I watched your “How to build raised for CHEAP” & $31.67 plus 15 minutes later, I had my first 8’x3’ bed! So Easy-- I’m hooked 🤣 I’m building 4 or 5 more 🙃 My city provides free wood chips & free compost so I can fill my beds for almost nothing. Thanks for your videos Luke. I need more help with starting seeds (no lights, no heat mats). I’m struggling!
Mariana Munoz you can make a cheap greenhouse hoop tunnel for your raised beds and just direct sow. If it's really cold, you can double it with an air pocket between the layers. Good luck!
Have you seen the petri dish seed starting video he did? I'd been starting seeds in a ziploc bag with a paper towel for years, but I've switched to that this year.
I added inside the raise bed bucket foil, works great. There is a space between timber and soil and wet soil inside in bed do not touch the timber so rotting is not an issue. Best from Poland
My raised beds are cedar 33 inches high. I do this because I can't bend over without pain at an old age. Yes, this means a lot of soil. To keep it so I don't need as much soil, I first fill the beds about 2/3 high with old firewood logs and wood pieces that will eventually decompose. This method has a name but I don't remember what it is. Maybe Luke knows. Filling the rest with soil works well for me. I put new soil on top each year and my plants love it. I think it's a good idea for young gardeners to think about, and plan for, how they are going to continue gardening when they get into their sixties, seventies, and more. Cheers.
Rhonda Charlett yes that’s how you save money on soil and fill deep beds. Also breaks down over time and leaches nutrients and gives a home for microbes to break things down.
My boyfriend just built us 5 beds. Probably close to yours in height. I’ve seen some smaller ones that are taller. I was thinking about doing what you described. I’m 49 and it’s getting harder to bend 😉
@@lindastonebraker2512 You're lucky you have someone to build them for you. I try to build two each year and eventually, there will be plenty to grow everything I need.
That shirt you are wearing was designed by my late brother. It is one of the last pieces of his art still being used. The Garlic Festival is this week, I think, drive thru. Thanks for wearing the shirt!
You forgot 1 main thing, raised beds are the best thing for older and disabled people such as me who don't want to stop gardening and growing our own food. Who don't want to give up their independence and have to rely on the grocery stores, don't forget that😊 Love your videos 💜
I had to put in higher raised beds due to my higher water table in my area. I bought 3 raised aluminum boxes. I used logs, smaller sticks and leaves to fill the bottom. I bought topsoil with things added in it. I had to really fix my soil here. I also use cut tree logs to make raised beds too.
LUKE!!! Your presentation was AMAZING! I don't think you repeated yourself at all. It was all crisp and information-packed with no chaff. Excellent job! It was 14 and a half minutes of raised bed gold. Got so much out of it!!
I have quite a few raised beds. If you really want something cheap and simple do a No Dig method bed only using cardboard on bottom and compost. Then put whatever edge to hold the cardboard down like scrap 2x4 lumber. Easy to add on if want bigger bed. My beds are so deep they go to the Earth's core.
Great idea no dig I tried a small space in my bk yard to try it. Like 2: 2x2 betwern patio and fence I was amazed at how well it germinated! I planted yukon mini gold potatoes from produce section at Aldi. About 8 potatoes, radishes, merigolds, bush beans, Lettuce mix and Kale. I cardboarded 2 layers over grass,, used black cow manure, and garden soil. I mulched it with straw watered every maybe 3 days. We got so much rain last summer in Ohio. OMG! It worked very well! I didn't put down boards around it. Wish I had nearest to the fence there's that incline or sloped area that I had to maneuver lol! It was a perfect spot Sun and part shade at beneficial time of day This year I'll move it closer to the patio, place board closest to the fence for leverage. I will used tall raised beds too mapping out my design now. Also I began with grow bags placed on 6ft folding tables so I wouldn't have to bend over. The height was just right and old foldable sides wire decorative baking racks. Perfect for herbs, the multi level rack shelves helped in my watering. I watered the top shelf and overflow ran down into the pots on lower shelves. Later I placed another flat type container to conserve the water to water other plants😁 2021 was my 1st year gardening didn't have enough to store for the winter but it kept me growing to the table and I shared quite a bit so much fun! 2022 I'm going full blown half of our backyard lol🤣😁 Thank you Migardner you were and are a big help love your channel!💯👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾😁❤
Was warm, sunny & breezy here in the MO Ozarks, but tornado weather is coming. That's just "the usual" here in the spring. Best wishes to all of my gardening friends where ever you are. Love this channel.
Got my early high intensity lettuce bed growing. It’s already rocking and I’m in Massachusetts. Thanks for your videos. My gardening skills are totally improving.
Thanks for the tips! We are in East China Two! We use cedar fence boards for our beds! Really inexpensive and easy to build. I'm ready to get to the lumber store to get more for our 2020 additions! Keep up the positive and encouraging presence. It is appreciated🌻
Is it 6" on top of infinite earth below? or 6" in a pot? or 6" on top of something like concrete? I dislike when someone says I grown "in this condition", yet if you're growing in 6" on top of bare earth, your beds are realistically way deeper. I think statements like this confuse new gardeners. I grow in 30" raised beds on top of a concrete driveway. The top 10" or so is compost, and the bottom 20" is wood chips. It's working great so far with everything I've planted in it.
@@middle-agedmacdonald2965 the square foot gardening call for at least 6 inches of soil for raise beds, I have a weed membrane and mesh metal grid for the voles and moles so the plants roots don't have access to the dirt below. All my beds but one are six inches. The only 12 inch bed I have are for long carrots.
Really rate Luke’s videos, but yes I was surprised that he didn’t recommend below 8”. We’ve got 6x1 timber for our beds and we’ve grown Nantes carrots very nicely - sitting on old soil with no new build bedrock in the way (100% compost in bed itself). I can imagine if you were growing on a balcony then 8”+ would be sound advice. The other cheap option is open sides beds which are actually more beneficial against slugs and snails as they like to hide in timber-made beds.
I have 6" deep SFG beds as well and don't have a problem. I have weed cloth underneath and under that is clay. The key to making growing work in that shallow a space is that the soil has be what is recommended for the SFG method. Regardless, I think raised beds (however you do them) is the way to go.
Happily my cinder block raised bed was made 25+ years ago with cinder blocks that were old as dirt even then and they've held up perfectly and I'm in a similar climate here in New England. Use what you have!
Great video. I think you are wrong on the cinder block issue though. Here in northern IL we have quite a freeze thaw cycle and I have been using the same half blocks for over 20 years and very few problems. Of the few problems most were my fault being careless while rearranging them etc...
I'm in PA. Same zones as MI. Been using the same cinder blocks and concrete blocks for my beds for over 20 years with no issues at all. Good investment for me. Not a single casualty to freezing and thawing.
I just built a u shaped raised bed in my backyard it’s huge! 16ft x 16ft with an 8ft w x 12ft long spot in the middle for a patio. I used pressure treated 12in wood planks from Home Depot. I’m so glad I found your channel a year or two ago sure helps me since I’m from the metro Detroit area. Great vid as always👍
Love the channel so much! I have bought seeds from you, had 100% germination through all different plants species I bough, and they are growing stronger than I could imagine. Using your methods, my garden is flourishing. I would love to see more herb growing guides but other than that, just keep doing what you do and don’t be afraid to say your mind and do what you want to do. Grow big or grow home!
This is just what I needed before getting in the zone and turning my compost pile in today's beautiful weather. I wasnt in the best mood before and now I'm much more motivated, thanks for the good vibes!
I added inside the raise bed bucket foil, works great. There is a space between timber and soil and wet soil inside in bed do not touch the timber so rotting is not an issue. Best from Poland
Just finished 2- 4x12x12 and 1-4x12x4 foot raised beds before dinner. So glad you cleared up the misconception of Modern Pressure Treated lumber vs the old stuff. Modern Pressure Treated lumber IS SAFE for raised beds and all other uses where human contact is made ( do your own research). For northern NH with it's extreme weather ( like 4" of snow yesterday 4/27/20 ) and a guy in his 60's- It only makes sense...don't want to be 75+ and out there rebuilding my beds again. Thanks for this primer on raised beds- they are so much easier to work with and maintain when you are doing the Ruth Stout or no dig method every year....they put the fun back into gardening !
Built my raised beds 24 inches high, feels better on my back, may go higher next season. Filled the bottom half with straw and some free clean fill and the top 12 inches is a compost and topsoil mix. When the straw decomposes and the soil level in the bed lowers I just replace it with the compost I have created.
I built and filled my raised beds after watching your videos where Cindy was the one doing the building and everything. They were perfect! Thank you so much for the help!
I also watched you raised bed video and we went out this past Saturday and purchased everything needed and we have our first raised bed and veggies 🌶 planted including carrots 🥕 beets, lettuce 🥬, collards, kale and much more!!! Including onions 🧅!
After 10 years of using pine raised beds, we switched to cinder blocks. The wood raised beds were being harvested by hornets to make their nest. We got rid of most of the wood in our garden to make the hornets go elsewhere to build their nests. We are in northern IL. It has been in 2 years and so far, no broken blocks. We painted the outsides a sky blue and if I figure out how to post a picture on here I will show you. I like that I can used the main center beds, and also use the holes in the blocks to plant more stuff, like marigolds or individual plants.
I used to have cedar garden beds and it only lasted 4 years due to the constant rain in my area. Ugh! I was so bummed. Now I am using untreated pine it cos tme only $7 per raised bed and some galvanized raised bed. Thank you Luke .
Great video Luke! Nice addition to your bed building video! I watched that video, then built four inside my fenced in garden which we recently cleared of 15 year's brush & tree growth. Without a rototiller, this was the best option to return to gardening. I'm learning new ways to garden thanks to you! Looking forward to your next video!
Yeah, I question his comment about the blocks. These are literally used, without special treatment, for building foundations. If they were not weather or moisture tolerant, wouldn't everyone's foundations be caving in? Also I would think blocks would be a bad choice in the desert or hot regions, as they would hold in heat and almost bake the plants, like an oven. But, whatever...
@@classicrocklover5615 But foundations go down to below the frost line, so there isn't the heave issue. Mortering concrete directly on top of soil, with the weight of the soil and all of the moisture, would crumble at the joint lines.
Oregon doesn’t get that cold unless you Far East. He’s in Michigan where it gets colder than most of Oregon. I lived above snow zone on Mt Hood for a decade. Rain is more a problem for growers than freeze.
I went with 1 part peat-moss 1 part compost and 3/4 part par boiled rice hulls. I have to fill my raised beds like they are a container because they are sub-irrigated/wicking.
Barbara Vance I’m about to pour some lightweight concrete walls 2 inches thick for a bed 3 feet tall, 3 wide and 8 long I’m hoping will last longer then I do haha
Silly Kitty I actually garden from a wheelchair as a paraplegic I’m pretty young but i relate so either tall beds or I have to get down on the ground! Gardening should be something adaptable and accessible to anyone and someone I’m really passionate about it in my community especially with the older folks in the local garden club!
This makes me feel so much better. We went with untreated pine in KY and I was worried we would only get a year or two out of them. Thanks for the reassurance!
I went with Southern Pine deck boards (1-1/8 x 5-1/2 and inexpensive), these have held up well the past three winters. I use them to hold good soil on top of the hard clay, and top them with some bagged compost/manure as it breaks down. Had some amazing crops come out of the small area. I live in SW Virginia, not far from KY.
We've had snow coming down here all day! I put a cinder block bed in 3 years ago, and believe me, we have LOTS of freezing and thawing every year - huge potholes in the roads everywhere. But no sign of any cracking as of yet of the cinder blocks. I also have raised beds of huge rocks I dug out of my yard when planting some fruit trees - those are going to last for a LONG time.
Luke, I soooo enjoy your videos. I def learn a lot!!! But something that makes me better about myself as a gardener is seeing weeds or whatever in between your beds and a 6 pack of cilantro with only 5 cells full (1 dud). Lol!! Failure is just an opportunity to get better. I get LOTS of opportunities for improvement!! Thanks for all you do in the life of gardeners and gardener wanna-bes.🤗👏🌱
I followed your suggestion from another video of your and filled my raised beds half with the soil that was around my raised beds and half with compost and it worked great! Construct the raised beds from off-cuts of logs bought at a local wood-mill (10$ per 12x4 raised bed)
We used roofing steel. For our area the cost of the steel was cheaper than untreated wood. The beds are round and went together in about 5 minutes with self tapping screws and a battery powered drill to assemble. Ive used the concrete blocks in the past and they burn my plants up. They were in full sun tho im in Indiana not Arizona and the blocks get quite hot. Ive seen a paraplegic garden in blocks and even pvc raised out of the ground to plant single plants in but the pvc will degrade in the sun and the blocks just burnt my poor plants. Nothing produce there just a few sparse leaves. My wood raised beds did GREAT last year. Ty SOOOOO much for sharing 💚🌱
I have done raised flower beds for decorative purposes, but I don't see many advantages for using them at my house for vegetables. I have very rich soil with almost no rocks. Therefore, my soil is probably as good as most raised bed gardens. I have never had any drainage problems that I have noticed. Are there any other growing advantages with raised beds other than the soil and drainage? I did also do a half raised bed vegetable garden at my father's house. On the slope behind his garage, I dug out about 8 inches of poor soil on the uphill side of the garden and built a retaining wall on the downside of the the slope. Therefore, I essentially built a raised bed into a small hill that I filled with good quality soil and compost.
Other advantages of raised beds would be that you can use them to contain an otherwise invasive species (I'm planting strawberries in raised beds for this reason). For those with physical limitations, you can build raised beds high enough to be waist level so they don't have to bend down, or can be wheelchair accessible.
Trend Investor I don’t see any advantage either. It costs money, it dries out faster so requires more water, there is limitless soil right there on the ground already
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! I'm moving to a trailer park 100 miles south of me in Oregon at the end of this month, and by next year I would like to have a garden. The problem is, space is at a premium, and the ground is extremely hard and very gravely. So a raised bed is pretty much my only option, besides pots. Gonna check out your other videos on how to make them. And yes, I'm definitely subscribed!
Thank you, I bought so much perlite at Lowe’s to add to our beds bc I did a lot of reading about square foot gardening (they didn’t have vermiculite) and we still have three more to fill. That just added to the cost so we will stick with peat moss and black cow - and next year top dress with our homemade compost I hope and pray! You have a great channel. Keep up the excellent informative videos - greatly enjoy 😀
Thumbs up on the Gilroy Garlic Festival tee. Just finished up two 4x12', 10" high raised beds in my small garden. I went overboard, but I built them to last. The bed is actually off the ground by two inches with an EPDM pond liner actually containing the soil in the sides. Its open on the bottom. The sides are up on precast concrete footers in each corner. The wood is treated and there's no soil contact, so they should last for life. I had just enough pond liner laying around for two, which allowed me to do things that way. It would've been cost prohibitive otherwise. Dug down a bit and filled with 18" of 2/3 compost and the remainder other organic materials and some sandy loam. Mulched with straw. It was a lot of material to move, but I'm very happy with them.
Haven’t been able to get out much yet... filled some beds and planted kale, radishes, potatoes and spinach. Southern NH is still fairly cold, rainy and just plain miserable... but hopefully with May approaching it will turn a corner because I am anxious to plant!
I just put in my raised beds and then I saw this pop in my feed. Instantly got scared I did something wrong and this was the UA-cam Gods telling... no need to worry
I was nervous about using treated wood for my raised bed but your insights have me a little more relaxed about it. As an extra measure I used TYPAR on the inside walls of the raised bed, it's in between the soil and the wood which still allows for airflow.
Definitely just bought into $300 dollars of raised bed organic mix from Costco.. going to roll with it for now as my compost isn’t near ready, but appreciate your tips and the other video about raised beds over grass!
Finally I found the video that I was desperately looking for. thank you for filling your channel with important things, just love spend time here learning and putting in practice all of this! 🙂😉
Very nice video! I am getting ready to to tear out our a deck that was built with treated lumber . I was thinking about using some of that lumber to build raised beds. Do I need to worry about chemicals from the treated lumber leaching into my tomatoes?
So I live in the one and built my beds with cedar but I put weed blocker down my question is should I buy worms to put in there or no? New to the game and love the content thanks a bunch
Dissembling pallets and refashioning them into veggie beds is also a viable material too. Look for the bigger/broader board pallets, they can be a bit harder to find. They show up at garden centers from their heavier merchandise, big box stores as well. Some can be pretty flimsy but the hunt can bear fruit when find the better pallets. Thanks Luke!
Here in Las Vegas, the soil has a high clay content, great for making adobe bricks. It is worth the money to buy a good raised garden soil. I used Kellogg 3.0 cu ft bags all natual for flowers and vegetables.
I'm in SA, TX. This is my second year with a cinder block garden. So far so good. I chose cinder block because it was cheap and easy. Maybe one day ill put in wood beds, but for now cinder blocks are accomplishing the mission. Thanks for the tips Luke.
This is the first year I built a raised bed ( I pray it works ). I also did 2 HT< pallets for herbs and short root things like lettuces. 🌽🌶🌱🌱🍃🌾happy gardening .
Know your area. We didn't know that we have many under ground critters. They ate half of our carrots and beets last year. We dug out the beds this year and put hardware cloth in the bottom.
As someone with spine/hip problems, it is difficult and painful to keep bending up and down to work on normal raised beds, so I did make mine to 20", which is the perfect height to sit in my lawn chair and work in them. To compensate for the extra space to fill, I used fall leaves (raided the neighborhood curbs the day before out monthly bulk pick-up in the fall!) then put my garden soil mix (blend of coco coir, compost, and native soil) over the leaves. Did that in the fall, so the leaves could break down over fall and winter, similar to the Trench Composting method. Made a huge difference in keeping the cost of the beds down, while making it much easier on my bad back, and the plants are growing amazingly, especially the tomatoes.
Thanks for the positivity in these trying times. Love the content. Tending to our garden has been the highlight of most of our days. Much love from Florida.
Thanks for your videos on how to build a raised bed. We got so hooked, that we built 5. Used untreated wood so kept it all within budget. So looking forward to growing this year.
I've excess fallen wood. Will be forcing it into shape for some raised areas. Probably boosting the soil quantity with sticks underneath and whatever compostables I can find.
Love your Gilroy Garlic Festival t-shirt. Been many years since I’ve been, but I loved those festivals. I’m in the middle of deciding on raised bed build and this was useful. Thank you.
painted untreated pine lasts a very long time in wet environments. Wood getting wet and and then drying over and over again is what wears it out. The soil side of your wood is the last part to rot. So if you make your raised beds out of untreated pine and are worried about longevity just paint or stain them with oil or latex based paint. You really only need to paint the top and outside, parts not covered by soil.
Just built four 24" raised beds 39"x8' and filled them using hugelkultur and farm manure compost. Spent $150 on four bags of potting soil cause I was scared of my bed being too rich with the manure compost. First year gardening and raising my plants from seed.
Copper Lysinate was used, back in the day, but it is still sold for Fence Posts and such. How do you WATER your Raised Beds? I have found by using the "RAIN BIRD" Drip Irrigation to be VERY BENEFICIAL and great with Water Conservation, especially when used on a Digital/Mechanical Timer (depending on Bed Sizes) a Multiple Port Digital would be great for up to 350sqft for early Morning watering. Plus, with using this Method, the Water goes to the ROOTS, and you don't have to worry about the Brown Spot that droplets will cause from a Sprinkler when the Heat from the Sun is Intensified! -I am not sponsered from RAIN BIRD, this is what has worked WONDERS for my Vegetable Garden for the past 8 years!- Take care, 🤓 -Thomas Port Orchard, Washington (Just West of Seattle)
I'm building new raised beds as mine were 10 yrs old. I'm going to get mulch from city as they've been cutting trees for power lines. I'm sure you mean older mulch, but my question is this. Does it matter if its a lot of pine as i was told pine sucks the nitrogen out of soil. Im sure the free stuff isn't all pine and it may have been from areas that were sprayed but does that matter? God Bless you for your honest and complete explanations. I live right in middle of Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, and Lansing and have found no one who tells it the why it is. My ground is all clay at least 10ft deep proven when we had a toolshed put up. Also when we tried to put a large fence around property. Any ideas what really will help this?🤔
If you have a bad back or disability like me them I suggest a elevated bed design. Same principal, just raise it 2 or 3 feet of the ground with inexpensive 2x4's and use landscape fabric in the bottom supported by hardware cloth and some spread out 2x2's to provide support for the weight and you're good as gold
In my new beds, I save 6" of the top space for compost mixed with the soil removed to build the beds. The base is filled with wood chips as are the paths/spaces around the beds. The next year I add wood chip compost from the paths and replace the chips. Haven't gotten to the point where the bed frames need to be replaced, but growing up dad would tear the bed apart, dig out the soil that built up over the years and start the process over.
I have some very nutritious soil in the ground but my family wanted the bed to be raised, so I bought some 2x8's to build, and go with some garden soil (about 3-4 inches) then cover the top with a mulch layer of straw.
I'd have to disagree with your view on cinder-blocks for raised beds. I've got three raised bed gardens in MN (which is very similar weather-wise to where you are at in the winter) and I've had zero problems -- they've been in place for 6 years and they're all still as sturdy as the day I bought them. They are heavy AF though -- so that's a consideration lol.
This is my first year of raised beds for me. My son and I are building them together from old painted/stained fence boards. I got a little worried because the wood is peeling and thought it might be contaminating the soil. So then I got the brilliant idea to line the sides with food grade plastic. It was from old horse feed bags and some were from bags that wood shavings came in, everything so far was free but want to know if that would give enough of a barrier to keep the soil safe for edibles? Have I overdone it? What do you think (or any subscribers have a similar experience? We are at the point of filling and I am using some bark pieces, tree branches, soiled horse stall bedding, cardboard to neutralize the wood shavings, and rotted horse manure. Will be mixing in some peat moss. I'm glad I saw this video about not having to use so much vermiculite, just peat with the compost, palthough I'm not too sure I have enough for all of the 16 beds we plan to build, so might end up purchasing some mushroom soil. In the walkways I have put down reused landscape cloth covered with soiled horse bedding and when I run out of the cloth I will use cardboard and bedding. I'm having a great time dreaming about all the luscious veggies that I hope to get out of my garden this year. I really appreciate the content that you have provided in all of your videos, Luke.
I live in Pacific NW, and I would only use cedar for garden beds for purely aesthetic reasons. Pine/Fir is still cheaper by 25-40% from what I see. Also, by the time your bed frame doesn't work, I'd imagine it's time to refresh your soil mix anyways.
We did raised beds at 5" increments. The posts are 12"-18" but we only put a 5" high side. We couldn't afford to fill the box. Each year we plan on adding more soil & another 5" side board.
It is easy to fill 30" raised beds. Find a tree trimming company near, you can get the logs and branches from them to fill the bottom 18-20", add some straw for the gaps (do not over pack) and viola. As it breaks down overtime (in yrs) you add compost mix on top to fill in what has settled. You can also just use straw bales (just go thru the straw bale garden prep to avoid overheating composting straw).
I grow out of pallets for lemon cucumbers, strawberries, bok choy, peas, green beans, celery, fennel, and Parisian carrots. They do great! Since I rent, I can't put l. permanent raised beds in. I just did a little research on how to tell if they were treated with chemicals. Didn't want to expose our food to anything unintentionally!
I watched your “How to build raised for CHEAP” & $31.67 plus 15 minutes later, I had my first 8’x3’ bed!
So Easy-- I’m hooked 🤣
I’m building 4 or 5 more 🙃
My city provides free wood chips & free compost so I can fill my beds for almost nothing.
Thanks for your videos Luke. I need more help with starting seeds (no lights, no heat mats). I’m struggling!
Mariana Munoz you can make a cheap greenhouse hoop tunnel for your raised beds and just direct sow. If it's really cold, you can double it with an air pocket between the layers. Good luck!
Have you seen the petri dish seed starting video he did? I'd been starting seeds in a ziploc bag with a paper towel for years, but I've switched to that this year.
I added inside the raise bed bucket foil, works great. There is a space between timber and soil and wet soil inside in bed do not touch the timber so rotting is not an issue.
Best from Poland
I put my seeds that i started near my heat vents NOT with the air blowing on dirt drying it out but nearby so the residual heat warms the soil.
@@Casiusss3 I'm confused.😳 Please explain?
My raised beds are cedar 33 inches high. I do this because I can't bend over without pain at an old age. Yes, this means a lot of soil. To keep it so I don't need as much soil, I first fill the beds about 2/3 high with old firewood logs and wood pieces that will eventually decompose. This method has a name but I don't remember what it is. Maybe Luke knows. Filling the rest with soil works well for me. I put new soil on top each year and my plants love it. I think it's a good idea for young gardeners to think about, and plan for, how they are going to continue gardening when they get into their sixties, seventies, and more. Cheers.
The method you use is called Hugelkultur. Very popular for high raised beds. :)
Rhonda Charlett yes that’s how you save money on soil and fill deep beds. Also breaks down over time and leaches nutrients and gives a home for microbes to break things down.
My boyfriend just built us 5 beds. Probably close to yours in height. I’ve seen some smaller ones that are taller. I was thinking about doing what you described. I’m 49 and it’s getting harder to bend 😉
@@rhondacharlett8216 Thanks Rhonda! It works quite well.
@@lindastonebraker2512 You're lucky you have someone to build them for you. I try to build two each year and eventually, there will be plenty to grow everything I need.
That shirt you are wearing was designed by my late brother. It is one of the last pieces of his art still being used. The Garlic Festival is this week, I think, drive thru. Thanks for wearing the shirt!
You forgot 1 main thing, raised beds are the best thing for older and disabled people such as me who don't want to stop gardening and growing our own food. Who don't want to give up their independence and have to rely on the grocery stores, don't forget that😊
Love your videos 💜
I've got neighbors who built 3.5 foot tall beds with a 12 inch bottom so their crops are up nice and high, and they built storage in under the beds!
@@victoriarotramel2274 what are they made of?
Thank you for always being positive Luke. It's really a light in a dark world to see people taking joy in gardening and spreading that joy.
I had to put in higher raised beds due to my higher water table in my area. I bought 3 raised aluminum boxes. I used logs, smaller sticks and leaves to fill the bottom. I bought topsoil with things added in it. I had to really fix my soil here. I also use cut tree logs to make raised beds too.
LUKE!!! Your presentation was AMAZING! I don't think you repeated yourself at all. It was all crisp and information-packed with no chaff. Excellent job! It was 14 and a half minutes of raised bed gold. Got so much out of it!!
Love the Gilroy Garlic Festival shirt. My wife and I grew up 15 miles away from there.
I have quite a few raised beds. If you really want something cheap and simple do a No Dig method bed only using cardboard on bottom and compost. Then put whatever edge to hold the cardboard down like scrap 2x4 lumber. Easy to add on if want bigger bed.
My beds are so deep they go to the Earth's core.
Can you share some pics??
Great idea no dig I tried a small space in my bk yard to try it.
Like 2: 2x2 betwern patio and fence
I was amazed at how well it germinated!
I planted yukon mini gold potatoes from produce section at Aldi. About 8 potatoes, radishes, merigolds, bush beans, Lettuce mix and Kale. I cardboarded 2 layers over grass,, used black cow manure, and garden soil. I mulched it with straw watered every maybe 3 days. We got so much rain last summer in Ohio. OMG! It worked very well! I didn't put down boards around it. Wish I had nearest to the fence there's that incline or sloped area that I had to maneuver lol! It was a perfect spot Sun and part shade at beneficial time of day This year I'll move it closer to the patio, place board closest to the fence for leverage. I will used tall raised beds too mapping out my design now.
Also I began with grow bags placed on 6ft folding tables so I wouldn't have to bend over. The height was just right and old foldable sides wire decorative baking racks. Perfect for herbs, the multi level rack shelves helped in my watering. I watered the top shelf and overflow ran down into the pots on lower shelves.
Later I placed another flat type container to conserve the water to water other plants😁 2021 was my 1st year gardening didn't have enough to store for the winter but it kept me growing to the table and I shared quite a bit so much fun! 2022 I'm going full blown half of our backyard lol🤣😁 Thank you Migardner you were and are a big help love your channel!💯👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾😁❤
Was warm, sunny & breezy here in the MO Ozarks, but tornado weather is coming. That's just "the usual" here in the spring. Best wishes to all of my gardening friends where ever you are. Love this channel.
Got my early high intensity lettuce bed growing. It’s already rocking and I’m in Massachusetts. Thanks for your videos. My gardening skills are totally improving.
Jenny Em im in MA too and im not having luck with lettuce unfortunately ☹️
Thanks for the tips! We are in East China Two! We use cedar fence boards for our beds! Really inexpensive and easy to build. I'm ready to get to the lumber store to get more for our 2020 additions!
Keep up the positive and encouraging presence. It is appreciated🌻
I had a company deliver several cubic yards of organic compost for my raised beds...so much cheaper than buying bags from the big box stores
Can I ask what kind of compost you used, how big your beds are, and what the total cost was? If that's not too rude, lol.
How did you source your organic compost? There are some sources to buy it from organic farms around the Phoenix area but it is costly.
Been square foot gardening for years in 6" of soil with no problem growing tomatoes or peppers and just about anything else.
Is it 6" on top of infinite earth below? or 6" in a pot? or 6" on top of something like concrete?
I dislike when someone says I grown "in this condition", yet if you're growing in 6" on top of bare earth, your beds are realistically way deeper. I think statements like this confuse new gardeners.
I grow in 30" raised beds on top of a concrete driveway. The top 10" or so is compost, and the bottom 20" is wood chips. It's working great so far with everything I've planted in it.
@@middle-agedmacdonald2965 the square foot gardening call for at least 6 inches of soil for raise beds, I have a weed membrane and mesh metal grid for the voles and moles so the plants roots don't have access to the dirt below. All my beds but one are six inches. The only 12 inch bed I have are for long carrots.
Really rate Luke’s videos, but yes I was surprised that he didn’t recommend below 8”. We’ve got 6x1 timber for our beds and we’ve grown Nantes carrots very nicely - sitting on old soil with no new build bedrock in the way (100% compost in bed itself). I can imagine if you were growing on a balcony then 8”+ would be sound advice. The other cheap option is open sides beds which are actually more beneficial against slugs and snails as they like to hide in timber-made beds.
I have 6" deep SFG beds as well and don't have a problem. I have weed cloth underneath and under that is clay. The key to making growing work in that shallow a space is that the soil has be what is recommended for the SFG method. Regardless, I think raised beds (however you do them) is the way to go.
@@lauriewilliams8221 you are right. The fabric only cover the rough surface. It is not tight. There are definitely a good amount of worms in there
I use higher raised beds, but I also use the hugelkultur method by filling the bottom half with small logs, branches, dead grass/leaves.
Happily my cinder block raised bed was made 25+ years ago with cinder blocks that were old as dirt even then and they've held up perfectly and I'm in a similar climate here in New England. Use what you have!
Because of the ash, true cinder blocks can leach chemicals into the soil, and you don’t want that if you’re growing vegetables
Great video. I think you are wrong on the cinder block issue though. Here in northern IL we have quite a freeze thaw cycle and I have been using the same half blocks for over 20 years and very few problems. Of the few problems most were my fault being careless while rearranging them etc...
I'm in PA. Same zones as MI. Been using the same cinder blocks and concrete blocks for my beds for over 20 years with no issues at all. Good investment for me. Not a single casualty to freezing and thawing.
I just built a u shaped raised bed in my backyard it’s huge! 16ft x 16ft with an 8ft w x 12ft long spot in the middle for a patio. I used pressure treated 12in wood planks from Home Depot. I’m so glad I found your channel a year or two ago sure helps me since I’m from the metro Detroit area. Great vid as always👍
Love the channel so much! I have bought seeds from you, had 100% germination through all different plants species I bough, and they are growing stronger than I could imagine. Using your methods, my garden is flourishing. I would love to see more herb growing guides but other than that, just keep doing what you do and don’t be afraid to say your mind and do what you want to do. Grow big or grow home!
This is just what I needed before getting in the zone and turning my compost pile in today's beautiful weather. I wasnt in the best mood before and now I'm much more motivated, thanks for the good vibes!
I added inside the raise bed bucket foil, works great. There is a space between timber and soil and wet soil inside in bed do not touch the timber so rotting is not an issue.
Best from Poland
What is bucket foil???
@@janinetucker8946 Bucket Foil has been designed for construction of the vertical insulation layer of foundations, walls
Just finished 2- 4x12x12 and 1-4x12x4 foot raised beds before dinner. So glad you cleared up the misconception of Modern Pressure Treated lumber vs the old stuff. Modern Pressure Treated lumber IS SAFE for raised beds and all other uses where human contact is made ( do your own research). For northern NH with it's extreme weather ( like 4" of snow yesterday 4/27/20 ) and a guy in his 60's- It only makes sense...don't want to be 75+ and out there rebuilding my beds again. Thanks for this primer on raised beds- they are so much easier to work with and maintain when you are doing the Ruth Stout or no dig method every year....they put the fun back into gardening !
Built my raised beds 24 inches high, feels better on my back, may go higher next season. Filled the bottom half with straw and some free clean fill and the top 12 inches is a compost and topsoil mix. When the straw decomposes and the soil level in the bed lowers I just replace it with the compost I have created.
I built and filled my raised beds after watching your videos where Cindy was the one doing the building and everything. They were perfect! Thank you so much for the help!
I also watched you raised bed video and we went out this past Saturday and purchased everything needed and we have our first raised bed and veggies 🌶 planted including carrots 🥕 beets, lettuce 🥬, collards, kale and much more!!! Including onions 🧅!
Inspired by your videos on building raised beds cheap... I now have 4 new 3x8 beds in my garden, plus a couple of 2x8 in my little greenhouse!!
After 10 years of using pine raised beds, we switched to cinder blocks. The wood raised beds were being harvested by hornets to make their nest. We got rid of most of the wood in our garden to make the hornets go elsewhere to build their nests. We are in northern IL. It has been in 2 years and so far, no broken blocks. We painted the outsides a sky blue and if I figure out how to post a picture on here I will show you. I like that I can used the main center beds, and also use the holes in the blocks to plant more stuff, like marigolds or individual plants.
I used to have cedar garden beds and it only lasted 4 years due to the constant rain in my area. Ugh! I was so bummed. Now I am using untreated pine it cos tme only $7 per raised bed and some galvanized raised bed. Thank you Luke .
Thank you.
Great video Luke! Nice addition to your bed building video! I watched that video, then built four inside my fenced in garden which we recently cleared of 15 year's brush & tree growth. Without a rototiller, this was the best option to return to gardening. I'm learning new ways to garden thanks to you! Looking forward to your next video!
I live in Oregon(zone 8). I have a cinder block raised garden going on 5 years now. Not a single cracked brick.
Yeah, I question his comment about the blocks. These are literally used, without special treatment, for building foundations. If they were not weather or moisture tolerant, wouldn't everyone's foundations be caving in?
Also I would think blocks would be a bad choice in the desert or hot regions, as they would hold in heat and almost bake the plants, like an oven. But, whatever...
Ours in Pennsylvania unfortunately break with time!
But we have quite a few for free, so I don’t mind replacing them in the long run. It was free, I can’t complain!
@@classicrocklover5615 But foundations go down to below the frost line, so there isn't the heave issue. Mortering concrete directly on top of soil, with the weight of the soil and all of the moisture, would crumble at the joint lines.
Oregon doesn’t get that cold unless you Far East. He’s in Michigan where it gets colder than most of Oregon. I lived above snow zone on Mt Hood for a decade. Rain is more a problem for growers than freeze.
Beautiful day, beautiful garden 🙆
I went with 1 part peat-moss 1 part compost and 3/4 part par boiled rice hulls. I have to fill my raised beds like they are a container because they are sub-irrigated/wicking.
Use 4" screws on corners, nails over time will come loose. You won't need the metal clips. Never use pressure treated lumber either.
Anyone that needs a taller bed to save there back should look into hugelkulture
Filling bottom part with logs/sticks
You have my attenchen (bad knees not bad back but kind of the same over all issue?)
Yep! That's me. Is it worth the money doing cedar for those beds? Or the metal one bed? I want to put in several beds this year.
Barbara Vance I’m about to pour some lightweight concrete walls 2 inches thick for a bed 3 feet tall, 3 wide and 8 long I’m hoping will last longer then I do haha
Silly Kitty I actually garden from a wheelchair as a paraplegic I’m pretty young but i relate so either tall beds or I have to get down on the ground! Gardening should be something adaptable and accessible to anyone and someone I’m really passionate about it in my community especially with the older folks in the local garden club!
This makes me feel so much better. We went with untreated pine in KY and I was worried we would only get a year or two out of them. Thanks for the reassurance!
I went with Southern Pine deck boards (1-1/8 x 5-1/2 and inexpensive), these have held up well the past three winters. I use them to hold good soil on top of the hard clay, and top them with some bagged compost/manure as it breaks down. Had some amazing crops come out of the small area. I live in SW Virginia, not far from KY.
We've had snow coming down here all day! I put a cinder block bed in 3 years ago, and believe me, we have LOTS of freezing and thawing every year - huge potholes in the roads everywhere. But no sign of any cracking as of yet of the cinder blocks. I also have raised beds of huge rocks I dug out of my yard when planting some fruit trees - those are going to last for a LONG time.
Built some a few months back. But need to build more! Thanks for the tips!
Luke, I soooo enjoy your videos. I def learn a lot!!! But something that makes me better about myself as a gardener is seeing weeds or whatever in between your beds and a 6 pack of cilantro with only 5 cells full (1 dud). Lol!! Failure is just an opportunity to get better. I get LOTS of opportunities for improvement!! Thanks for all you do in the life of gardeners and gardener wanna-bes.🤗👏🌱
I followed your suggestion from another video of your and filled my raised beds half with the soil that was around my raised beds and half with compost and it worked great!
Construct the raised beds from off-cuts of logs bought at a local wood-mill (10$ per 12x4 raised bed)
I love your channel🤗 yes your channel Small Garden Quest
@@classymom9047 Thank you
We used roofing steel. For our area the cost of the steel was cheaper than untreated wood. The beds are round and went together in about 5 minutes with self tapping screws and a battery powered drill to assemble. Ive used the concrete blocks in the past and they burn my plants up. They were in full sun tho im in Indiana not Arizona and the blocks get quite hot. Ive seen a paraplegic garden in blocks and even pvc raised out of the ground to plant single plants in but the pvc will degrade in the sun and the blocks just burnt my poor plants. Nothing produce there just a few sparse leaves. My wood raised beds did GREAT last year. Ty SOOOOO much for sharing 💚🌱
I have done raised flower beds for decorative purposes, but I don't see many advantages for using them at my house for vegetables. I have very rich soil with almost no rocks. Therefore, my soil is probably as good as most raised bed gardens. I have never had any drainage problems that I have noticed. Are there any other growing advantages with raised beds other than the soil and drainage?
I did also do a half raised bed vegetable garden at my father's house. On the slope behind his garage, I dug out about 8 inches of poor soil on the uphill side of the garden and built a retaining wall on the downside of the the slope. Therefore, I essentially built a raised bed into a small hill that I filled with good quality soil and compost.
Other advantages of raised beds would be that you can use them to contain an otherwise invasive species (I'm planting strawberries in raised beds for this reason). For those with physical limitations, you can build raised beds high enough to be waist level so they don't have to bend down, or can be wheelchair accessible.
Trend Investor I don’t see any advantage either. It costs money, it dries out faster so requires more water, there is limitless soil right there on the ground already
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! I'm moving to a trailer park 100 miles south of me in Oregon at the end of this month, and by next year I would like to have a garden. The problem is, space is at a premium, and the ground is extremely hard and very gravely. So a raised bed is pretty much my only option, besides pots. Gonna check out your other videos on how to make them. And yes, I'm definitely subscribed!
Thank you, I bought so much perlite at Lowe’s to add to our beds bc I did a lot of reading about square foot gardening (they didn’t have vermiculite) and we still have three more to fill. That just added to the cost so we will stick with peat moss and black cow - and next year top dress with our homemade compost I hope and pray! You have a great channel. Keep up the excellent informative videos - greatly enjoy 😀
Thumbs up on the Gilroy Garlic Festival tee. Just finished up two 4x12', 10" high raised beds in my small garden. I went overboard, but I built them to last. The bed is actually off the ground by two inches with an EPDM pond liner actually containing the soil in the sides. Its open on the bottom. The sides are up on precast concrete footers in each corner. The wood is treated and there's no soil contact, so they should last for life. I had just enough pond liner laying around for two, which allowed me to do things that way. It would've been cost prohibitive otherwise. Dug down a bit and filled with 18" of 2/3 compost and the remainder other organic materials and some sandy loam. Mulched with straw. It was a lot of material to move, but I'm very happy with them.
Haven’t been able to get out much yet... filled some beds and planted kale, radishes, potatoes and spinach. Southern NH is still fairly cold, rainy and just plain miserable... but hopefully with May approaching it will turn a corner because I am anxious to plant!
Lol literally building my raised beds right now
Will Thomas yep me too! Had them at my old house and I'm in the process of building 15 3x8 beds at my new home 👍🏻
Luke, you're my Masterclass.
(An ad for a gardener masterclass preceeded your vid today, haha).
I just put in my raised beds and then I saw this pop in my feed. Instantly got scared I did something wrong and this was the UA-cam Gods telling... no need to worry
It was a beautiful day, yesterday. Now it’s rainy & very windy. NW Ohio’s weather rarely cooperates for week straight. Thanks for your videos!
Great job getting information about TOXIC Chemicals seeping in ur ground. I hate those DIY tire and other dangerous item garden Idea videos
I was nervous about using treated wood for my raised bed but your insights have me a little more relaxed about it. As an extra measure I used TYPAR on the inside walls of the raised bed, it's in between the soil and the wood which still allows for airflow.
What is TYPAR please?
Perfect timing, new homeowner looking to build some raised beds in WA zone 8. Thanks for all your tips.
Definitely just bought into $300 dollars of raised bed organic mix from Costco.. going to roll with it for now as my compost isn’t near ready, but appreciate your tips and the other video about raised beds over grass!
Finally I found the video that I was desperately looking for. thank you for filling your channel with important things, just love spend time here learning and putting in practice all of this! 🙂😉
Very nice video! I am getting ready to to tear out our a deck that was built with treated lumber . I was thinking about using some of that lumber to build raised beds. Do I need to worry about chemicals from the treated lumber leaching into my tomatoes?
So I live in the one and built my beds with cedar but I put weed blocker down my question is should I buy worms to put in there or no? New to the game and love the content thanks a bunch
Dissembling pallets and refashioning them into veggie beds is also a viable material too. Look for the bigger/broader board pallets, they can be a bit harder to find. They show up at garden centers from their heavier merchandise, big box stores as well. Some can be pretty flimsy but the hunt can bear fruit when find the better pallets. Thanks Luke!
Here in Las Vegas, the soil has a high clay content, great for making adobe bricks. It is worth the money to buy a good raised garden soil. I used Kellogg 3.0 cu ft bags all natual for flowers and vegetables.
Thank you for sharing ❤️💗❤️💖🤗
I'm in SA, TX. This is my second year with a cinder block garden. So far so good. I chose cinder block because it was cheap and easy. Maybe one day ill put in wood beds, but for now cinder blocks are accomplishing the mission. Thanks for the tips Luke.
I used 18 16 inch pavers as walls and cinderblocks supports. Its filled about 12 to 14 inches in TN
This is the first year I built a raised bed ( I pray it works ). I also did 2 HT< pallets for herbs and short root things like lettuces. 🌽🌶🌱🌱🍃🌾happy gardening .
Just got some seeds from you . Gonna get them started.
Luke awsome video!
Thanks to YOU I have a beautiful cheap but healthy cinderblock garden💚
Know your area. We didn't know that we have many under ground critters. They ate half of our carrots and beets last year. We dug out the beds this year and put hardware cloth in the bottom.
Put some on top also
thanks for all the carrots and beets!
love,
the Gophers.
Yeah, I have a chipmunk condo community. Went to galvanized steel raised bed.
As someone with spine/hip problems, it is difficult and painful to keep bending up and down to work on normal raised beds, so I did make mine to 20", which is the perfect height to sit in my lawn chair and work in them. To compensate for the extra space to fill, I used fall leaves (raided the neighborhood curbs the day before out monthly bulk pick-up in the fall!) then put my garden soil mix (blend of coco coir, compost, and native soil) over the leaves. Did that in the fall, so the leaves could break down over fall and winter, similar to the Trench Composting method. Made a huge difference in keeping the cost of the beds down, while making it much easier on my bad back, and the plants are growing amazingly, especially the tomatoes.
Thanks for the positivity in these trying times. Love the content. Tending to our garden has been the highlight of most of our days. Much love from Florida.
Thanks for your videos on how to build a raised bed. We got so hooked, that we built 5. Used untreated wood so kept it all within budget. So looking forward to growing this year.
I've excess fallen wood. Will be forcing it into shape for some raised areas. Probably boosting the soil quantity with sticks underneath and whatever compostables I can find.
I noticed the loops on the raised bed behind you. Do you have a video for protective netting or something?
Love your Gilroy Garlic Festival t-shirt. Been many years since I’ve been, but I loved those festivals.
I’m in the middle of deciding on raised bed build and this was useful. Thank you.
Watching this while its sleeting in louisiana. Yep feels so nice.
Excellent!
painted untreated pine lasts a very long time in wet environments. Wood getting wet and and then drying over and over again is what wears it out. The soil side of your wood is the last part to rot. So if you make your raised beds out of untreated pine and are worried about longevity just paint or stain them with oil or latex based paint. You really only need to paint the top and outside, parts not covered by soil.
I'm a first time gardener, so, this is so very helpful!
good job son . . Keep it up
I just put in a raised bed today and didn't watch this exact video before. Watching it now and hoping I did it right lol fingers crossed.
Just built four 24" raised beds 39"x8' and filled them using hugelkultur and farm manure compost. Spent $150 on four bags of potting soil cause I was scared of my bed being too rich with the manure compost. First year gardening and raising my plants from seed.
Let’s get to it!
Your videos are so helpful, and you clearly have a passion for gardening and sharing knowledge. Thank you!
Copper Lysinate was used, back in the day, but it is still sold for Fence Posts and such.
How do you WATER your Raised Beds?
I have found by using the "RAIN BIRD" Drip Irrigation to be VERY BENEFICIAL and great with Water Conservation, especially when used on a Digital/Mechanical Timer (depending on Bed Sizes) a Multiple Port Digital would be great for up to 350sqft for early Morning watering.
Plus, with using this Method, the Water goes to the ROOTS, and you don't have to worry about the Brown Spot that droplets will cause from a Sprinkler when the Heat from the Sun is Intensified!
-I am not sponsered from RAIN BIRD, this is what has worked WONDERS for my Vegetable Garden for the past 8 years!-
Take care,
🤓 -Thomas
Port Orchard, Washington
(Just West of Seattle)
Nice video learned how to make bed - was quite scared on how to do it.
I'm building new raised beds as mine were 10 yrs old. I'm going to get mulch from city as they've been cutting trees for power lines. I'm sure you mean older mulch, but my question is this. Does it matter if its a lot of pine as i was told pine sucks the nitrogen out of soil. Im sure the free stuff isn't all pine and it may have been from areas that were sprayed but does that matter? God Bless you for your honest and complete explanations. I live right in middle of Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, and Lansing and have found no one who tells it the why it is. My ground is all clay at least 10ft deep proven when we had a toolshed put up. Also when we tried to put a large fence around property. Any ideas what really will help this?🤔
Great video and advice. Thanks. Marshall Hosel
If you have a bad back or disability like me them I suggest a elevated bed design. Same principal, just raise it 2 or 3 feet of the ground with inexpensive 2x4's and use landscape fabric in the bottom supported by hardware cloth and some spread out 2x2's to provide support for the weight and you're good as gold
In my new beds, I save 6" of the top space for compost mixed with the soil removed to build the beds. The base is filled with wood chips as are the paths/spaces around the beds. The next year I add wood chip compost from the paths and replace the chips. Haven't gotten to the point where the bed frames need to be replaced, but growing up dad would tear the bed apart, dig out the soil that built up over the years and start the process over.
I lived in Gilroy for a little bit. The smell of garlic was so strong in the growing season.
Thank you! This answered a lot of my questions!
I have some very nutritious soil in the ground but my family wanted the bed to be raised, so I bought some 2x8's to build, and go with some garden soil (about 3-4 inches) then cover the top with a mulch layer of straw.
I'd have to disagree with your view on cinder-blocks for raised beds. I've got three raised bed gardens in MN (which is very similar weather-wise to where you are at in the winter) and I've had zero problems -- they've been in place for 6 years and they're all still as sturdy as the day I bought them.
They are heavy AF though -- so that's a consideration lol.
This is my first year of raised beds for me. My son and I are building them together from old painted/stained fence boards. I got a little worried because the wood is peeling and thought it might be contaminating the soil.
So then I got the brilliant idea to line the sides with food grade plastic. It was from old horse feed bags and some were from bags that wood shavings came in, everything so far was free but want to know if that would give enough of a barrier to keep the soil safe for edibles? Have I overdone it? What do you think (or any subscribers have a similar experience?
We are at the point of filling and I am using some bark pieces, tree branches, soiled horse stall bedding, cardboard to neutralize the wood shavings, and rotted horse manure. Will be mixing in some peat moss.
I'm glad I saw this video about not having to use so much vermiculite, just peat with the compost, palthough I'm not too sure I have enough for all of the 16 beds we plan to build, so might end up purchasing some mushroom soil.
In the walkways I have put down reused landscape cloth covered with soiled horse bedding and when I run out of the cloth I will use cardboard and bedding.
I'm having a great time dreaming about all the luscious veggies that I hope to get out of my garden this year.
I really appreciate the content that you have provided in all of your videos, Luke.
I live in Pacific NW, and I would only use cedar for garden beds for purely aesthetic reasons. Pine/Fir is still cheaper by 25-40% from what I see. Also, by the time your bed frame doesn't work, I'd imagine it's time to refresh your soil mix anyways.
I saw two posts on my Facebook marketplace today - one for mushroom compost and one for peat moss. Gonna pick them both up, for free!!
We did raised beds at 5" increments. The posts are 12"-18" but we only put a 5" high side. We couldn't afford to fill the box. Each year we plan on adding more soil & another 5" side board.
It hit the 80s here in Oregon. Gorgeous day!
89 here in California
It is easy to fill 30" raised beds. Find a tree trimming company near, you can get the logs and branches from them to fill the bottom 18-20", add some straw for the gaps (do not over pack) and viola. As it breaks down overtime (in yrs) you add compost mix on top to fill in what has settled. You can also just use straw bales (just go thru the straw bale garden prep to avoid overheating composting straw).
I grow out of pallets for lemon cucumbers, strawberries, bok choy, peas, green beans, celery, fennel, and Parisian carrots. They do great! Since I rent, I can't put l. permanent raised beds in.
I just did a little research on how to tell if they were treated with chemicals. Didn't want to expose our food to anything unintentionally!