This DEEP RAISED GARDEN BED Saves Your Back And Makes Gardening Easy!
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- Опубліковано 29 чер 2024
- In this video, I share how to build a deep raised garden bed that saves your back and makes gardening easy! Gardening places stress in your back from all the bending. This DIY easy raised bed garden design allows you to garden from a seated position, requires less bending and is much easier on your back and knees!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 How To Design A Raised Garden Bed
2:09 Materials List For Raised Beds
3:08 Measuring And Cutting The Lumber
5:04 Building The DIY Raised Garden Bed
7:56 Building Railings To Sit On
9:48 Sealing The Bed For Longevity
10:37 The Finished Raised Garden Bed
12:11 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about building raised garden beds and raised bed gardening, have questions about growing fruit trees or want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and "how to" garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!
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#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #raisedgardenbed #diy
If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 How To Design A Raised Garden Bed
2:09 Materials List For Raised Beds
3:08 Measuring And Cutting The Lumber
5:04 Building The DIY Raised Garden Bed
7:56 Building Railings To Sit On
9:48 Sealing The Bed For Longevity
10:37 The Finished Raised Garden Bed
12:11 Adventures With Dale
Truly appreciate your doing a video where the 'Elderly' and the 'Disabled' can SEE a raised bed WE can build especially for our needs, be blessed!
Great video, question? I want to build just like that but, I want 2 of them that are 2 foot by 10 foot, what extra material would be needed? Or would you use same material and just cut your 4 footers down to 2 foot?
Just a tip for anyone building one of these, put a 2x2 under the top rail and use screws just long enough so they don’t penetrate the surface. Attach the 2x2 inside and do all your screwing up into the top rail. The holes from screwing top down will fill with water and rot a lot quicker.
FYI To anyone using boiled linseed oil !!!!! If you apply it with rags or gauze. Never put the rags into your trash can with your regular trash. ESPECIALLY inside the home or garage. The oily rags get very hot and spontaneously combust. You can burn your house down from a fire. Stay safe everyone ! 🕊️🙏💟
Keep in mind linseed oil is actually fairly poisonous. Yes, it's a natural product, but it's also a stain. I don't mind painting the railings with the product, but you don't want to get the oil in your soil.
So how do you dispose of them? Burn?
@@hoosierpioneer you spread them out flat and spread out on a non-flammable surface with high airflow or on a metal-wire clothesline outside. The oil will oxidize and after 1 to 7 days (different varieties take different amounts of time to cure) the rags will be safe to throw out.
The heat comes from oxidation of the linseed oil, but generally doesn't get hot enough to combust *unless you have poor airflow or wrinkled/stacked cloth* in which case the heat can't dissipate faster than it is produced, leading to self-ignition. A trashcan or pile of rags will restrict airflow enough to actually trap the heat and trigger ignition.
Excellent advice and we would do well to adhere to it.
Another reason I know you’re sooo much younger than me…
Bare knees on the concrete 🤣❤️
Love this video, but having been a journeyman carpenter for 40 years I sure wish I could have loaned or gifted you a couple of tools that would have made your life simpler; namely either a framing square or more likely a 12"combination square. You do competent work and had some good tips like predrilling. I just use a fastener that is specific to structural wood constructions along with some metal corner reinforcement and avoid the predrilling.
Watching and listening to you makes me think you had been a 2nd grade teacher, because you really make it simple and easy. Us old "pros" can overcomplicate things too easily thinking we are making it "better". Kudos.
I just made three 2'x8'x8" raised beds, and lined the bottoms with 1/4 inch hardware cloth (Voles!). These are new additions to my garden today. My garden consists of a 10x12 polytunnel greenhouse (also new), 8 raised beds of various sizes, 24 grow bags (10 gal to 30 gal), two GreenStalk towers, and 7 assorted pots.
Too bad we can't see a picture of your very unique garden.
RECOMMENDATION: Make the beds at least 24" high for those of us with poor backs. It's even easier on the back and knees. To save on soil, fill the bottom 30-40% of the bed with wood logs, branches, and clean yard waste and then add soil on top of that. Just drive around your neighborhood and you likely will find an abundance of yard waste that you can fill your truck bed or trailer up with.
This is the way, it's called hügelkultur. Most plants only need at most like 8 inches of space for their roots, so just fill the beds up to that point with whatever cheap or free biomass you can get ahold of (as long as you're sure it doesn't have chemicals etc. in it) then fill the last 8, MAYBE 10 inches with the soil you would normally use. Over the long term the wood and sticks and leaves that you fill the bottom with will compost and create a nice rich loam in the bed and in the short term you get the benefits of building higher raised beds without having to break the bank buying a lot more soil. Wood and leaves and stuff are free, neighbors will generally be happy to let you haul their yard debris away.
Only thing to watch out for with this is planting perennials in it. As the stuff you put in the bottom breaks down the soil level will drop and you'll need to fill with more soil over time to get the level back up to where it should be, so at least for the first few years of this bed's life you should fill it with plants that you expect to replace each year.
@@chriswhinery925 Thanks Chris. Yes, my beds drop a good 5-6 inches each year requiring me to top them off back to within 1/2 to 1 inch below the top of the bed at the start of each growing season.
I've done this method with my 30 ft raised beds.. saved a load of money and the good bugs loved it ! My crops did too. I'm doing it again with a galvanized bed.
I started in August and used it like a compost .. It's snowy here so it has shrunk down .. it's just so easy .. well if you have logs or limbs and branches that is, we sure do. Well.. take care and God bless you
I have two similarly-sized raised beds, 4' x 12' x 14" with no cap. They are about 10 years old, made from PT 2 x's with polyethylene film liner. The middle bottom was anchored by a 2 x 2 PT stake driven into the ground about 10" on the outside. The middle top was connected to the other side with a 2 x 4 held with two 3" deck screws on each end. The force exerted by the soil in a 14" high bed is substantial. The 2 x 2 stakes on the bottom were just pushed over. The 2 x 4 cross support at the top pulled out on one end with the deck screws just pulling through the end of the 2 x 4. Lessons learned, so for my next two raised beds I used 2 x 4 PT stakes at the bottom, driven 16" into the ground. For the top I used 5/16" galvanized wire rope with eyes made using thimbles and nicropress fittings. Each eye is attached to the top of the side with a 5" long 1/2" galvanized lag bolt. This arrangement seems to be doing the trick with no bowing after 5 years. I suggest you consider doing something similar to your design.
Since the ground is rarely flat or level itself, when I make this style of raised bed, I build the bottom rectangle first. I leave the leg posts long and with a level, lift the low corners of the rectangle frame to be level with the highest corner and set the screws into the leg posts. At that point, you can add more levels then cut the leg posts off flush at the top with a sawzall. This makes the top of the bed level rather than matching the ground’s slope. If necessary, I can mulch around the bottoms to hide the gap. I have even used gravel.
You did a wonderful job building and explaining! Thank you for sharing! And I love that baby Dale
Thanks, and you’re welcome! Dale sends his love.
Greater vid man, really like the demo and simple build. Thanks 👍
Thank you for sharing this design and free cut list. Your directions were clear and concise and easy to follow. I will definitely use this design.
Now that is a a good-looking bed. Thanks for showing and telling the whole process.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
If they don’t sit on the top rail, me I have a small portable seat for gardening! But now! With your good instructions, I think I will try to do it by myself ! Thanks.
I made my boxes 30" high, and used 5" screws into the 4x4s. Also, an extra board, slightly underground, going across the bed between 4x4s in the middle, to keep the bed from bowing out. That was a lot of redwood and potting soil!
What I appreciate about this channel is the effort of imperial and metrics units.
Thank you! 1/3 of my viewership is outside of the US, so I always try and convert so everyone can understand immediately.
That's exactly how I made my raised beds. They are 24 inches high and I can sit on them. Such a big difference. I'll put it in my next video soon.
Thanks for sharing and have a great day and happy gardening 🌿🌱😊🤗
It definitely makes life a lot easier. I wish all my beds were like this, but when I built my garden, I had to do it on a major budget. Later in life, my beds will be like this!
@@TheMillennialGardener is it too late to add the linseed oil? I made my beds last spring
@@dorindafulton i have raised beds made out of free curbinite on my channel too. Sitting is great!
Just wondering how much your 24 inches high raised bed total cost in supplies? I can't decide to build my own or go with the Birdie beds...
That's a nicely put-together bed with great instructions. I have 4 that size that we made out of clean upcycle construction lumber we got for free. I also have 4 16' cattle panels we arched between beds (2 beds per side). Thanks again for another helpful video. Cost doesn't always have to be an issue with imagination. I also put dried tree limbs/stumps in bottom of each bed to lesson the actual soil I needed for garden. Got from Gardner Scott.
Sounds like you have a nice setup. Thanks for watching!
Yessir! Or ma’am lol. But hugelkultur all the way!
You did a excellent job on the raised bed it really looks well put together 💚.
Thank you! It seriously weighs like 400 lbs. Moving it was a joy, but it isn't going anywhere!
@@TheMillennialGardener i bet that’s some heavy lumber 🪵.
Thanks, I'll heed your directions and build it like you did 🙂.
I'm not sure what I like best, your tutorials, or Dale the cutest dog ever. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Definitely Dale. He's way better 🐕
Great tutorial for us carpenter novices, it turned out beautiful. I will definitely add the top railing, i didnt even think to do this to my first ones i built. Live and learn. 🌻👍
Looks like hubby will be heading to Lowes Lol Love Dale :) Great job thanks for the measurements
+1 On predrilling your holes.
Your project looks great! A square makes marking out lines pretty simple. You can also use it as a guide for the side of your circular saw as you cut to keep your cuts straight.
The top rail is a nice touch. Not only does it give you a place to sit, it can stop the boards from bowing out. If your beds are longer than about 8 feet, or made from thinner material, you may need to take steps to keep the boards from bowing. I used some very thin material one time and I nailed a couple of pieces of thick wire to each side of the bed to keep it from bowing out. I placed it about one third up from the bottom so it wasn't visible once I filled it w dirt. I ran it inside a 3/4 piece of pvc cut to fit perfectly inside the bed so that I didn't cut the wire by accident when I was digging in the bed later.
If you are a bit OCD and want your beds perfectly square, measure the diagonal corners. When they are the same length, your corners are square.
Two mistakes that I made on mine: 1) I didn't do a good job of leveling them. So the soil is higher on side then the other, even though the soil level is pretty level. 2) I assumed since I sat my beds on native soil that I also double dug, that drainage would not be an issue. Wrong. My native soil is called Gumbo, and it has a lot of clay in it. I had to go back in and add a porous drain pipe like you use in French drains to my beds. Then I cut a small opening in one side of the bed for the drain to empty out of.
I love the instructions. I was given a bunch of treated fence pickets and 4x4 posts to build some, and planned on using a similar building method. I hadn’t considered a top railing, though. My fence pickets are thinner than your side pieces, so I may not be able to do a railing. I’m also using recycled protein buckets my cousin buys her cows, because there is a never ending supply of them. I’m using all free to me products for my garden beds.
So RIGHT that a raised garden bed should NOT be wider than 4 ft. I am a 5ft 2in woman and I stupidly built my first raised bed 5 ft wide. After a year of suffering w/it, I tore it apart and reduced it to 3 1/2 ft. wide. YOU AND DALE MAKE BEAUTIFUL 'MUSAK' TOGETHER!!
4 feet is very close to my limit. Even at 4 feet, I dislike stretching to the center of my beds. Luckily, Dale's beautiful voice covered up most of mine 😂
Great job!
I LOVE zag zag interlocking concrete blocks for this very reason.
That’s a beautiful raised bed, nicely done!
Thank you!
Dale just makes me smile.
Me, too. He's a good boy.
Nice! 😊👍Thank you for sharing 👍
You’re welcome!
Great idea brother 🙏
Another great video! I am really impressed with the commentaries as well. I would suggest that installing an irrigation system will improve the gardening experience for those of a certain age.
This raised bed is just what I need
Thanks for watching!
Great video! I followed your design going 3 boards high instead. Used rough sawn cedar. My wife likes it. Had to move into place before finishing due to the weight. Thanks!
I made a 3-foot tall raised bed for my girlfriend's birthday last year so she would have an easier time growing flowers.
Sunflowers.
The height is relative to what you want to grow. They'd have a tough time with tomatoes if I made it any taller since they can get tough to reach even at ground level. Always consider what you'll be growing in it.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that immediately goes "DO DO DOOOOO" through it at my dog when I see an empty towel roll XD
At this point, he knows it's coming 😂 Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.
Sounds good!!!
Thank you!
Great job
looks great!
Thank you!
Awesome 🤩
Thank you!
Very nice! I love it 😻 👏 good job!
Thank you!
Very nice raised bed!
Thank you!
Great informative video.
Thank you!
Very nice, loving your videos.😍
Thank you!
Beautiful
Thank you!
Give you lots of respect...moving that bed alone must have been brutal! You love your viewers 💖
And I love how you two boys play🤭🐕💜. What a duet!👏👏👏👏🥰👍
Thank you! I try my best to film the most important things to help as many people as possible.
You can really get away with 7.5” deep beds for yourself?! That’s wild. I’m a metal worker, I made a bed out of 1/8” sheet steel. It’s 4x8 but 24” deep. I just can’t believe that your beds are so shallow and you have such good success. Sometimes when I plant a start, I dig a hole as deep as your bed. I’m in Phoenix though, we have hard pack clay soil. Gotta be way above that to have success. Been digging your videos man. Thanks for all the content
I have beds that are 5" deep (Frame it All recycled plastic) I have grown eggplant, lettuce, arugula and even baby carrots, beets and radishes in them. we have clay soil that turns to brick in summer drought. So that's the point of building raised beds, you fill them with your own good soil. We used Mel's Mix - 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 mixed compost. Hope that helps your situation!
Very nice, thanks ❤
You're welcome!
Wow, super raised bed!👍Thanks for such easy Instructions.🙂
So that's what dad does with the boy when mom's away.😄🐕
You're welcome! Dale is the adult in the house, for sure.
@@TheMillennialGardener 😄
Your raised bed looks good -- I'm in my seventies and not sure how long I want to keep tossing around the Roto-tiller --- so -- maybe it's getting time to be thinking about a raised bed or two ---- Thank You
It's definitely a lot easier. Raised beds are less maintenance than earth beds. But be sure you build it in the spot you want it to be, because this weighs hundreds of pounds once finished.
I did the math at my local big box store and three 2x6's were cheaper than two 2x8's, so I made mine with 2x6's. I made mine on the drive way also and then had to carry them about 150 feet by myself I decided to move the construction site to on location after the first one.
I have 3’x8’x12” deep but I think I need to add more soil its going down So after my season plants I Will add more and mulch it, thanks for this great tips 👩🌾😊👍👍
We made our raised bed 2 feet, I believe. But we filled the extra on bottom with really spongy dead wood, leaves, chicken hay etc. The thought was to hugelkulture down there so in a few years we can dig it all out and disperse it among other beds. Then we can do it again. We got our dead wood by cruising the backroads, foraging out of ditches. We did a solid foot above with compost and soil
Dale is the superstar!
He's the best boy!
That’s a nice looking raised bed. Love the railing to sit on. Going to use recycled deck boards to make some gotta add that railing. I think I will build mine in place, not sure how you moved that treated wood is heavy 😊
Moving that bed was absolute murder. It must've weighed 400-500 lbs. I built it where I did for the filming angle because the lighting in the back was terrible, so I suffered through it, but I recommend anyone building this on their own build it exactly where it needs to go, or move it when it's just four boards and the 4x4 posts before you add the second row of wood and the railings.
@@TheMillennialGardener
I would have to disassemble, move, then reassemble. You’re a strong fellow!
Very good build and a very good video. 😊
I used concrete blocks for part of mine. Some of my ones with treated lumber didn't hold up. The 4x4s started rotting. Now I'm doing more wicking tubs.
I think for the rails I would have used 2" x 6" or even a wider 2" x 8", for a more comfortable sit.
If you plan on using un-treated wood on the top, I suggest cutting to length first, coating all surfaces with linseed oil then installing on top,
I am planning on making tall raised soon using corrugated metal and pressure treated lumber. The treated lumber will be stained and finished with either shellac or tung oil which holds up better in an exterior environment both products are food safe. All lumber will be stained and finished on all sides before assembly. Stain does help some to resist UV exposure, but I am applying for aesthetics!
We had to move the bed quite a distance, and I wasn't dealing with carrying an oily bed. It was definitely the last thing we were doing. Be careful with some of the oils. Even if the oils are technically "food safe," you don't want oils in your soil. I would much rather have tiny, insignificant amounts of MCA pressure treat leach than oils. Make sure it cures fully before you add your soil.
also if you don't predrill, depending on your wood and the grain the screws may have a tendency to wander with the grain instead of going in straight.
Dale is trying to tell you... that paper towel tube makes 3 great planters!... please listen to Dale... he's the Garden Chief 😀🥰 Love me some Dale!
They certainly have many uses. Fetch sticks, horns, etc… 😂
@@TheMillennialGardener Hahahaha 🤣 😂 🤣🤣 So glad to hear you two have fun. 💜🐕💖
Very pretty box. I want to buy you a framing square for Christmas! I like to use stakes in the center of my long spans to reduce bulging, but I think that 2x4 on top will probably take care of most of that.
I have one, but it isn't necessary for this. These beds square themselves. The biggest problem you'll have is the natural bends in lumber, especially PT lumber. I let it sit stacked for a month before I used it.
Sorry I meant to say speed square for making your lines.
Hello My Friend! I appreciate all that you share with all of us "Gardeners". Thank you!
One question: How deep should I calculate for the loam, garden soil, compost etc. ,
I can calculate the CY, i just need to know the depth that you recommend for the dimensions of this raised bed. Awesome Video! Please continue teaching us gardeners!
Thank you in Advance for your response!
I strongly recommend another two x eight at least. Less thank 16” high came be a difficult height to manage with bad knees hips and back or ever only one leg and it with a bad knee. Just ask me about that. My raised beds have been 16to 18” high I would recommend a wider seat rail say 2x6or better yet 2x8. If you may want it to overhang the outside to ave your bedding space. Good video. I like the linseed oil. Treated lumber tends to get splintery very quickly. Hey filling can be easy with cardboard leaves or old hay. Each year as things settle you can top dress with more good soil. Been using these high raised beds for 20 years in two counties.
It's going to depend on your situation. Another 7.25 inches high would mean your soil line is going to be at almost 2 feet high. Considering plants like tomatoes start to fruit about 1-2 feet above the soil line, that means your very first cluster of tomatoes is going to be in the 3-4ft range. That's really high up, and as the tomatoes continue to grow, once they start reaching 5-6 feet in height, they may be unreachable. You don't want to have to bring out ladders to harvest or tie your plants, so getting too high is a problem in and of itself.
20 yrs and never had a problem. The gardener’s height comes into play of course. Most of us can stretch easier than stoop down. The plans of construction are great and we can build to suit for sure. 😊
I forgot to recognize that sweet boy Dale. He doesn't need to wait for sirens to sing... he's sing with his Daddy. 😆
Dale only makes noise on three occasions: when someone rings the doorbell, when we ask him if he's hungry or wants to go for a walk, or when we start singing. He's very quiet unless he's invited, and then he lets loose! He's a good boy.
Super video!! A GOOD chance I’ll make one of these!! Can you say a bit about ‘filler’ for beds? Like branches from pruning trees and bushes and other organic material to ‘fill’ a bed so you don’t have to come by loads and loads of soil? Thus cutting the soil needs by half? 👍👊
Usually, that's done when beds are deeper than 18 inches. In the raised beds in my garden, they're made of 2x8's, but the bottom is open so the plants can grow into the native soil. With a bed like this that's only 15-16 inches deep, it doesn't really make sense to fill the bed with other materials. I guess you can use chopped up leaves in a 6 inch layer if you have access to them, but I wouldn't use any sticks or logs, because you'll essentially be limiting the root growth. The best way to save costs is to order your soil in by the dump truck from a local landscaping place, because it's substantially cheaper (and easier) than going to a store and getting lots of expensive bags of mix. Most landscaping places make their own garden mix. In my case, all my beds are filled with 100% turkey compost made on-site, so you can fill beds with 100% compost if you wish.
I just completed rebuilding a 20+ year old short raised bed yesterday. The new bed is a 2X4 frame with galvanized roofing material forming the sides (found the plans on UA-cam). My bed backs up to an outside stair, so I only made it 2 feet deep and 8 feet long and is 2 feet tall. I tried something new to me this time.... hugelkultur....where I filled the new bed about 3/4 full with logs from an oak tree that we had taken down 18 months ago. I then covered those with about 100 pounds of shreaded leaves and worked them down between the logs as much as possible and wet them down. I then put the original bed's rich soil back on top and wet it down as well. It looks great and being higher, I won't have to bend down as much to tend to the small garden bed.
I'll be interested to hear how that method works out for you in time. I've heard mixed reviews, but mostly positive. It's supposed to be good for dry climates since it retains water. In my climate with torrential rains, it can be more problematic, so it's very climate-specific.
@@TheMillennialGardener - I'll report back at the end of the summer season to let you now how it worked out for me.
Do you have a video on how you fill the bed?
When I built my raised bed I used 2X4 support all on the outside of the bed. Did not use any growing space and allowed better support for top lumber bigger than 2X4. Just an idea. Mine definitely did not look like furniture.
Knee pads!!! Save those puppies 😁🤩
What a great tutorial! You help me believe my 64 year old self can do this. If you are a novice, it seems you're well on your way to many years of greater and greater creativity. 🌞
I have a question... It wasn't clear to me if you painted the linseed oil only on the 2x4's or also on the treated wood. Thanks. 🌱
He only treated the 2x4 with the Linseed Oil.
How did you move the bed to the final location? It must have weighed a few hundred pounds. Nothing easy to move. When I moved my 4X8, 13-inch tall bed, I used a two wheel moving tool. Not easy but I got it in place. I'm just wondering if there is a better easier way.
Use treated lumber or cinder blocks, lasts 10 times longer, cinder blocks 100 years.
GREAT JOB. QUESTION I WAS WONDERING WHAT IS THAT GROUND COVER ON YOUR GROUND WHERE YOU HAVE THE BIG CONTAINERS. IS IT ROOFING TAR PAPER OR SOMETHING ELSE? THANK YOU FOR SHARING. TELL DALE HI AND I JUST LOVE HIM. ❤
It is weed barrier. I have a video on it here: ua-cam.com/video/XT1reOI1-5E/v-deo.html
@@TheMillennialGardener OH COOL THANK YOU SO MUCH.
very good design looks like it may last for a few years although with the cost of lumber these days it is beyond my budget
It should last 10 years, maybe longer, if you buy MCA treated lumber.
I think like you Stephen. You may like the curbinite beds on my channel. They are free but labor intensive.
I know this is unrelated, but you should try crafting tomatoes with the fortamino rootstock seeds from botanical interests, as they say, it can help with disease and so on. Plus a video on grafting tomatoes would be cool.
Grafting tomatoes is not something I will ever do. Not only is it an incredible amount of work, but tomatoes here don't pollinate after June 1. Putting in that amount of work for something with little to no return would be killer, and those rootstocks are so expensive. It's much less expensive and time consuming to plant a succession crop and rotate in fresh plants than grafting.
So you were saying that you have your beds at roughly 8" deep. everything does fine in a shallow bed like that? That would save me a ton of time and money
Forgive me if this was mentioned, but personally I would stay away from treated lumber. Modern treated lumber is not nearly as bad as the old arsenic based lumber, but it’s still not something I want my garden in personally. To each their own. If I recall correctly both organic and “naturally grown” certified growers cannot use treated lumber in their growing operations (soil contact).
But, great simple build! Also check out Timber Pro UV internal wood stabilizer… Seems to be holding up well on my raised beds 3 years in!
totally agree. it's awful for youtubers to claim things like "it's perfectly safe" as if they know every single chemical added and what it does and if it can or cannot leach out of the wood over time. Which it does as the board breaks down slowly.
There is no reason to avoid micronized copper azole treated lumber. Doing so is just setting money on fire. All the myths surrounded PT lumber are just that - myths. Making fear-based decisions rarely lead to the right answer. MCA treated lumber has been tested to death. Even soil "leaching" tests taken right up against the boards show the "leaching" is so insignificant it doesn't even alter copper levels beyond normal soil parameters, and even if it did, it wouldn't matter because it's non-toxic. Organic fruit tree sprays are copper-based. I voluntarily spray all my plants directly with copper in June, so worrying about insignificant amounts in the soil just doesn't make sense. I would much rather have a little copper in my soil than untreated lumber coated in linseed oil, which actually *is* toxic. Seriously. That stuff is real poison, which is why it acts as a great sealant.
One thing you can do to your untreated 2x4's to make them last longer is to flame treat them before using the oil.
There are tricks you can use. I don't own a torch, and that's a bit of an intensive process you'd want to be careful with. I wish I could have gotten cedar or cypress, but it's far too expensive.
Can you do a follow on video showing how to prepare and fill the bed?
I order in compost from local landscaping companies by the truckload. It's far cheaper than going to a store.
Great! Love the raised bed. Now what's the" math” to figure the amount of soil to buy??
Thank you, love your channels.
[L(ft) x W(ft) x D(ft)]/27 is the amount of cubic yards of fill you’ll need.
@@TheMillennialGardener
Thank you! That was a fast reply,
Thank you again!
We decided against the sitting rail due to spiders/critters taking up residence underneath. We can sit on the narrow edge of the side board for short periods when needed.
What about Hugelkultur raised beds? Used in Europe and Germany using rotted logs and plant debris in the bottom of bed. That way you don't have to use as much soil.
I think it depends how deep your beds are and how much rainfall you get. Holding too much water can be a problem. Much of Europe has extremely dry summers, so it makes sense in areas where it doesn’t rain during the growing season. If you live in a thunderstorm climate, you may prevent drainage.
Will I still need the 4 x 4 posts if I make the beds 4 ft x 4 ft? Or will I still need it for the rail to sit on?
You don't need to dig up the dirt in the raised garden? Or do you put a liner of some kind at the bottom? It's great! Looks professional to me!
Line the bottom of bed with old cardboard. Kills the weeds.
@@secretjourney4815 Old cardboard, weed block fabric, or just lay it down over the grass like he did here. That 15 inches of soil you fill it with will kill off the grass.
Wood costs much more in Portugal than the USA. Really costly here, so I’ll likely go with other solutions. Nice video, though.
What do you put in the bottom of the raised bed. Right now it is sitting on grass so wouldn’t the grass and weeds grow into the bed?
It is generally not recommended to use AWPA U1 UC4A pressure-treated wood for vegetable gardens or any other application where the wood will come into direct contact with edible plants. This is because the chemicals used in the preservative treatment can potentially leach out of the wood over time and into the surrounding soil, which could then be taken up by the plants.
Although copper-based preservatives like those used in AWPA U1 UC4A are generally considered to be low-toxicity, they are still chemicals that are designed to prevent decay and insect damage. It is possible that these chemicals could have a negative impact on the health of edible plants or the people consuming them.
That’s awesome! But how would you fill it? What exactly would you use?
I order in compost from local landscaping companies by the truckload. It's far cheaper than going to a store.
DO NOT worry about the filling costs. You can literally put ANYTHING til your first 12 inches. Even your HEAVY feeders' tomatoes won't need anything more than 11 1/2 inches to 12 inches. So for example, you could just get 50lbs' bags of sand at just a couple of bucks each, filler it up to your last 12 inches. To save even more, you can in place compost up to your last few inches (4" or so) and just use the "expensive" stuffs then.
Dale made all my dogs bark! Lol. The raised bed was very nice! Do you want to come build one for me?
Dale was literally crying curled up on his bed while I was editing this together at night. It was so funny 😅 This is a lot easier than you think. If I can build it, anyone can.
Looking back would you oil the 2x4's a few days in advance or recommend installing them then oiling?
You can do either. Whatever you do, don't oil the boards right before moving the bed. Either make sure they're dry before using them or move the bed in place first. Also, if you decide to oil them in-place, wait until it is completely dry before adding soil. You don't want those oils bleeding into the soil.
When you put in a raised bed do you place it on the ground or on the ground cover. If on the ground how do you keep the weeds/grass from coming up? We are in SC and LOVE you channel!!
I place it directly on the ground. If you're setting it on a lawn, mow that patch as low as it'll go and break down a couple natural, brown cardboard boxes (with the tape and stickers removed). Line the bottom of the bed with a layer of cardboard and place the soil on top of that. The natural cardboard will snuff out the weeds and naturally break down in about 3-6 months. Earthworms love eating wet, decaying natural cardboard. Just don't use colored cardboard. Brown is best.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you for replying so promptly!
Do you have to use that type of oil for the boards or can you use Eco Advanced Wood Siloxane non toxic wood sealer?
Whether you seal your raised beds is up to you. You can seal it with whatever you want as long as it's non-toxic, or you can skip the step entirely, but the raised beds may not last quite as long.
When it’s ready to gardening, do I have to take off the grass or I let it there to make good stuff for the plants??
The soil will snuff out the grass. What you'll want to do is mow that area closely before placing the bed. I had them take cardboard boxes and line the bottom of the raised bed before they filled it with soil. The natural brown cardboard snuffs out the grass, and it decays within about 6 months. Wet cardboard brings in earthworms, too, so it's great. They've had no problems and they're growing winter greens and radishes in the bed now.
is styrofoam packing good for filling raised garden bed
Do you put wood ,logs, cardboard m etc in bottom for future compost
You can line the bottom with natural brown cardboard. Whether you want to put wood or logs in there may depend on your climate. If you live in rainy areas, you'll need to decide how much water you want your beds to hold and at what depth you'll want the water to hold. It's a balance.
Do you find your tomatoes doing better with a deeper box?
I haven't experimented with deeper beds on my property. My beds are 7.25 inches deep, and the tomatoes all easily grow 8-10 feet every season, so I don't see a need to go deeper. If it weren't for my hideous climate, my tomatoes would probably by 14 feet tall by season's end.
Greetings love that bed, can ask you the total cost $ in materials?
I don't remember, because I built it back in November and waited until now to cut it together when it was more applicable since spring is coming. Lumber prices have dropped a lot since then, and it wasn't all that bad at the time.
FYI: I had black widows hiding under my top rails. I ended up removing them.
They'll keep the insect population down 😄
Tips to fill them economically?
Heugel culture?
I recommend ordering in truckloads of fill from local landscape supply places. I filled mine all with locally made compost. It's much, much, much cheaper ordering it by the truck versus going to stores and buying bags. You'll go broke that way. Some people fill the first half of deep beds with things like sticks and shredded leaves, but you have to be careful if you live in very wet climates. They tend to work very well in drier areas, but if you live in places with a lot of rain like I do, you may want to find what works best in wet climates. All my beds are filled with 100% locally made compost ordered in by the dump truck.