I made three of your boxes this week. :) so proud of myself at age 63. Today we trimmed trees, now I have the limbs to start filling my boxes, with the yard leaves and such I just raked up. Can't wait to start planting in a month. I've had several people tell me how great the boxes look, thank you for giving such a informative video on how to make them. I did use screws.
First off if you have a rodent issue like we have, (Voles and Field Mice) you need to place 1/4' hardware cloth on the bottom to keep them from tunneling under and turning your garden bed into a mouse condo building! I mix lawn clippings (Grass) with the fall leaves as well as sticks, twigs and all my kitchen scraps (banana peels, potato skins, carrot skins, corn cobs, tea bags, coffee grounds and the soil I get is AMAZING! Then every time I mow the lawn the clippings become the mulch!
Love your raised beds. We made one this year, super easy to build . Going to make several more next year . We are also going to made a flower bed using you plan . It going to be a little smaller ❤
When I was your age I used to do all the hand mixing after topically adding new compost every year. Now I am in my 70's. Last year I bought a cheap electric rototiller to do that. It goes 5 or 6 inches deep. You can knock out one of those beds in minutes. Good luck, and frankly, in these days it sounds creepy, but watching your children take part in the process is one of the best parts of the videos. Oh, you may want to look into making your own compost. UA-cam has no shortage of videos on how to do that.
I just found your channel. I'm 20 miles north of Wichita, so it's nice to find a channel close to home. The California gardening channels, while interesting, hold little value for gardening in the Midwest. I'm nearly 70 and starting my first vegetable garden. I built a Vego 17" 3.5' x 6.5' raised bed as a starter to see if I have a green thumb or the thumb of plant death. I used the Hügelkulture method to fill the bed, along with 25 bags of organic raised bed mix from WM. If it goes well, I will expand with more and larger beds. I sowed radish seeds yesterday. I was kind of giddy afterwards! I'm looking forward to giving gardening a try after retiring from nearly 40 years in dentistry. THANKS for sharing your channel! SUBSCRIBED
I built eight raised beds after viewing your original post. I am so happy with the design and thankful for you setting such a high bar. My beds have settled quit a bit and I added to them this year. This is a winning design. Much thanks.
Great videos you created for building these types of raised beds using lumber and metal roofing. I have built may types of raised bed over my 25 years gardening, even ones I could pickup and move with my 40hp tractor. This style of raise bed using the Hügelkultur is my preferred type and method. Some tips to improve the life of your raise bed structure. Minimize ground contact by raising the bottom horizontal side and end support about 3" up so it not sitting on the ground and sit the legs on a oak or cedar slab. Screw the leg in to the slab to prevent kickout Most rot will occur here and If you end up using pressure treated lumber this greatly minimizes any chemical leaching into the ground below the raised bed. Minimize any "constant" moisture contact to the wood, as I think you already know adding a piece of flashing in the corners to will prevent direct soil contact with the wood and allow the wood to dry out after a rain. You can also line the inside of the bed with heavy mill plastic which also helps, and I do. Note placing a plastic liner in a totally wooden will not lengthen the bed life by much because moisture gets trapped between the wood and the plastic which encourages microorganism growth and speed rotting. Reduce the wood direct sun exposure by painting the wood with a non toxic paint or stain, I do this for all the lumber piece except the top cap. It also makes the raised bed look really great. Linseed oil is a good option. I paint the frame before adding the roofing panels. Add what I call an leg cap to tie the two corner 2x4 and horizontal side support together, this greatly improves the corner strength. It only need to be a 1x4 or 1x5 by the corner leg length. I also add a 2x4 top cap on top of the frame, it greatly strengthen the top of the frame and prevent bow out down the long sides. Do these things and the bed will last a lot long the 4 - 7 years. I can sent pictures of a 5+ year old bed if you would like.
So happy to see this update!! Last February, I made 3 of these beds for our back yard and 4 of them for my parents' place (about 20 minutes away). We had great production from peppers, herbs, and cucumbers, along with zinnias and sunflowers. Our root plants (carrots and radishes mostly) didn't do great, nor did our tomatoes, unfortunately. We're in Arkansas (zone 7b), and got an earlier start this year, since I wasn't spending half of Feb and March building these things, so we're SUPER excited for this season. I installed drip irrigation late last season in each bed, with a valve to selectively shut off one or another of them, so that should be much better for us this season, as opposed to using the hose sprayer pretty much all last season. We are also seeing soil level drop, which is expected, and we amended this year with blended garden soil, fresh compost, and worm castings. That said, I'm curious how you handle perennials when raising the soil level on these beds. We have Oregano, Thyme, and Sage in one bed that are still thriving, and my parents have a healthy strawberry plant that overwintered nicely in one of theirs. Any strategies on adding soil to these beds when some plants have overwintered and will be staying on an extra season or more? Thanks again for the update. So glad to see it's working out, and y'all are even adding more!
I built one of these last year and it has been holding up very well the one thing i did was i applied a coat of linseed oil to all the exposed wood and also set the raised bed on blocks to keep it off the ground a bit and at the bottom i put a few sheets of vinyl siding to cover the gap from the bed being off the ground about 1 inch over all i am very satisfied and i am going to build another one this spring!
I saw your original build video last year and built four of these beds. 1) 4X16 and 3- 4X4. They came out great!! I'm planning on adding 3 more 4x12 this season. Thanks for the follow-up and the continued inspiration!
I used treated lumber on the bottom portion of the bed. On the top I used standard non treated lumber but used Cabots linseed oil finish to protect the wood. My corners were made from metal corner flashing verses wood. I also used a wood top cap so i could more easily sit on the edge. I also used decking screws verses nails. My corrugated metal runs vertically verses the horizontal panels. I also add peat moss, cow manure, and compost this spring to help refill the bed. Going to build composting bins this year and buy a leaf shredder. I purchsed my soil from a locl supplier but it had no nutrients. This spring after adding material I added bone meal, blood meal, lime, and organic fertilizer. I think these additions will help the garden a lot. I have alredy seeded the garden and put light covering of strw to shade the soil. Plan on trimming more trees to help increse the sun in the erly morning.
Thanks for this follow-up on your raised beds. I've seen other channels do these videos on raised beds, and their raised beds disappeared from view in later videos. ?! I've experimented with hügelkultur in flower beds, and it was great. Your videos are informative, easy to follow, and inspirational. Thanks.
I'm getting ready to start the build on one of these beds. Fortunately I had all the lumber already from a previous project. One change I am going to try is adding a few costs of linseed oil before attaching the metal. Figured it couldn't hurt and might buy me a few more years. Thinking about adding a hoop greenhouse for winter months too. Thanks for all the advice!
Great vid sir!! Have you thought of using a broakfork instead of the mixing?? I was getting sweaty just watching. hahahha.. And it's only 5C here today. LOL. I only mention it because "hardcore " no till growers swear that it allows the compost on top to get down with minimal effort. Also, if you get enough woodchips and make a really big pile, you could probably create your own compost faster as it is much hotter. Use the skidsteer to mix with the forks (I have had a lot of success doing that). I have several piles that are only about 6ft tall, but they are still smoking hot at -20C. Either way, I like how tidy the beds are and the changes made in recent vids. Very organized! FYI - my grandparents used to own a restaurant in NS called the Goshen!!! hahah. It was a staple in the community for decades. Cheers!
Make your own walnut stain for free by picking up walnut husks, filling a 5 gal bucket 1/2 way, fill balance with water, stir & let sit for several weeks with an occasional stir & mashing the husks a bit. Do this under cover so sun won't evap stain & rain won't dilute. Strain through small mesh sieve. You should get about 2 gals which will make even pallet lumber last longer. Wear your oldest, ratties clothes. Use latex or heavy rubber gloves to prevent staining hands. Slather on wood liberally with a big ol' brush. Do 2 coats if you have the stain & the patience. Eat the walnuts.
We are going to follow your design this spring. Thank you for these videos! Could you share your soil/compost supplier? We live close to KC and would appreciate the recommendation.
pity you had not put a steel rod through the middle with a washer and nuts place about center of the bed height ,can slip over a plastic conduit and block with silicon to stop moisture.
He said sand was not allowing water to soak into the bed? SAND IS WHAT YOU ADD TO CLAY SOIL TO GET THE WATER TO SOAK IN, along with gypsum, and that can be sourced from construction scraps of drywall. We in Illinois have heavy clay soil and beyond 3 or 4 inches down damn near solid clay so I have to add more sand, gypsum and organics like leaves and grass clippings to make the soil usable, then amend with things like egg shells for calcium for the tomatoes and what not for whatever particular crop we choose. Add leaves and grass clippings all year long and the beds will top themselves up by themselves.
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I had a bad experience investing on my own until I met Mrs. Iyn alden, I have made over $200,000 Trading cryptocurrency, I even made a whooping $28000 on my last trade with a capital of $6000. Retiring next year with no fears!!
Take it from one who has it and buy a house in Missouri and dream Wrangler with forex trade profits. I started with Mrs Lyn alden of financial education and she has been my handler and guider for the past years
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Crypto is bringing a different revolution in the world economy. People who are optimistic investors earn consistently.... Others will just sit and watch!.
I made three of your boxes this week. :) so proud of myself at age 63. Today we trimmed trees, now I have the limbs to start filling my boxes, with the yard leaves and such I just raked up. Can't wait to start planting in a month.
I've had several people tell me how great the boxes look, thank you for giving such a informative video on how to make them. I did use screws.
Way to go! 🎉🎉 Keep up the good health and good work! Thanks for watching!
First off if you have a rodent issue like we have, (Voles and Field Mice) you need to place 1/4' hardware cloth on the bottom to keep them from tunneling under and turning your garden bed into a mouse condo building!
I mix lawn clippings (Grass) with the fall leaves as well as sticks, twigs and all my kitchen scraps (banana peels, potato skins, carrot skins, corn cobs, tea bags, coffee grounds and the soil I get is AMAZING!
Then every time I mow the lawn the clippings become the mulch!
Love your raised beds. We made one this year, super easy to build . Going to make several more next year . We are also going to made a flower bed using you plan . It going to be a little smaller ❤
When I was your age I used to do all the hand mixing after topically adding new compost every year. Now I am in my 70's. Last year I bought a cheap electric rototiller to do that. It goes 5 or 6 inches deep. You can knock out one of those beds in minutes. Good luck, and frankly, in these days it sounds creepy, but watching your children take part in the process is one of the best parts of the videos. Oh, you may want to look into making your own compost. UA-cam has no shortage of videos on how to do that.
OMG Thunder is so adorable!
If you char the lumber with a torch it helps treat the wood making it bug and rot resistant.
I just found your channel. I'm 20 miles north of Wichita, so it's nice to find a channel close to home. The California gardening channels, while interesting, hold little value for gardening in the Midwest. I'm nearly 70 and starting my first vegetable garden. I built a Vego 17" 3.5' x 6.5' raised bed as a starter to see if I have a green thumb or the thumb of plant death. I used the Hügelkulture method to fill the bed, along with 25 bags of organic raised bed mix from WM. If it goes well, I will expand with more and larger beds. I sowed radish seeds yesterday. I was kind of giddy afterwards! I'm looking forward to giving gardening a try after retiring from nearly 40 years in dentistry. THANKS for sharing your channel! SUBSCRIBED
I built eight raised beds after viewing your original post. I am so happy with the design and thankful for you setting such a high bar. My beds have settled quit a bit and I added to them this year. This is a winning design. Much thanks.
Awesome! So glad we could help, glad to hear they are doing good 😊
Great videos you created for building these types of raised beds using lumber and metal roofing. I have built may types of raised bed over my 25 years gardening, even ones I could pickup and move with my 40hp tractor. This style of raise bed using the Hügelkultur is my preferred type and method. Some tips to improve the life of your raise bed structure. Minimize ground contact by raising the bottom horizontal side and end support about 3" up so it not sitting on the ground and sit the legs on a oak or cedar slab. Screw the leg in to the slab to prevent kickout Most rot will occur here and If you end up using pressure treated lumber this greatly minimizes any chemical leaching into the ground below the raised bed. Minimize any "constant" moisture contact to the wood, as I think you already know adding a piece of flashing in the corners to will prevent direct soil contact with the wood and allow the wood to dry out after a rain. You can also line the inside of the bed with heavy mill plastic which also helps, and I do. Note placing a plastic liner in a totally wooden will not lengthen the bed life by much because moisture gets trapped between the wood and the plastic which encourages microorganism growth and speed rotting. Reduce the wood direct sun exposure by painting the wood with a non toxic paint or stain, I do this for all the lumber piece except the top cap. It also makes the raised bed look really great. Linseed oil is a good option. I paint the frame before adding the roofing panels. Add what I call an leg cap to tie the two corner 2x4 and horizontal side support together, this greatly improves the corner strength. It only need to be a 1x4 or 1x5 by the corner leg length. I also add a 2x4 top cap on top of the frame, it greatly strengthen the top of the frame and prevent bow out down the long sides. Do these things and the bed will last a lot long the 4 - 7 years. I can sent pictures of a 5+ year old bed if you would like.
Nice! Thanks for your time to keep us updated.
So happy to see this update!! Last February, I made 3 of these beds for our back yard and 4 of them for my parents' place (about 20 minutes away). We had great production from peppers, herbs, and cucumbers, along with zinnias and sunflowers. Our root plants (carrots and radishes mostly) didn't do great, nor did our tomatoes, unfortunately. We're in Arkansas (zone 7b), and got an earlier start this year, since I wasn't spending half of Feb and March building these things, so we're SUPER excited for this season.
I installed drip irrigation late last season in each bed, with a valve to selectively shut off one or another of them, so that should be much better for us this season, as opposed to using the hose sprayer pretty much all last season.
We are also seeing soil level drop, which is expected, and we amended this year with blended garden soil, fresh compost, and worm castings. That said, I'm curious how you handle perennials when raising the soil level on these beds. We have Oregano, Thyme, and Sage in one bed that are still thriving, and my parents have a healthy strawberry plant that overwintered nicely in one of theirs. Any strategies on adding soil to these beds when some plants have overwintered and will be staying on an extra season or more?
Thanks again for the update. So glad to see it's working out, and y'all are even adding more!
Love what you are doing bro.
I built one of these last year and it has been holding up very well the one thing i did was i applied a coat of linseed oil to all the exposed wood and also set the raised bed on blocks to keep it off the ground a bit and at the bottom i put a few sheets of vinyl siding to cover the gap from the bed being off the ground about 1 inch over all i am very satisfied and i am going to build another one this spring!
I saw your original build video last year and built four of these beds. 1) 4X16 and 3- 4X4. They came out great!! I'm planning on adding 3 more 4x12 this season. Thanks for the follow-up and the continued inspiration!
Awesome so glad they worked out for you! Thanks for the kind words!
I used treated lumber on the bottom portion of the bed. On the top I used standard non treated lumber but used Cabots linseed oil finish to protect the wood. My corners were made from metal corner flashing verses wood. I also used a wood top cap so i could more easily sit on the edge. I also used decking screws verses nails. My corrugated metal runs vertically verses the horizontal panels. I also add peat moss, cow manure, and compost this spring to help refill the bed. Going to build composting bins this year and buy a leaf shredder. I purchsed my soil from a locl supplier but it had no nutrients. This spring after adding material I added bone meal, blood meal, lime, and organic fertilizer. I think these additions will help the garden a lot. I have alredy seeded the garden and put light covering of strw to shade the soil. Plan on trimming more trees to help increse the sun in the erly morning.
Thanks for this follow-up on your raised beds. I've seen other channels do these videos on raised beds, and their raised beds disappeared from view in later videos. ?! I've experimented with hügelkultur in flower beds, and it was great. Your videos are informative, easy to follow, and inspirational. Thanks.
Looking forward to building my first one soon. Thanks for the information.
Absolutely! Have fun building them, let us know if you have any questions.
I have a buddy that swears by painting borax and water onto sawmill rough cut lumber to keep rot and mildew off of wood Have a great weekend.
Andy
Great job on this project 😎
I can’t wait to see irrigation video
I'm getting ready to start the build on one of these beds. Fortunately I had all the lumber already from a previous project. One change I am going to try is adding a few costs of linseed oil before attaching the metal. Figured it couldn't hurt and might buy me a few more years. Thinking about adding a hoop greenhouse for winter months too. Thanks for all the advice!
Linseed is a great idea, we’ve had many comments on sealing the lumber. We added hoops to ours the first year, worked great!
love the bare feet in the soil! I can almost feel it myself!
Great vid sir!! Have you thought of using a broakfork instead of the mixing?? I was getting sweaty just watching. hahahha.. And it's only 5C here today. LOL. I only mention it because "hardcore " no till growers swear that it allows the compost on top to get down with minimal effort. Also, if you get enough woodchips and make a really big pile, you could probably create your own compost faster as it is much hotter. Use the skidsteer to mix with the forks (I have had a lot of success doing that). I have several piles that are only about 6ft tall, but they are still smoking hot at -20C. Either way, I like how tidy the beds are and the changes made in recent vids. Very organized!
FYI - my grandparents used to own a restaurant in NS called the Goshen!!! hahah. It was a staple in the community for decades. Cheers!
Make your own walnut stain for free by picking up walnut husks, filling a 5 gal bucket 1/2 way, fill balance with water, stir & let sit for several weeks with an occasional stir & mashing the husks a bit. Do this under cover so sun won't evap stain & rain won't dilute. Strain through small mesh sieve. You should get about 2 gals which will make even pallet lumber last longer. Wear your oldest, ratties clothes. Use latex or heavy rubber gloves to prevent staining hands. Slather on wood liberally with a big ol' brush. Do 2 coats if you have the stain & the patience. Eat the walnuts.
Great idea!
We are going to follow your design this spring. Thank you for these videos! Could you share your soil/compost supplier? We live close to KC and would appreciate the recommendation.
Make an update, please. Anda raised bed Playlist. Thank you
great video , Just had to add soil to my mother in laws raised bed they had sunk down also.
Thank you
COw manure is the best fertilizer.... those raised beds are good for potato planting NYC
Smell that? Smells like a comeback! Nice bro!
😂
How do you get all the wood chips?
Do you have any issues or regrets with the height of these beds? I was planning on making similar beds, but half as tall until I found your videos.
Bro, the beard is on point. 🤜🤛
😂😂 unfortunately I cut it this week! Couldn’t do the upkeep anymore.
Your title is confusing. I thought you would be talking about the results from growing in hugelkulture beds. So tell us, does hugelkulture work?
Do you ever have to start completely over and put more logs and branches at the bottom to restore the base?
No. It can take years for it all to break down and as it settles down (1-2 inches for the first 2-3 years) we just add new soil to the top.
@@GoshenFarmandGardens Super! Thank you! 🤗
pity you had not put a steel rod through the middle with a washer and nuts place about center of the bed height ,can slip over a plastic conduit and block with silicon to stop moisture.
He said sand was not allowing water to soak into the bed?
SAND IS WHAT YOU ADD TO CLAY SOIL TO GET THE WATER TO SOAK IN, along with gypsum, and that can be sourced from construction scraps of drywall.
We in Illinois have heavy clay soil and beyond 3 or 4 inches down damn near solid clay so I have to add more sand, gypsum and organics like leaves and grass clippings to make the soil usable, then amend with things like egg shells for calcium for the tomatoes and what not for whatever particular crop we choose.
Add leaves and grass clippings all year long and the beds will top themselves up by themselves.
How much soil did it take to fill and refill the beds?
It’s about 2 yards to fill as long as you use logs, branches and leaves on the bottom foot.
Where did you get the soil
We got our soil from Missouri Organics which is a local organic soil supplier here in Kansas City.
Can't find the metal for these Beds anywhere!
If you can’t find them at a big box store try looking on Facebook Marketplace, they might not be in brand new condition but rustic could look cool.
Thankyou I will look! Love your Beds!@@GoshenFarmandGardens
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I had a bad experience investing on my own until I met Mrs. Iyn alden, I have made over $200,000 Trading cryptocurrency, I even made a whooping $28000 on my last trade with a capital of $6000. Retiring next year with no fears!!
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Take it from one who has it and buy a house in Missouri and dream Wrangler with forex trade profits. I started with Mrs Lyn alden of financial education and she has been my handler and guider for the past years
After watching so many UA-cam tutorial videos about trading I was still making losses until Mrs Lyn alden started managing my investment now, I make $7200 weekly. God bless her she been a blessing to my family.
Crypto is bringing a different revolution in the world economy. People who are optimistic investors earn consistently.... Others will just sit and watch!.