|
|
Post by Jolly on Dec 1, 2022 13:20:17 GMT
MIL is in her eighties and doesn't bend as well as she used to. I told her I would build her a couple of raised bed planters where she could work everything standing up or sitting. I've got some used barn tin, so I'll go the wood and tin route. Couple of questions...
If I build these on legs, about how tall would you make them?
What would you use for the bottom? Tin? Plywood?
|
|
|
|
Post by themotherhen on Dec 1, 2022 18:14:07 GMT
Jolly, how tall is your MIL?
|
|
|
|
Post by Txsteader on Dec 1, 2022 18:53:32 GMT
themotherhen , that's exactly what I was gonna ask.  Jolly , my advice would be to make them tall enough that she doesn't have to bend much at all, just be able to reach halfway into the bed. My own situation, even the slightest bending will make my back start to hurt terribly - almost worse than a full bend. So it really depends on her situation but just to make it easy on her, I'd build it at or a little higher than waist high.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Dec 1, 2022 20:33:33 GMT
Jolly , how tall is your MIL? Like all of us, she's shrunk, so I'm guessing 5'5: or 5'6". |
|
|
|
Post by BrewDaddy on Dec 1, 2022 21:12:49 GMT
Another consideration, not so much re: height, but the depth and construction. It depends on what she wants to grow.
Veggies vs flowers vs salad greens etc. My salad greens are planted in about 9" of soil, my veggies in 2'.
Also if she has veggies that sprawl out like indeterminate toms or squash, training them to not run down to the ground or building something like a trellis to keep things higher up.
bd
|
|
|
|
Post by farmrbrown on Dec 1, 2022 21:13:44 GMT
I'd start with the dirt level being raised to 3 ft. Most of the ones I've made are 2 - 2.5 ft. but the people are still pretty mobile. That'll make it waist high at the "root level" and most of the crops produced should be at shoulder or eye level with little or no bending over necessary. I'm not sure about the bottom because they usually don't have one, just 2 ft. of dirt on top of the dirt already there on the ground. Drainage is the main reason. Since another foot of dirt IS a lot of work (thinking of YOUR back too, lol) you might consider concrete blocks for the base with the holes turned vertical like you build a wall with some 2x6's laid across them with plenty of open space in between, like a a lattice is made. Then lay some landscape cloth over it to keep the dirt from falling thru but still allowing excess water to drain out. I know that may be more work than you intended, but there's no sense going to the trouble of making a garden that won't produce a healthy yield either.  |
|
|
|
Post by solargeek on Dec 2, 2022 4:26:26 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by joebill on Dec 10, 2022 3:47:47 GMT
Gotta ask.....how do you till them? i KNOW my roto tiller is too heavy to hoist up there....Joe
|
|
|
|
Post by farmrbrown on Dec 10, 2022 4:01:49 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by solargeek on Dec 10, 2022 4:58:58 GMT
Gotta ask.....how do you till them? i KNOW my roto tiller is too heavy to hoist up there....Joe We have an electric Sunjo tiller and also I think a Ryobi battery. Even I can lift them into the beds. And I’m a total weakling. However the whole point of raised beds is to make them “No till”. So, you use the “lasagna” method of gardening whereby 1. you put down some thing to keep the critters from coming in from the bottom. I used quarter inch hardware cloth which is like a fine chain mesh 2. then you put cardboard on top of that to keep the weeds from coming through. 3. then you layer all kinds of compost and paper and twigs if you want to and vermiculite potting soil any kind of soil you want. Because of that great soil start, you rarely have to till. |
|
|
|
Post by BrewDaddy on Dec 10, 2022 5:06:02 GMT
Since we're on the subject of raised beds....
Mine are two igloo-style coolers w/ holes in the bottom and filled with commercial soil.
I had originally planned on when winter came along, to cover them up with cardboard just to keep crud out. Also I was thinking all the rain might 'leach' the goodness out of the soil. That was just a theory.
But I didn't have one single weed sprout all spring and summer, so it seems they are tall enough to prevent that sort of thing. I have access to gobs of cardboard but thinking of skipping covering them up since as far as weeds go, it isn't needed.
Thoughts?
bd
|
|
|
|
Post by fixitguy on Dec 10, 2022 5:27:06 GMT
BrewDaddy, So you filled them with bagged dirt from a garden center? Most of the bagged soil is 99% weed free from what I seen. You could buy a cheap soil test kit, but I would just buy some of those candy cigarette looking fertilizer sticks and put them in the containers through the season.
|
|
|
|
Post by woolybear on Dec 10, 2022 13:54:54 GMT
My raised beds are made from livestock water tanks, drainage from either pulling the plug out or drilling holes in the bottom. I then filled the tanks with layers, starting with wood sticks, branches, small logs, filled in the large openings with wood chips, the lasagna layers of hay, chicken manure, cardboard, newspapers - things like that, plus a thin layer of my garden soil for the microbes. Final layer was bagged potting mix for raised beds and peat moss 50/50. I then mixed in blood meal, bone meal, and a light sprinkling of 10-10-10 pellet fertilizer.
I did have some weeds in one of the older beds, but they were easily pulled out. Weed seeds are going to blow into the beds and try and get a foot hold. You just have to keep after them and pull while they are young and shallow rooted.
|
|
|
|
Post by joebill on Dec 11, 2022 1:29:00 GMT
Around here the desert sun is kind of rough on any kind of container gardening because it can heat up the sides of the containers. Several of my neighbors compete for the old chest freezers from the dump and the insulation helps prevent that.... Joe
|
|
