Raised garden

[bobberineyes]

You guys have probably discussed this but I'm looking to do a garden off the ground this year. Someone at work had one last year in several big plastic farm bins he picked up at fleet f. that had a drain plug on the bottom. Now I'm sure they probably weren't very cheap so with that being said could one make it out of lumber? I'm even considering building a 4 x 10 foot or so box and plopping it on 3 or 4 saw horses. Any kind of pros and cons to either method or health concerns I should be aware of ?

[Juneau4]

Why?

[bobberineyes]

I guess my main reasons would be not having a tiller, keeping the dogs out and other critters. I do like the idea of having it waist high but I am open for suggestions. If you can't tell by now I'm not much of a green thumb, so if this idea is not the best just let me know.

[B-man715]

Why?

No kneeling or bending over. Also above the rabbit browse line

They are also wheelchair accessible.

My grandfather, who was in a wheelchair from polio as a kid, had several raised gardens. He could wheel around them and tend them from the sides It was one of his favorite hobbies.

[delcecchi]

My son has build a "salad garden" that is on legs and used for growing lettuce etc. Very nice having it at like waist height.

Just make a frame of lumber, 1x or 2x, your choice. x4 or x6 again your choice. Put some strips across the bottom, line with that landscape fabric, use 2x4 or 4x4 as legs (2x2 if you are really thrifty). Put some potting soil from bags in it.

Size, anywhere from 2x4 feet to 4x8 feet. (8 feet might need a cross piece on the bottom. )

[bobberineyes]

Thanks for the ideas, looking forward to giving this garden thing a try. With having 3 maples in the back sunlight is kind of scarce so hopefully we can get something to come up.

[Bobby Bass]

Since you are going to try this from scratch so to speak you should look into "rain gutter gardening on you tube" This type of gardening will let you locate your garden anywhere there is some sun and not have to do any digging. Even though I have a pretty big garden I am going to try a couple of these setups myself this summer.

[Big Dave2]

Why?

In the immortal words of Bluto, "Why not?"

[Tom7227]

The weight of the soil, particularly when wet, has to be taken into account. I would think that some pretty sturdy framing would be required. Maybe 4x4 legs and frame with 2x6 material for the bottom with it laid across from side to side so you don't have more than 4 feet. Some space between the boards to allow for drainage. 2x8 or 2x10 sides so you get enough depth to allow the plants to grow in enough soil.

I would line it with landscape fabric. Getting decent soil will make a lot of difference. It would cost a fortune to get bags of potting soil. Maybe you could try buying a couple yards of black dirt, put in about 1/3 good leaf compost and maybe some perelite.

I don't know if you need to go with treated lumber or not. I suspect that there are some chemicals in it that aren't good for your digestion. Maybe some folks can give some advice on that.

[bobberineyes]

I'm OK with buying the lumber but I'm almost leaning on bringing home some pallets from work. Some are oak some are soft but I'm sure I'll still be buying heavier lumber for support. It might look funny when it's done but as long as the veggies pop up who cares.lol

[Farmsfulltime]

We live pretty rural here have an elderly neighbor that gardens in an old cattle tank filled with soil just pulls up a chair he loves it

[delcecchi]

Depends what you want to grow. You can grow leaf lettuce etc in only a couple inches of dirt, so structure doesn't have to be very sturdy.

Tomatoes or Beans are another story.

[hayseed]

I have three raised bed gardens and this year I will build another one. The first is 10'x3'x3' and made out of cedar decking. I have one brace in the middle and filled with a lighter garden soil. It's the wife's flower garden and has held up well. The second is 10'x2'x30" built out of 1"X8" cedar boards. Again with one cross brace. Also has wintered well. This one is for vegetables. Last a smaller one for my strawberries. I'll try to put some pics here, but I'm not very good at it.

[hayseed]

Here are my other raised beds. One for vegies and the small one my strawberries.

[delcecchi]

Those are way deeper than the ones I built for my daughter. Are they dirt all the way down?

The height is nice. Keeps the rabbits out too.

[hayseed]

They are dirt all the way down to a weed barrier layer on the bottom. I filled approx. half full with some fill soil I had around the yard and the upper half is garden soil with compost. Sure has been a back saver for us. For the flower bed you have to have some hardy perennials or just annuals, but it sure makes weeding a whole lot simpler.

[bobberineyes]

Thanks for the pics hayseed, I was thinking the same concept but I might run a little shallower and try to put it on legs. But then again laying them down on the ground would be much easier. You have any issues with rabbits?

[hayseed]

I used to have lots of problems with rabbits, but two years ago we had a family of grey foxes move in and the rabbits bit the dust. Now unfortunately it looks like the mange might have wiped out the foxes and rabbits likely will come back. So far no rabbits this winter.

[Notime]

I built 2 beds last year and tried the garden along side of the beds. The garden did not produce squat, but the bed were awesome! They are 4' x 8', built out of 2"x 12" and 2 layers high. I squared them and staked them level because we are going to have several more. Once straight I filled with dirt for the first few inches then put 1/4" hardware cloth to keep out gophers and placed a layer of rock over the wire. Then about 6 inches of fill dirt and then filled to the top with good black soil. The nice part about these is you can make an arch green house over them to plant a little earlier out of PVC pipe and poly. Look to Pintrest for more ideas on bed designs. I am building 4 more beds this spring because they are so much easier to deal with than a garden.

[deerminator]

I would like to do the same thing and wonder if you couldn't do what I do for the dozens of annual flower pots and containers my wife has around the yard each year. Fill it about half full of crushed cans/plastic flower pots and than landscaping fabric on top before good potting soil? Would certainly cut the weight down considerably. So long as you had just enough dirt. I know it makes moving 5 gallon + pots much easier for me!

[swamptiger]

I have raised tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets using the "lasagna" method. Punch some holes in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket for drainage, add a layer of coarse gravel or rock in the bottom, cover that with a layer of newspaper, add a layer of leaves, grass clippings, or compost, and cover that with a layer of newspaper. The top few inches is potting soil, and you plant the tomatoes in that.

The advantage is you can start the plants early, and bring them indoors if necessary.

[bobberineyes]

well here it is 4x8 made out of cedar. Onions, lettuce and snap peas so far. Side shelf has herbs in the planters. I have no idea why the pictures are sideways.

[RebelSS]

I have raised tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets using the "lasagna" method. Punch some holes in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket for drainage, add a layer of coarse gravel or rock in the bottom, cover that with a layer of newspaper, add a layer of leaves, grass clippings, or compost, and cover that with a layer of newspaper. The top few inches is potting soil, and you plant the tomatoes in that.

The advantage is you can start the plants early, and bring them indoors if necessary.

Agree with this, I've raised my tomato's and peppers in buckets on my deck for years. They love the all day sun, and the heat from the deck seems to give the peppers an extra boost, plus you can move them to the shade on those really hot days. (hopefully you can)

I drilled some 1/4'' holes in the bottom of the buckets, put a piece of screen over them, about 1 1/2" sand, then filled with good potting soil to top. I typically end up with way too many tomato's and peppers....it works great!

[RebelSS]

Nice job on the raised garden, bobberineyes. Just bettin' you'll really enjoy it.

[upnorth]

The main part is obviously a box on legs. There PVC will be used for various small leafy stuff like spinach, Kale and Lettuce

The vertical tubes will be for herbs and some flowers.