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Post by wildhorseluvr on Apr 3, 2022 21:06:10 GMT
Didn’t want to highjack Brew’s garden thread so started a new one. I mentioned buying some big metal water troughs to use as raised beds. I’m thinking they would be a good height for me (no kneeling, bending) and would eliminate rodents, rabbits and a few other pests.
To avoid having to buy a semi truck load of soil, what could I use to help fill the bottom part of the containers? Some people say styrofoam pellets but don’t think I’d want that near my food. I was thinking about small branches and other trimmings, maybe grass clippings, etc., but the new place doesn’t have any trees to speak of. Any other ideas?
What’s the best mixture of soils, fertilizers, etc. to use in something like that? With moving and all the other projects we’ll have going, don’t know if I’ll even manage to get this done this year, but would sure like to try to get a couple of them going.
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Post by BrewDaddy on Apr 3, 2022 21:20:20 GMT
I never get the name right, but something like the 'HoberSprechen' hob something or other technique may help you out here. Put firewood scraps, hay/straw leaves and stuff in the bottom for filler, and over time it just gets more better as it breaks down. Line the bottom with some punky wood, throw some branch pieces on top, etc etc.... then add your soil.
bd
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Post by BrewDaddy on Apr 3, 2022 21:47:30 GMT
Here it is:
Hugelkultur
bd
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Post by Billy G on Apr 3, 2022 23:29:45 GMT
If you have a big box store near the new place see if they have bales of compressed sphagnum peat moss to use for the base. It's acidic but that can be neutralized with a small amount of garden lime from the same store. Also check the waste streams in the area, are there any trees in the local towns? If so there may be bagged leaves or tree service trimmings to snag. Clean pallets from local stores...builder's dumpsters....just need to eat your Wheaties and go a'picking !
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Post by woolybear on Apr 4, 2022 1:07:34 GMT
I bought 4 livestock water troughs last year to use as raised beds. Three were the largest I could get at home depot, one was a short height that I had to drill holes in the bottom. The larger ones had a drain plug in the side so I didn't bother drilling holes in it. I went with layers of material. Bottom was smaller diameter tree branches, sticks and filled in the spaces with wood mulch, weeds, then hay, newspapers, composted goat poop, chicken poop, cardboard, more goat poop, newspaper, topped it off with a mix of goat poop/commercial potting soil/blood meal/peat moss/small amount granular fertilizer all mixed together. Potatoes are planted in one and the other three I need to top off because of settling. I have fabric grow bags to use this year. Watched a youtube about placing the bags into kiddie pools so that water can wick up thru the bag. So I need to get pools soon. Will put down layers of cardboard under the pools to control the weeds. I only wanted to use organic materials, no styrofoam/rocks or other type things. The goat poop compost is loaded with red wiggler worms and I wanted those to make into the beds to help with the composting and aeration. I did have problems with the first bed having ants and pill bugs in the wood and them setting up housekeeping, but some insecticide dust took care of those.
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Post by tabitha on Apr 4, 2022 2:03:44 GMT
super idea, esp the rocks in the bottom
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Post by wildhorseluvr on Apr 4, 2022 2:54:08 GMT
Thanks for the replies, lots of good advice. A few years ago I was reading up on the Hugelkultur method using some pretty good size trees, and was wondering if that would work as well on a small scale. Thanks, BrewDaddy. Then the problem of where to get branches when you have no trees, and Billy G came up with some answers for that. woolybear, thanks for all the great suggestions, and thanks to tabitha for the video, I’ll watch it later tonight.
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Post by wildhorseluvr on Apr 4, 2022 4:38:50 GMT
Well, won’t be using troughs, DD thinks they’re “tacky”. 🙁 That leaves me with fewer options. Guess I’ll have to buy good quality lumber and build my own, which will be as much or more expense, lots of work and won’t last as long.
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Post by Billy G on Apr 4, 2022 6:00:23 GMT
Maybe she'll come around if you paint the exteriors of them a neutral color, I'm not too hot on the galvanized 'look' myself. Or plant knee-high native perennials around the bases of them to attract bees. Or both. You can also make round raised beds using roofer's flashing, you'll have to pop-rivet where the ends connect and keep them to 6' wide max so you're not reaching too far into them. I can't remember whose video I watched but the beds were 2' high using flashing from one of the big box stores. IIRC he put seating around the top somehow as well.
Another filler material can be made by gathering up a bunch of cardboard and running winecap mushrooms through it to break it down (after wetting it down well). Toss in a few handfulls of coffee grounds, soil, compost and/or wood chips to speed things up. Grocery store boxes are rumored to be sprayed with a fungicide to keep mold from growing on our food so maybe stick to Amazon boxes.
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Post by joinwa on Apr 4, 2022 6:02:07 GMT
wildhorseluvr, Amazon has some neat looking planter boxes and raised beds, not cheap but so are watering tubs. cement blocks called dog bones fit together and look really nice, I have some and really like them, mine are just two high. I do flowers and veggies together in the front yard.
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Post by BrewDaddy on Apr 4, 2022 6:08:42 GMT
a) Get there, then worry about this stuff
b) this guy over builds everything, but I know him and he's a great guy.
"Beautiful DIY Raised Garden Beds in 3 MIN! - How to Build"
bd
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Post by paisley2 on Apr 4, 2022 6:14:39 GMT
Dang you BrewDaddy, I was searching for his stuff to post. I love what he does!!!l
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Post by BrewDaddy on Apr 4, 2022 6:16:19 GMT
For the record, whenever I've made my own purpose built raised beds, I just slapped together some 1 x 12's and either used angle brackets or cut down 4x4 pieces to screw them to in the corners. Albeit this was pre whacky lumber price days, but it was easy, quick, and I thought effective. Here's a pic of some I had quickly put together. bd Attachment Deleted
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Post by wildhorseluvr on Apr 4, 2022 10:46:12 GMT
a) Get there, then worry about this stuff 😁 Yeah, I know. The only reason I’m thinking that far ahead is by the time I get there, if I’m going to plant anything at all it’s going to need to be right away. Just figured the tanks would take no time or effort to set up and I could easily add more as needed. They are also tall enough it would allow me to garden while seated. DD said if the stores ever run out of food I can just dig up the grass and plant a garden in the ground. Uh, no. Impossible. Anyway, thanks. Liked the video, don’t know if she’d like those either but the wood planters you made might be acceptable. Would probably need to use cedar though and I could see that getting really expensive. Will have to research several ideas here and see if something will work for my needs and pass her critique.
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Post by solargeek on Apr 4, 2022 11:05:21 GMT
Well, won’t be using troughs, DD thinks they’re “tacky”. 🙁 That leaves me with fewer options. Guess I’ll have to buy good quality lumber and build my own, which will be as much or more expense, lots of work and won’t last as long. Large deep plastic totes (mine are aqua) with holes punched in the bottom WORK GREAT. Not only looks nice but are incredibly effective. You can also put the covers on in winter to keep critters out. I used them on our 5th story deck which was 800 ft.² in Chicago. I’ve used them on our property here also. Potatoes do fabulously as they’re so deep. Use hugelkultur to fill the bottom still. And don’t let anyone tell you they don’t last. I bought mine 2009 and I still use them. Even with my 29 raised beds.
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