. Eventually, I will break the raised beds down & distribute in the adjacent garden. I'm building swales & berms to capture water on my sloped yard down to the salt marsh where I live. 😊
I have made a lot of raised garden beds because I have lived in rented properties for the past 30 years ( messy separation ) and in 4 houses all I used was old bricks . With no cement they will stack about 4 high ( 8" , Aussie bricks are 9" x 4" x 2" ) and in every case they were filled with nothing but compost which I made Some times I would add some "borrowed" road base or coarse river sand to add some strength but they were always against a wall and when I left the compust gat bagged up & the bricks loaded into my van. If on grass , a handful of lawn repair usually fixed the dead patch . PS. I do like our channel. Just fell over it a few weeks ago. As a person with an engineering science qualification I abhor all of the idiots spreading old wives tales, 1/2 truths & downright lies because they have no fundamental understand of plants & gardening which is stupid because all you have to do is look around you as nature is everywhere . FWIW, I am just a tad younger than you and so I date from the bad old days of bare soil & the seeds + water + fertilizer = crop days . We have come a very long way in 60 years and now probably know almost as much as the natives din 4,000 years ago when people just watched & listened .
I was just wondering if putting weeds into a bucket of water can make fertilizer. I thought you had a video on that but can’t find it. Just asking for a friend. Thanks for all your help and hard work!! You are the best UA-camr.
Yes it's called weed tea. Drop weeds into the water, place a lid on it. Allow it to ferment up to 30 days or so, stirring occasionally. Dilute this solution before use. ( You'll have to do some research to confirm the correct dilution but from memory 1L concentrate to 10L water. )
Just keep in mind - the bacteria that grows is anaerobic (no oxygen) & does not immediately assist when applied to aerobic soils. There can be an initial decline or plateau before the aerobic bacteria can take advantage of the dead anaerobic bacteria - they will consume it. Best to chop /mulch with your mower & simply spread around or add to your compost pile. Easier & part of the natural process.
What are your thoughts of the Vegepod? I bought one to put on our deck as that is our only sunny location in our yard. I absolutely love it. I am hoping to start my seedlings in it in the spring as well as extending the the growing season.
Central Texas here where cut limestone 6, 8 &10 inches height x 4 x 2 ft+- is readily available reinforced by rebar as needed...never rots...Marigolds are spider mite magnets in Texas. I started with pine and after rotting chipped into mulch.
Could you try straw bales? I had a idea that you condition straw bales with urea and use plugs (starter plants) and let it turn to compost over the season. You essentially get a 1 season raised bed that turns into compost.
Marigold does nothing against white fly. My neighbours planted it everywhere & their tomato crops were decimated. While inspection of the marigold revealed huge infestations of white fly! 😂 ( Neighbours removed marigolds & now tomatoes are flourishing every season ! ) 🤔
I paint wood with old engine oil and that stops both rot & most timber boring insects . We used to paint our fence posts and the bottom of the pailings with old engine oil in the house where I was born and that fence was still there 50 years latter when the property was sold . And to top it off the 2; between the fence & the garden part was a veggie garden that fed the family of 8 ( originally ) and despite all of the "experts" with the spectrum analysers non of us or any of the other people we swapped food with grew 7 fingers of died prematurely from all sorts of cancers . Mineral oil is in fact a natural product but don't tell the green idiots that .
You’re exactly right on in my view.
One I think under appreciated benefit of the in-ground beds in cold climates is the thermal protection when trying to eek out every last Fall growing day and I also expect an advantage to cooler root zone during heat of summer in hot summers like ours. I think not a giant benefit but every bit helps.
I had little choice but to use raised beds. My back yard used to be a small parking lot so there is no actual soil. Just rock, sand, bolders and concrete chunks with a layer of gravel on top. I would have had to put out a lot of cash to get that all dug up, hauled away and garden soil trucked in. So .. I built raised beds mostly out of upcycled wood, then filled the bottom half of them with leaves and soil on top of that. Gardens do great! Between the beds I put a good layer of wood chips (chip drop) and inoculated them with "winecap" mushroom spawn. I get lots of mushrooms spring and early fall. I also planted multiple fruit trees. Where the trees shade, if there is a garden there, I plant stuff that likes shade. I also planted grape vines, kiwi vines and some other vine plants for the flowers which help bring on lots of bees and other good insects, birds, and so on. I do a little bit every year. 12 years at it so far and I have myself a little backyard food forest lol.
I plant marigolds in my polytunnel to attract pollinators & can't say I've had any pest issues (never knew they were supposed to repel pests but the do attract hoverflies & bees.
The last raised beds I built were from plastic scaffold boards, themselves made from recycled material.
I moved home 10 years ago but have kept in touch with & visit the people who bought my last place & those beds are still as solid as when I made them in 2008.
Today, I grow at ground level - much less hassle & with going 'no till' I do a lot less bending (I'm happy to sit on the interbed paths to weed & harvest, as they're all woodchip).
Love how you're collaborating with Greg at Maritime Gardening! Love both of your channels! Thanks so much for a great video! Ive been teaching how to use raw & reclaimed materials to construct raised beds & support sections for swales & berms - trying to help build some excitement locally to better care for our environment. 😊
Pavers make excellent raise bed material and you can usually get a truck load for free it you are willing to lift them from some ones driveway because they either did not maintaint it or lay them properly ( often both ) . And drive way pavers are usually 2" thick so they build up quite quickly .
When I used hem I also did a border around the bed with the pavers 1/2 buried in the lawn to make a mowing strip.
I also like to do the same with pavers for borders 1/2 buried sideways they are perfect for retaining mulch and again a second row flat for a mowing strip.
However I am lazy so 3 times a year the "mowing strip" gets a quick one over with 1/2 strength glyco phosphate .
There might be one regional consideration. In regions where drought is common, adjacent trees will eventually invade your raised bed garden. The roots from the trees suck up the nutrients and moisture and significantly reduce productivity. I had to convert my raised bed garden to container gardening. The productivity is much greater.
Might be happening to me
Oh, yes, indeed. My trees are loving the raised bed nutrients. It's a lot of work - yet, I'll just share & try to feed both the trees & plants. Eventually, I will break the raised beds down & distribute in the adjacent garden. I'm building swales & berms to capture water on my sloped yard down to the salt marsh where I live. 😊
i use the galv metal beds and also just in-ground. the metal beds are great and the best option for cost/longevity
I have made a lot of raised garden beds because I have lived in rented properties for the past 30 years ( messy separation ) and in 4 houses all I used was old bricks .
With no cement they will stack about 4 high ( 8" , Aussie bricks are 9" x 4" x 2" ) and in every case they were filled with nothing but compost which I made
Some times I would add some "borrowed" road base or coarse river sand to add some strength but they were always against a wall and when I left the compust gat bagged up & the bricks loaded into my van.
If on grass , a handful of lawn repair usually fixed the dead patch .
PS.
I do like our channel.
Just fell over it a few weeks ago.
As a person with an engineering science qualification I abhor all of the idiots spreading old wives tales, 1/2 truths & downright lies because they have no fundamental understand of plants & gardening which is stupid because all you have to do is look around you as nature is everywhere .
FWIW, I am just a tad younger than you and so I date from the bad old days of bare soil & the seeds + water + fertilizer = crop days .
We have come a very long way in 60 years and now probably know almost as much as the natives din 4,000 years ago when people just watched & listened .
I was just wondering if putting weeds into a bucket of water can make fertilizer. I thought you had a video on that but can’t find it. Just asking for a friend. Thanks for all your help and hard work!! You are the best UA-camr.
Yes it's called weed tea. Drop weeds into the water, place a lid on it. Allow it to ferment up to 30 days or so, stirring occasionally. Dilute this solution before use. ( You'll have to do some research to confirm the correct dilution but from memory 1L concentrate to 10L water. )
Just keep in mind - the bacteria that grows is anaerobic (no oxygen) & does not immediately assist when applied to aerobic soils. There can be an initial decline or plateau before the aerobic bacteria can take advantage of the dead anaerobic bacteria - they will consume it. Best to chop /mulch with your mower & simply spread around or add to your compost pile. Easier & part of the natural process.
What are your thoughts of the Vegepod? I bought one to put on our deck as that is our only sunny location in our yard. I absolutely love it. I am hoping to start my seedlings in it in the spring as well as extending the the growing season.
Central Texas here where cut limestone 6, 8 &10 inches height x 4 x 2 ft+- is readily available reinforced by rebar as needed...never rots...Marigolds are spider mite magnets in Texas. I started with pine and after rotting chipped into mulch.
I bet those brick beds keep the temperatures steady- unlike an aluminum shell.
Those funny triangular ( V if your like ) raised beds look very much like feeding troughs from an old dairy milking shed
Could you try straw bales?
I had a idea that you condition straw bales with urea and use plugs (starter plants) and let it turn to compost over the season.
You essentially get a 1 season raised bed that turns into compost.
Marigold does nothing against white fly. My neighbours planted it everywhere & their tomato crops were decimated. While inspection of the marigold revealed huge infestations of white fly! 😂
( Neighbours removed marigolds & now tomatoes are flourishing every season ! ) 🤔
I am wondering what your view is on coating wood raised beds with linseed oil, inside and out, prior to filling?
Great way to add years to your beds & very much worth it!
I paint wood with old engine oil and that stops both rot & most timber boring insects .
We used to paint our fence posts and the bottom of the pailings with old engine oil in the house where I was born and that fence was still there 50 years latter when the property was sold . And to top it off the 2; between the fence & the garden part was a veggie garden that fed the family of 8 ( originally ) and despite all of the "experts" with the spectrum analysers non of us or any of the other people we swapped food with grew 7 fingers of died prematurely from all sorts of cancers . Mineral oil is in fact a natural product but don't tell the green idiots that .
I've heard of that from a friend - similar results. Thanks@@Rovert_0987
clearly those are 2x6s not 2x4s
the cost oh the cost. Galv roofing panels used to be cheap but now it's about $50 each bed now.
the only time you need to bend-over for your garden, is when your property taxes are due