I grow in raised beds for a few reasons ... I'm 61, so anything that saves my back is good. Theres no digging needed; theres less bending involved; weeds are easier to control; and harvesting is easier.
Several years ago we decided to change from a traditional gardening style to raised beds. We built 4 beds at 4 ft x 5 ft and 3 beds at 4 ft x 4 ft. They were about 15" high. We decided to try the square foot gardening method. We built removable fencing to put around each bed to keep the rabbits out. Every year we would empty our compost into the beds to improve the soil and it worked well. However, arthritis and other health issues were making it more difficult to work in my garden so we decided to get higher raised beds. We found a local company that sold metal raised beds. We ordered a 6 pack of 4 ft x 8 ft x 30" high. It was a huge job because we didn't want to lose our lovely soil. We're both in our 70s so we had to do it in stages. We had to move a lot to the side and managed to get four completed in the fall of 2021 so I would have somewhere to plant spring 2022. Then we completed the other two in time for the summer season. We filled the bottom with logs and branches, then added wood chips which we are able to source locally for free and then added 12 inches of soil. As we add compost every year this should improve it too. We also built two boxes at the end of two of the planters leading into the area and put cattle panel from one box to the other in an arch to grow pole beans. We built a 4 ft. x 5 ft x 16: for my indeterminate tomatoes too. Last year was the first year and I loved it. The rabbits couldn't get into my vegetables and I didn't have the hassle of taking down a fence every time I wanted to weed or prune. I could sit on a stool to weed on my bad days. At the end of the season we mulched bags and bags of leaves and covered the beds with one of our old pieces of fencing to keep them from blowing away. This year our project is to add a drip irrigation system as it was hard to get them all thoroughly watered in the morning before going to work. I do a combination of square foot and row planting and I'm already setting up my seed starting trays in the basement. I can't wait for spring!
As I'm getting older (72) and less mobile, I'm having great success 'square footing' since scaling down to more manageable 3'X6'X10" beds. 4X4's in the corners are also tall enough to accommodate added height in the future. Getting older is so highly overrated? 😉
I was on a large piece of property for years. My garden was on a slope(20x30) started with horse manure. I wanted raised beds after a few years but my husband would do it. Fast forward to 3 years ago, we moved. My garden area was smaller and on the natural soil made with cinder block. We had done some major landscaping last year and we flattened and graveled my garden area. Built pressure treated beds 18 in high. My first layer in the beds was cardboard followed by sticks and logs from a neighbor who cleared their land. I then followed with compost from a company that makes compost and other mediums. I have no issues with the compost. Last year was a banner year! Best harvest I've ever had. After the season, I layered the beds with all the leaves that had fallen in the fall. I will be turning the soil this week to prepare the beds! I have learned a lot from you and will be planting closer together. Thank you for all your helpful tips!!!
Great tips , and I do use miracle grow potting soil in my raised beds! I now live in Ohio but was born and lived in Florida until age 54, and I’m still using a great watering system I started in Fl. To save water and to get water directly to my plants roots ! It’s easy snd economical ! You just take 3/4” PVC pipe and cut to length (2 pipes) but cutting about 6 inches shorter , cut 4 PVC lengths about 2 1/2-3 ft length ( this is for a 4 ft wide bed) in the long pipes drill holes about every 4-5 inches on your shorter pipes no need to drill holes , you will need 4 elbow pieces of PVC fittings and 4 end caps, no need for glue! Put a short piece on each end of the pipe with drilled holes facing cross ways from left to right ! Bury your lengths of pipe with shorter lengths rising upward with long pipe being about 1/2 way down in the soil and set in 1 pipe 8 inches from sides on each side and the 2,pipes about 1 ft apart in the middle then cover the bottom pipe with the rest of your soil and plant your veggies in the beds ! You will use your hose or watering can to put water through the top of your shorter pipes and cover those pipes with a cap to stop evaporation of water! You will find it takes less water to keep your plants watered this way and you won’t be chancing scorching your plants from steam from evaporation on hot soil and less chance of increased fungus growth on leaves of plants because of water on them ! It’s a win win situation and the plants grow better with direct root watering also ! I hope someone finds this a helpful tip! I also put this method to use around plants in my yard but only put 1 PVC pipe beside the plant with a couple of holes near the root of the plant for watering but buried sbout 2-3 inches below the plant to encourage deep root system to establish !! God bless 🙏🙋🏻
I am a city man trying to save on vegetables in these times of inflation. Thank you for your advice and wish me luck building my beds for onions, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.
every time I watch your videos, I'm thankful we don't have gophers! My husband built me foot tall beds & then found a little cart called a Garden Buddy. I can roll along my garden and am happy gardener. He hauls construction products & got free 4×10 boards, so ours are mostly that size. To deal with rabbits, a 2 ft tall chicken wire around the inside mostly stops the rabbits.
Great tips Brian. I don’t put any adhesive between my boards and I’ve had no issue with soil escaping. My pine boards have lasted 4 years and counting. Metal gets so hot my plants suffer in the heat of summer. Stone has worked well too. I make my own soil for beds. 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite. Then each year I top off with compost in spring. In fall I cover with a couple inches shredded leaves we suck up in leaf blower and when we blow it out it’s shredded. No waste. In the spring I mix a little of the leaves in top of soil otherwise the worms bring it down. When I find worms on concrete or in yard I throw them in the raised beds. The multiply from there.
I have tall raised beds. Best thing ever, saves my back and knees. My husband made one or two a year with mostly salvaged materials. We were lucky to get our hands on cedar and metal roofing panels. I mulch heavily and I water less than I did in the ground.
Been thinking of getting rid of my side yard that is grass (grass and weeds) so this is a video I need to see again .... and I will need to enlist a couple of helpers to do some of the hauling, hammering, etc. Doable -- going to keep thinking. Thank you
Raised bed, great idea, yes, cheap no. 6 2x8s, roll of hail screen, 8.00 to 10.00 per bag potting soil. Over 1,000$. I do things much like this but it is not cheap. I use weed guard on the bottom.
My first raised beds were from lumber repurposed from my neighbors deck. I did a 4X4 bed and a 4X8 one and placed them on a 2X6 base, which raised them another 1.5 inches (13 " high) and allowed me to mow around them without trimming. Reason one was controlling soil quality. Number two was better drainage. Number 3 was not getting on the ground to plant and weed them. I ordered 2 cubic yards of soil, but it took me a couple years to use it AND NO WEEDS GREW UNTIL THE 3RD YEAR. Bad soil! It decomposed to 1/4 of the volume it had when delivered. I bought topsoil from Ace and while the bags sat on the patio, a purslane plant the size of a football sprouted and grew (usually baseball size) a great indicator of great soil. I mix 50/50 topsoil and potting soil with composted cow manure, homemade compost and a cubic yard of peat moss. I start the base with a 6 inch pile of leaves and grass clippings (no weed killers on grass) which adds nutrients and helps the soil stay moist. I also spread 4-4-4 organic fertilizer and last year ground up eggshells and got the biggest tomato harvest of my life. I bought my latest beds from Costco made from recycled drink bottles, mostly because I could not afford the lumber and did not have the strength and energy to build from lumber. These beds are nice and seem to work well. These were my ideas, so I don't know if this helps. Thanks for the video.
Started gardening at 5 with my grandfather in a large garden in Pa where he raised 9 children and where I spent most summers. I live in NJ and am now 80 and have added 3 raised beds 4'x16'x 26" Hugelkulture style with steel sides. Will be adding 2 more in plastic from Costco this year double stacked to be each about 4'x16'x24" reinforcing with rebar uprights. Just starting adding hoop house tops to half of each bed. This on a half acre with a small orchard of dwarf apples and peaches. Watch these videos for more ideas. Thanks Brian.
Accessible code for a raised bed is 27” above the ground to the top. It allows people in wheelchairs to access the bed comfortably. It’s also high enough to stand and work without bending over, for most people. Great video.
Looking to back up my number I see people offering a range of 27”-34”. 29”’is a public lavatory height. 34” is an accessible countertop height, as a reference.
In my first year i built 10 raised beds of various sizes from 4x8 to 2x10 in a 10 x 20 open-sided structure. There is abundant commercial tree shredder output dumped over a couple of acres, and i used a mix of that and bad native soil and not nearly enough compost to fill them. Also 5 other of various sizes. For this my second year i am following your advice to build them higher for two good reasons: 1. to spare my aging back, and 2 to give me room to add much better soil (mostly compost) on top. i think both the plants and i will be substantially happier this time around. Thanks as always for plenty of useful info.
@@JennTN411 the very reason when you do vertical gardening, you can also figure out the root depths and the plant's height in stacking them on shelves, with small-depthed roots, you can put them in plastic or metal slanted rain gutters, save soil, have tilted irrigation, and maximize you grow space for the highest density of grown plants, least soil, maximum fertilizer, drip or subsurface irrigation, and grow on patios, decks, inside in a southern-facing solar/atrium room, etc.
I use raised beds for my vegetablesbthat take up little space, & I grow my vegetables that take up a lot of space (like pumpkins, watermelon, corn, etc.) in conventional in ground beds in rows... 1 thing iVe learned is that you dont need a 3 foot tall bed, for a raised beds to be beneficial! Its AMAZING how a raised bed just 4-6 inches tall can make it SOOO much easier to plant. When you're knealing down to plant something, to have beds just 4-6 inches high can prevent you from really strain g to lean down even further. & I only grow those other crops in in-ground beds because it would be too costly to make that many raised beds, & fill qith quality soil, & also because those are crops that I can usually easily plant & care for- by just popping a seed in the ground, & leaving it be for a couple months. It's not like a tomato, or a pepper that need to be harvested throughout the entire season...
I grow in raised beds for a number of reasons as you mentioned but mostly because of my back and age. I use double stack cement blocks or plastic tubs from ranchers that buy mineral for their animals..those were free…I also put those elevated on cement blocks
I use raised beds or containers for all my veggies because my area used to be part of a landfill. That was already over 50 years ago but they still monitor for methane. There hasn’t been any detected in the 25 years I’ve been in my house. I’m also finding it better on my back since my accident a few years ago that caused a compression fracture of my one vertebrae. My beds are all 12 inches deep and I may raise some of then to 15 or 18 inches to make planting and harvesting easier for things other than tomatoes. I don’t want to need a ladder for them lol
Wow! Thk you. I may get a plastic kiddie pool and remove a lot its bottom(or lotsa drainage holes). The hardwood expanding canopy of trees has reduced my sunny area back there. Front yard is sunnier in summer. (North front and/south back yard). So I am rethinking my tomato planting. I had success with winter crop of spinach growing in giant pots…..against my warmer south wall this winter. Collards did well 2 years ago there. Thks for your insights and encouragement!!! Ahna. Atlanta/ga
@@carriebeard-R.I.T.S Not sure if this is the correct way, but we slow down drying time by putting supplies in container with water. We leave this in a gravel area away from anything combustible
I have tall trees on the north border of my garden and cannot remove them as they are on the property line and my neighbor loves them. The roots are vigorous and suck the life out of in-ground beds, so raised beds with a weed barrier underneath are the way to go.
I had three bookcases I was ready to give away until I had the thought of using them for raised beds this year. I've only used milk paint on them so I'm guessing they'll be safe for growing crops. Thank you Brian for keeping us all motivated.
Being 72 yrs old I am converting from in ground veggie gardening to raised container gardening. I collected heavy duty big fish tank stands and just had my son cut wood to add to the bottom shelf and the top. I have some large galvanized containers that we put holes in the bottom for drainage I will be using that for my new planting medium. I intend to fill the bottom third with different size twigs and wood chips so to save on party mix! It will be so much easier to provide shade then before. I had an almost complete failure last summer here in the low AZ desert zone 9b. Hopefully this will be a better option.
Why I grow in raised beds? Containment of good soil (As described in this video) and the number one reason... gophers!! We have hardware cloth under every one. We have six in the main garden, four in the side yard, one in the front yard. We made them ourselves, eight inches high. A lot of work but 15 years later all is still good! All are 4 X8 and I think we used redwood. Anything else in the yard (not in the fenced garden) are not something gophers like (like lavender) or they are in a gopher basket (roses). Excellent tutorial. PS, I grow carrots in big pots in luscious potting soil, they love it.
I shared this video with my friend who is starting a garden after many years this year. Brian I want to thank you for including comments about ease of use for those who have disabilities. As a blind woman, raised beds, are definitely preferable for me, and are much easier. There are not many gardeners, if any, who bring up this point. Again, thank you so much for beingthoughtful and aware of this topic
totally agree with benefits of raised beds, I live in tropical part of Queensland, Australia, and they greatly improve drainage and growing capabilities. My only difference is all timber here needs 2 coats of paint beforehand due to hot wet weather, but its a small price to pay, also lucky enough to own a large chipper/mulcher, so this makes a large amount of compost, thanks for informative video 👍
Am so happy to have found you and your members. A friend of mine and decided heck it is darn time we grow our own food, and I figured I have a nice sunny area in my yard, I just don't need it all so why not put it good use...in FL, and love the one person's tip on the PVC pipe❤
Love my raised beds. So much easier to control the nutrients that go into them, and it’s easier to control the weeds all around. For some bigger gardens that I take care of, and the owners don’t want to build standard raised, I’ve built hugelkulture beds. Those are a workout to build, but fun.
Thanks for the info on how much hugelkultur-type organic material one can put in a taller raised bed. I’ve seen some crazy videos on that- your advice seems much more sound!
As long as you have good native soil that’s not a heavy clay, I prefer a 50/50 mix of native soil to compost/potting soil. I also, usually add extra perlite to my mix to help avoid compaction. I used to used 100% organic potting soil only in my raised beds, but found that they suffered this way, requiring more water and the plants were stressed.
I watch several RUclips videos. Your presentation was excellent. It was well organized, had great information and your speaking pattern was easy to follow and understood. Well done!
Just planned our 2023 spring and summer garden that will feed our family, 3,200sq ft. Your book helped me every step of the way, now you’re helping me build the beds for the garden. You’re awesome!
Last year in my raised bed I used mainly sandy clay loam from my local nursery ($30 per cubic yard). I amended it with mushroom compost, bagged chicken manure, bagged garden soil, and organic granular fertilizer. Also used Neptunes harvest rose and flowering every week or two. Everything grew wonderfully in it!
After selling our house a year ago and spending last summer in an apartment, I'm really excited to get my new garden started at the new house. Thanks for your incredibly well-timed video!
Thank you so much! We did these exact raised beds in our garden.. we are ripping them out after 2 years and reusing the lumber to go higher! We used 2x10" and it wasn't deep enough.. we have very deep rooting lateral grasses (bermuda, devil's weed, strangle grass) and it overtook all of our beds in 1 spring season following an injury and wedding that took me out of the space. It was weeded in March and growing lawn by May. So I would definitely suggest... if you have lateral grasses... go higher than 10" and use the weed barriers. We are going up to 16" beds and 32" beds. And we are very excited!
Can't you make it out of 2"x4" raise bed One frame for the bottom then make a nether one for the top in the middle put Mimi corrugated steel panels to make tall raised beds on the outside of the steel panels if you use some sandpaper to ruff up the steel then spray paint then to the color you like or if you have someone that has air compressor and automotive paint gun you can go to a place that has auto motive paint you would want a one step trip of paint that they can mix to the color. You could try a Rust-Oleum oil base paint
My ground is of an old river bed. So, with the exception of a few inches to grow grass...its 100% river rock. From pea gravel to 3ft diameter baby bolders. Yes.. I use raised beds. My corn bed has been built up with organics.
When my husband and I bought a place 20 + years ago, we tried to do an in ground garden. We didn't know what type of soil we had and rented a tiller. Well, the soil was so hard, and along with the tiller, beat him up so bad. The soil was totally clay and so compacted! Drainage was bad also. That's when I made the decision to use raised beds. I used 10 x 12 and 8 x 12 untreated lumber. Raised beds were the best decisions I ever made. Now that I'm older, raised beds anywhere we move are a must. Putting together four new beds this year as we moved to another place. As we age, the higher beds make it so much better as I can no longer get on my knees.
We just happen to be expanding our garden space this year and are planning a 4x8x12 bed for our corn. Planted in a 4x4 last year but determined we needed more space for it. We are planning on using cedar because we feel it will last better through our snowy winters here in the Tehachapi mountains (8b). We also have a gopher problem and line all our beds with wire, and plant everything else in cages. Looking forward to getting our new beds in and getting them fenced off from all the other critters.🦌🐻
Always in raised beds here. I used untreated fence board ( 12" deep)with corner posts. I also layered with untreated cardboard. No weeds or grass. And all fall and winter I trench compost. It degrades by spring. And I plant comfrey in several beds which always amends soil. I also use it for medicine as well as compost tea.
Age and expense is my issue. I have a compost pile that is mostly leaves and fallen tree branches. Can I use this in a raised bed that is at least 12-16 inches deep then use a container bed medium for the top layer like you suggested? I also have old cardboard boxes I was planning to use and a block of alfalfa still in it's bag from tractor supply. I also have those corner blocks that are made to use with 2inch thick boards to make raised beds. I really like the bed you made with the gopher wire.
RebeccaD@Yes! Use all that material for the bottom of your raised bed and just the top 8 inches or so (depending of what you grow) of good quality soil. Good luck!🍀😄👍🙏💕
How much would the double layer beds cost per square foot? I have a very big property and I am wondering how many of these beds i can fit into my budget :D
raised beds are just magic. We have built 9 mainly different shapes, hights and materials and do not regret any of it. This year two further will follow. Blessings from northern Gernany.
I grow in food safe buckets and grow bags. My yard is a haven for weeds after being neglected due to a series of broken leg bones 🤦♀️. I’m excited about this season after having no veggies or flowers last year! I would love to start a few raised beds.
I have been gardening for 20 years. I try to stick to organic, mainly for health reasons. I started at one house with 12" raised beds and high quality soil. When we moved the hubby decided I did not need raised beds and did not want them in his backyard. I know I should have dumped him then, but I didn't LOL. Fast forward, 14 years and he decided he would like to grow a few things (his fav tomatoes and jalapenos) and wants a raised bed. I can tell you karma is a B..... and I will be installing 12" or higher raised beds with high quality soil.
box stores have seconds/damaged wood racks, Check for them. For example HD will sell you TREX at 70% off for chipped decking. Lasts FOREVER and is tongue and groove. I got reclaimed wood from a pipe shipping company true 2x6x10' (((OAK))) for $10ea. they strap the pipes to the oak to ship it then discard it. also check out wicking bed and beds with cores of Straw for holding water. I staple copper mesh around the outside of the beds and it discourages slugs coming in from the woodchips.
I use to in ground garden when I first started gardening and boy did my back hate it! Last summer I built my first raised raised bed. Love the comfort and ease. But my crops didn't do well, may have been my soil. This summer I'm purchasing soil (by truck load) from Home Depot. Hopefully it is better.
This is my first year using raised beds. The house we bought came with them. They need another foot of soil, so I'll be pricing that out soon. I heard that maple leaves are good for compost/fill. So, I may lay a layer of that down before the soil. Lots to learn. I'm journaling everything so I'll have ideas for the next season. Love your videos. They are so helpful! Thanks!
I go to a landscape company to get my fill. I need bags because I’m old/have a bad back/small car. It’s nearly 50% less than a nursery or big box store (better quality too).
I grow in raised beds because I live in an oak forest. Tree roots are very invasive and took over my raised beds in less than a year. I had to dig out the dirt and put in heavy duty landscape fabric. The next beds were done with the landscape fabric to start with.
I’ve always grown in ground because the side of my house is south facing. (And that’s how mom did it.) That only gives me 5’ with stepping stones down the center. I have clay soil, which I found out is fairy nutrient rich, but I spade in compost when I first ready it as a growing bed to make it workable. I also have the 48” round fabric beds down the side of my driveway out front, which is mostly herbs and strawberries (I was teaching the neighborhood kids about gardening and strawberries were a big sell.) This year I need to redo them (they lasted approximately 10- 12:23 15 yrs). Herbs will go in and I’m not sure what else yet. One of my biggest issues maybe you can address, is where I could put raised beds that get enough sun, is far from where my water spigots are and I’m not sure what to do about that.
@@juresichj maybe I should’ve been more specific. I have long hoses, but I’m wondering how to do it properly with a drip system so I don’t have to hand water. I’ve used a hose connected to a commercial grade 100’ soaker hose that works great for the side of the house up and back both sides, but it leaves me without a way to do the rest of the yard. (I did a a splitter so I can attach another house, but I have to manually divert to one side or the other. So, this can’t be right if I want to plant three side of the back yard, maybe with some added raised beds in rows, and use drip on timers.) I only have one water spigot in my backyard. I’ve seen you put drip in beds, but how do you get water to them? I also use 4’ round fabric beds on the side of my cement driveway that has no spigot. I’ve been using ollas in them for water, which is better than hand watering, but not much when it’s hot. Sometimes I have to fill those daily. I don’t think there is a fix for that, but can’t hurt to ask. So, Brian, I was wondering if there is a water spigot in the cottage garden, or if you are somehow going to have to run a line over there, given you have a driveway in between as well.
That’s exactly how I made mine several yrs ago. GREAT to keep those pesky ground squirrels 🐿 out 😂. I used 2 tiers of 2x12 & hugelkulture in the bottom 👍. Have a great day 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
we have buried power lines, and phone lines , cable lines all over our field and so I use raised beds to keep from digging up these lines. great idea for all problems
I made a tool to bust apart free pallets and made all my raised beds from them, even reused the nails so they cost nothing and have been working great-good oak wood too.
This is the first year I've had a raised bed garden. My only option was to put it on concrete and I was wondering the reason for lining the bed with plastic? I had plastic in it but everybody said I should take it out. So after putting it in, I took it all out! 😢 Love all of your videos!❤😊
Thank you, and I have become a member of the Homesteading family, and I am looking forward to the class you taught there. It was one of the reasons I signed up for a year. There are so many classes to take in areas like canning, how to make sour dough bread, and other areas you don't cover. You are my main go-to help with gardening. It is where I will, want to stay for help, and advise for my garden. Thank you for all you do, muchly appreciated
I'm new to your channel. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and best practices for gardening. I'm going to try raised beds this year. Is kiln dried wood safe?
The ground in my area, central Alabama, is red clay with little top soil above it. It isn't even close to what I would consider good for gardening without serious soil amending. I just expanded my garden by adding three 2ft x 8ft x 8in raised beds, all lined with 1/4 hardware cloth. We have a critter that is equally as damaging as gophers in my area-VOLES! I use the same Kellogg's Organic Raised Bed Mix in all of my 8 raided beds, and two GreenStalk towers. In the three years that I have been using it, I have not had any issues with it.
I grow in ground , tall wood beds, containers and Vego raised beds. I experiment each year with what I can grow in ground because we have root knot nematodes.
I grow in raised beds and fabric containers! I think it’s a better Choice than growing in the ground. And I can’t wait for you to do more with the school of traditional skills! It was awesome!!!!
moved to our little 40 acre 'farm' a few years ago, planning a garden finally. i am pushing 70, with serious health issues, hence wanting to grow some healthier food. as i cannot bend/squat/or kneel, raised beds are for me. we have been collecting dead freezers, washers, dryers to fill. going with hugelkulter too. we are on solid clay. if i could dig it up, i would make pottery!! my last garden was made from leaky stock tanks, but i havent found any nearby. sigh. we are already raising our meat/eggs/and milk (steer, hog, goat, rabbits, chickens) now i want to get back to plants. we are zone 2B!! up by the Canada boarder. i must admit i laughed out loud when you were 'winterizing' your beds in ZONE 5 .....goodness, i wish i had been able to move a little more south. oh well.
I originally built my beds out of cedar but after a few years they were rotting and falling apart spilling soil out onto the ground. Now I’m replacing them with the Vego metal ones and love them. I like raised beds because I can have good soil from the beginning and I like that they are taller so it saves my back and knees. My native soil is very heavy dense clay and even though I’ve amended it for years it still doesn’t grow things well.
Your property has come along beautifully. This makes so much sense. I always thought my soil needed to be deep. I grew a cucumber plant in eight inches of soil. It grew to the second floor window. I was amazed🎉 I think I will try 4x8. Thanks again for valuable information.
Good morning! Thank you for all of your great information, as always! A few years back, (2?, 3?), you gave a 4 wk series on gardening basics. In it you gave a link to spring and fall frost dates. I went back and watched the video and went to the garden channel link but am unable to find 'how to find' my frost dates or to get to the spreadsheet that you had developed for starting seeds. Will you help me access that information again? I would really appreciate your help. Thank you. Oh, I don't use social media other than following some gardening/homesteading RUclips channels, no Facebook.
Thanks for the detailed info. I'm glad you included the part about raised bed depth. We need to build more this year but they will be off the ground, so it was nice to hear that my planned 18" depth will be good. As for why I used raised beds: it's mostly because of my back. I admit, I do also like the organization and convenience of growing in raised beds. Just like you said, it seems to offer more control on soil amendments, watering and erosion loss. Thanks again for another great video!
Raised beds can be super cheap to make. 7 fence pickets will make a 3x6 bed just shy of a foot high. And you can add on to them to make them higher by stacking 2 and securing with scrape wood or another puxket cut in 4 pieces and screwed vertically joining the bottom bed to the top bed. I have 3 now but also use unbordered beds i literally hand pulled grass and weeds, broke up the soil then addes garden soil on top. Its low but works great for next to my cattle panel arches.
Hi again Brian. Good video(s) - very helpful as I'm going to be needing raised beds this season and DEFINITELY next year. It's helpful to know that my beds only need to be 20 cm high. I thought I would have to make them deeper for growth but now I'll save $ on materials. I have raised beds in my garden because the ground is peat soil and drains slowly so when it rains the top soil stars wet a long time. Success in your new home/ garden and keep up the great blogs 👍😉
Dont forget to masure and trim the boards if needed. Some of my beds became crooked because some of the boards were longer than 96” and i didnt know it. And our groundhogs climb OVER the beds to get in them. I have to fence off the entife garden to keep them out-we lost almost everything last year. It was the first time in almost 20 years of gardening. The beds are 18” tall, 4x8 feet.
I’m building a 12x12 foot raised garden in a keyhole shape, that I can fence off from the cats and squirrels. It will have bird netting over the top and a screen door too. It is made from cedar and the beds are 2 feet high and 3 feet wide. I like your idea of using hardware cloth for the gophers. I plan on watering the garden from the water from the koi pond. I am hoping that the plants will be happy and the critters will be thwarted.
Honestly I'm glad I don't have to worry about it but I'd build them high af if I had to build one at all. Prices for large pots are crazy even for the plastic.
I grow in raised beds (a couple of them at 3-feet height) because I've had a couple of back surgeries in the past & it's just so much more comfortable not having to lean over so much as you have to at ground level gardening! Also, the wild rabbits can't reach them!
There is something satisfying about putting that hardware cloth under the soil winning the gopher war before it begins! We have used stock tanks and washer tanks. They are high enough to minimize back issues.
They can. But they don't. I don't know why. We have 1 ft high and 4 ft high wooden raised beds. Our only issue with those is rats and mice...it's always something.
@@hollyreilly4818 what can you do about rats and mice? We have had this issue and now I worry about planting again in these areas due to their poop and diseases they carry.
Bryan you need to do some massive maximum vertical gardening in those raised beds. Recent commentary to another mid-Central CA RUclipsr site - I mentioned my various designs for growing vertical in a raised bed, and can turn a 10 ft x 20 ft (200 sq ft) bed into nearly 800+ sq ft outdoor growing area. If you like I can send you the same commentary, and try my tricks in maximum growing space - and vertical growing that will have you canning, freeze drying, air drying, vakpaking, ... and taking extra to the Farmer's Market to sell or give away !
Just letting you know, I love your channel so much and always I’m getting ideas from you. What a wise man. Where your vegetable gardens are located? I’m from Utah, we have to make our vegetable gardens every year, because we have snow and cold wrather Utah winter. Thank you for your advices. 🤩🙌
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I grow in raised beds for a few reasons ... I'm 61, so anything that saves my back is good. Theres no digging needed; theres less bending involved; weeds are easier to control; and harvesting is easier.
Several years ago we decided to change from a traditional gardening style to raised beds. We built 4 beds at 4 ft x 5 ft and 3 beds at 4 ft x 4 ft. They were about 15" high. We decided to try the square foot gardening method. We built removable fencing to put around each bed to keep the rabbits out. Every year we would empty our compost into the beds to improve the soil and it worked well. However, arthritis and other health issues were making it more difficult to work in my garden so we decided to get higher raised beds. We found a local company that sold metal raised beds. We ordered a 6 pack of 4 ft x 8 ft x 30" high. It was a huge job because we didn't want to lose our lovely soil. We're both in our 70s so we had to do it in stages. We had to move a lot to the side and managed to get four completed in the fall of 2021 so I would have somewhere to plant spring 2022. Then we completed the other two in time for the summer season. We filled the bottom with logs and branches, then added wood chips which we are able to source locally for free and then added 12 inches of soil. As we add compost every year this should improve it too. We also built two boxes at the end of two of the planters leading into the area and put cattle panel from one box to the other in an arch to grow pole beans. We built a 4 ft. x 5 ft x 16: for my indeterminate tomatoes too. Last year was the first year and I loved it. The rabbits couldn't get into my vegetables and I didn't have the hassle of taking down a fence every time I wanted to weed or prune. I could sit on a stool to weed on my bad days. At the end of the season we mulched bags and bags of leaves and covered the beds with one of our old pieces of fencing to keep them from blowing away. This year our project is to add a drip irrigation system as it was hard to get them all thoroughly watered in the morning before going to work. I do a combination of square foot and row planting and I'm already setting up my seed starting trays in the basement. I can't wait for spring!
As I'm getting older (72) and less mobile, I'm having great success 'square footing' since scaling down to more manageable 3'X6'X10" beds. 4X4's in the corners are also tall enough to accommodate added height in the future. Getting older is so highly overrated? 😉
Seriously the best overall and quickly comprehensive video
I have seen about raised bed gardening.
One thing I really like about raised beds is that it makes it easy to break jobs into doable chunks. It helps prevent being overwhelmed.
First time trying raised beds this year, hopefully it works out since I built 24
Nice!!! Good luck ❤😉
Cost?
Ha ha!Always leap before you look!
That's a lot to water.. Get some irrigation, or sprinklers👍
@@Mrsmetamorphosis2012 140 in compost from local municipality, 20 in nails, wood was free offcuts of barn wood from a local mill
I was on a large piece of property for years. My garden was on a slope(20x30) started with horse manure. I wanted raised beds after a few years but my husband would do it. Fast forward to 3 years ago, we moved. My garden area was smaller and on the natural soil made with cinder block. We had done some major landscaping last year and we flattened and graveled my garden area. Built pressure treated beds 18 in high. My first layer in the beds was cardboard followed by sticks and logs from a neighbor who cleared their land. I then followed with compost from a company that makes compost and other mediums. I have no issues with the compost. Last year was a banner year! Best harvest I've ever had. After the season, I layered the beds with all the leaves that had fallen in the fall. I will be turning the soil this week to prepare the beds! I have learned a lot from you and will be planting closer together. Thank you for all your helpful tips!!!
Great tips , and I do use miracle grow potting soil in my raised beds! I now live in Ohio but was born and lived in Florida until age 54, and I’m still using a great watering system I started in Fl. To save water and to get water directly to my plants roots ! It’s easy snd economical ! You just take 3/4” PVC pipe and cut to length (2 pipes) but cutting about 6 inches shorter , cut 4 PVC lengths about 2 1/2-3 ft length ( this is for a 4 ft wide bed) in the long pipes drill holes about every 4-5 inches on your shorter pipes no need to drill holes , you will need 4 elbow pieces of PVC fittings and 4 end caps, no need for glue! Put a short piece on each end of the pipe with drilled holes facing cross ways from left to right ! Bury your lengths of pipe with shorter lengths rising upward with long pipe being about 1/2 way down in the soil and set in 1 pipe 8 inches from sides on each side and the 2,pipes about 1 ft apart in the middle then cover the bottom pipe with the rest of your soil and plant your veggies in the beds ! You will use your hose or watering can to put water through the top of your shorter pipes and cover those pipes with a cap to stop evaporation of water! You will find it takes less water to keep your plants watered this way and you won’t be chancing scorching your plants from steam from evaporation on hot soil and less chance of increased fungus growth on leaves of plants because of water on them ! It’s a win win situation and the plants grow better with direct root watering also ! I hope someone finds this a helpful tip! I also put this method to use around plants in my yard but only put 1 PVC pipe beside the plant with a couple of holes near the root of the plant for watering but buried sbout 2-3 inches below the plant to encourage deep root system to establish !! God bless 🙏🙋🏻
I am a city man trying to save on vegetables in these times of inflation. Thank you for your advice and wish me luck building my beds for onions, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.
Wonderful info!!!❤❤❤ Thank you!!!🎉🎉🎉
This is so refreshing to find an oasis of informative 'professional' level videos in a desert of RUclips, public access TV level noise.
every time I watch your videos, I'm thankful we don't have gophers! My husband built me foot tall beds & then found a little cart called a Garden Buddy. I can roll along my garden and am happy gardener. He hauls construction products & got free 4×10 boards, so ours are mostly that size. To deal with rabbits, a 2 ft tall chicken wire around the inside mostly stops the rabbits.
gophers are no big deal, they're easy to catch; they're suckers for peanut butter with some corn pressed onto it.
Great tips Brian. I don’t put any adhesive between my boards and I’ve had no issue with soil escaping. My pine boards have lasted 4 years and counting. Metal gets so hot my plants suffer in the heat of summer. Stone has worked well too. I make my own soil for beds. 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite. Then each year I top off with compost in spring. In fall I cover with a couple inches shredded leaves we suck up in leaf blower and when we blow it out it’s shredded. No waste. In the spring I mix a little of the leaves in top of soil otherwise the worms bring it down. When I find worms on concrete or in yard I throw them in the raised beds. The multiply from there.
Where do you live? Asking from west central Florida
so you dont do any adhesive, how about drain holes?
Super helpful info!!!❤❤❤
I have tall raised beds. Best thing ever, saves my back and knees. My husband made one or two a year with mostly salvaged materials. We were lucky to get our hands on cedar and metal roofing panels. I mulch heavily and I water less than I did in the ground.
Been thinking of getting rid of my side yard that is grass (grass and weeds) so this is a video I need to see again .... and I will need to enlist a couple of helpers to do some of the hauling, hammering, etc. Doable -- going to keep thinking. Thank you
I use the corner blocks, made for raised beds, from Home Depot. Just slide the boards in.
Raised bed, great idea, yes, cheap no. 6 2x8s, roll of hail screen, 8.00 to 10.00 per bag potting soil. Over 1,000$. I do things much like this but it is not cheap. I use weed guard on the bottom.
I hear you. Best I could afford was a $69 3x6 galvanized bed from Amazon. Buying the soil/compost was expensive, too.
i buy the soil by the yard, Much cheaper than bags, I follow Anne of all trades and she has a great youtube channel as well,
My first raised beds were from lumber repurposed from my neighbors deck. I did a 4X4 bed and a 4X8 one and placed them on a 2X6 base, which raised them another 1.5 inches (13 " high) and allowed me to mow around them without trimming. Reason one was controlling soil quality. Number two was better drainage. Number 3 was not getting on the ground to plant and weed them. I ordered 2 cubic yards of soil, but it took me a couple years to use it AND NO WEEDS GREW UNTIL THE 3RD YEAR. Bad soil! It decomposed to 1/4 of the volume it had when delivered. I bought topsoil from Ace and while the bags sat on the patio, a purslane plant the size of a football sprouted and grew (usually baseball size) a great indicator of great soil. I mix 50/50 topsoil and potting soil with composted cow manure, homemade compost and a cubic yard of peat moss. I start the base with a 6 inch pile of leaves and grass clippings (no weed killers on grass) which adds nutrients and helps the soil stay moist. I also spread 4-4-4 organic fertilizer and last year ground up eggshells and got the biggest tomato harvest of my life. I bought my latest beds from Costco made from recycled drink bottles, mostly because I could not afford the lumber and did not have the strength and energy to build from lumber. These beds are nice and seem to work well. These were my ideas, so I don't know if this helps. Thanks for the video.
Started gardening at 5 with my grandfather in a large garden in Pa where he raised 9 children and where I spent most summers. I live in NJ and am now 80 and have added 3 raised beds 4'x16'x 26" Hugelkulture style with steel sides. Will be adding 2 more in plastic from Costco this year double stacked to be each about 4'x16'x24" reinforcing with rebar uprights. Just starting adding hoop house tops to half of each bed. This on a half acre with a small orchard of dwarf apples and peaches. Watch these videos for more ideas. Thanks Brian.
Accessible code for a raised bed is 27” above the ground to the top. It allows people in wheelchairs to access the bed comfortably. It’s also high enough to stand and work without bending over, for most people. Great video.
Looking to back up my number I see people offering a range of 27”-34”. 29”’is a public lavatory height. 34” is an accessible countertop height, as a reference.
In my first year i built 10 raised beds of various sizes from 4x8 to 2x10 in a 10 x 20 open-sided structure.
There is abundant commercial tree shredder output dumped over a couple of acres, and i used a mix of that and bad native soil and not nearly enough compost to fill them. Also 5 other of various sizes. For this my second year i am following your advice to build them higher for two good reasons: 1. to spare my aging back, and 2 to give me room to add much better soil (mostly compost) on top. i think both the plants and i will be substantially happier this time around. Thanks as always for plenty of useful info.
Thank you for creating videos that are easier to understand and makes me not so afraid to create something 💚
You are so welcome!
The first and best planting ... is the design and depth of your raised bed gardens - first. Design raised beds according to your desired surface space for short-rooted vegs and long-rooted vegs. Don't waste ground space and depths with wrong-depthed (or mixed-depthed) rooted vegs.
Long-rooted vegs -
carrot, salsify, daikon radish root, burdock root, beet root, mangel livestock/sugar beet root, turnip root, rutabaga root, sunchoke, asparagus root bunch, potato, sweet potato, yam, yam bean (jicama), buried sugar cane stalks, huge sunflowers, giant amaranth root, pigweed amaranth root, lamb's quarter root, broccoli root, cauliflower root, cabbage/kale/collard root, tree kale/tree collard/tree lettuce root, horseradish root, mustard root, brussels sprout root, celeriac root, anise/fennel/licorice root, chili/pepper root shrubs, deep-rooted herb shrubs (rosemary, thyme, marjoram, sage, oregano, ...).
Short-rooted vegs -
radish, finger carrots, corn, miner's lettuce, lettuce, celery, string bean, bean, pea, sugar snap pea, onions, garlic, shallots, chives, bok choy, spinach, swiss chard, tomato, sweet bell pepper, cucumber, armenian, squash, zucchini, pumpkin, gourd, melon, arugula, nasturtium, hosta, mizuna, mixed salad greens, shallow-depthed herb plants (mint, basil, borage, balm, hyssop, horehound, ...).
One catagory I didn't account for... thank you!❤
@@JennTN411 the very reason when you do vertical gardening, you can also figure out the root depths and the plant's height in stacking them on shelves, with small-depthed roots, you can put them in plastic or metal slanted rain gutters, save soil, have tilted irrigation, and maximize you grow space for the highest density of grown plants, least soil, maximum fertilizer, drip or subsurface irrigation, and grow on patios, decks, inside in a southern-facing solar/atrium room, etc.
@@johnlord8337 such great ideas that I will be adding to my list... thank you!❤
Excellent article and since I garden from a wheelchair, the considerations are appreciated.
I use raised beds for my vegetablesbthat take up little space, & I grow my vegetables that take up a lot of space (like pumpkins, watermelon, corn, etc.) in conventional in ground beds in rows... 1 thing iVe learned is that you dont need a 3 foot tall bed, for a raised beds to be beneficial! Its AMAZING how a raised bed just 4-6 inches tall can make it SOOO much easier to plant. When you're knealing down to plant something, to have beds just 4-6 inches high can prevent you from really strain g to lean down even further. & I only grow those other crops in in-ground beds because it would be too costly to make that many raised beds, & fill qith quality soil, & also because those are crops that I can usually easily plant & care for- by just popping a seed in the ground, & leaving it be for a couple months. It's not like a tomato, or a pepper that need to be harvested throughout the entire season...
I grow in raised beds for a number of reasons as you mentioned but mostly because of my back and age. I use double stack cement blocks or plastic tubs from ranchers that buy mineral for their animals..those were free…I also put those elevated on cement blocks
Im thinking about making alot of large beds with cinderblocks do you think 2 high is high enough or should I stack 3 high
Cement blocks are 8" high so 2 of them is 16" and 3 are 24".
It's all about your needs!
I use raised beds or containers for all my veggies because my area used to be part of a landfill. That was already over 50 years ago but they still monitor for methane. There hasn’t been any detected in the 25 years I’ve been in my house. I’m also finding it better on my back since my accident a few years ago that caused a compression fracture of my one vertebrae. My beds are all 12 inches deep and I may raise some of then to 15 or 18 inches to make planting and harvesting easier for things other than tomatoes. I don’t want to need a ladder for them lol
Wow! Thk you. I may get a plastic kiddie pool and remove a lot its bottom(or lotsa drainage holes). The hardwood expanding canopy of trees has reduced my sunny area back there. Front yard is sunnier in summer. (North front and/south back yard). So I am rethinking my tomato planting. I had success with winter crop of spinach growing in giant pots…..against my warmer south wall this winter. Collards did well 2 years ago there. Thks for your insights and encouragement!!! Ahna. Atlanta/ga
Lin seed oil can catch fire as it dries. We still use it, but are mindful of this until everything is fully dried.
Yes it is!!!! Wash all applicators well!
@@carriebeard-R.I.T.S Not sure if this is the correct way, but we slow down drying time by putting supplies in container with water. We leave this in a gravel area away from anything combustible
Will it self combust?
@@MichaelRei99 Yes.
I have tall trees on the north border of my garden and cannot remove them as they are on the property line and my neighbor loves them. The roots are vigorous and suck the life out of in-ground beds, so raised beds with a weed barrier underneath are the way to go.
I had three bookcases I was ready to give away until I had the thought of using them for raised beds this year. I've only used milk paint on them so I'm guessing they'll be safe for growing crops.
Thank you Brian for keeping us all motivated.
I love this idea. I have 2 bookcases I do not need. Thank you.
Sure hope it's not particleboard.
@@BlackJesus8463 Why?
@@artstamper316 Do you even know what particleboard is?
@@artstamper316 once wet particle board falls apart
Being 72 yrs old I am converting from in ground veggie gardening to raised container gardening. I collected heavy duty big fish tank stands and just had my son cut wood to add to the bottom shelf and the top. I have some large galvanized containers that we put holes in the bottom for drainage I will be using that for my new planting medium. I intend to fill the bottom third with different size twigs and wood chips so to save on party mix! It will be so much easier to provide shade then before. I had an almost complete failure last summer here in the low AZ desert zone 9b. Hopefully this will be a better option.
Why I grow in raised beds? Containment of good soil (As described in this video) and the number one reason... gophers!! We have hardware cloth under every one. We have six in the main garden, four in the side yard, one in the front yard. We made them ourselves, eight inches high. A lot of work but 15 years later all is still good! All are 4 X8 and I think we used redwood. Anything else in the yard (not in the fenced garden) are not something gophers like (like lavender) or they are in a gopher basket (roses). Excellent tutorial. PS, I grow carrots in big pots in luscious potting soil, they love it.
I shared this video with my friend who is starting a garden after many years this year. Brian I want to thank you for including comments about ease of use for those who have disabilities. As a blind woman, raised beds, are definitely preferable for me, and are much easier. There are not many gardeners, if any, who bring up this point. Again, thank you so much for beingthoughtful and aware of this topic
You're so welcome!
totally agree with benefits of raised beds, I live in tropical part of Queensland, Australia, and they greatly improve drainage and growing capabilities. My only difference is all timber here needs 2 coats of paint beforehand due to hot wet weather, but its a small price to pay, also lucky enough to own a large chipper/mulcher, so this makes a large amount of compost, thanks for informative video 👍
Am so happy to have found you and your members. A friend of mine and decided heck it is darn time we grow our own food, and I figured I have a nice sunny area in my yard, I just don't need it all so why not put it good use...in FL, and love the one person's tip on the PVC pipe❤
I find old water troughs that leak and use them for my raised beds. They really help with my bad back.
Love my raised beds. So much easier to control the nutrients that go into them, and it’s easier to control the weeds all around. For some bigger gardens that I take care of, and the owners don’t want to build standard raised, I’ve built hugelkulture beds. Those are a workout to build, but fun.
I did that with mine long before I knew it was a thing. Lol. Made me feel good.
Thanks for the info on how much hugelkultur-type organic material one can put in a taller raised bed. I’ve seen some crazy videos on that- your advice seems much more sound!
As long as you have good native soil that’s not a heavy clay, I prefer a 50/50 mix of native soil to compost/potting soil. I also, usually add extra perlite to my mix to help avoid compaction. I used to used 100% organic potting soil only in my raised beds, but found that they suffered this way, requiring more water and the plants were stressed.
I watch several RUclips videos. Your presentation was excellent. It was well organized, had great information and your speaking pattern was easy to follow and understood. Well done!
I am 75 and injured my back and neck back in 1987, so I’m very limited. We are going to make more raised bed. Thanks for the information
Just planned our 2023 spring and summer garden that will feed our family, 3,200sq ft. Your book helped me every step of the way, now you’re helping me build the beds for the garden. You’re awesome!
Awesome! You can do it!
Last year in my raised bed I used mainly sandy clay loam from my local nursery ($30 per cubic yard). I amended it with mushroom compost, bagged chicken manure, bagged garden soil, and organic granular fertilizer. Also used Neptunes harvest rose and flowering every week or two. Everything grew wonderfully in it!
After selling our house a year ago and spending last summer in an apartment, I'm really excited to get my new garden started at the new house. Thanks for your incredibly well-timed video!
Soil blessings Ross. Happy harvesting 🌱
Yes the uh k mo CT uh TX tffff FLBB is buuuhbbn x.mia, mo huh mo mo Bubb mo FL uh chv CT Rd Dr hu ok
Thank you so much! We did these exact raised beds in our garden.. we are ripping them out after 2 years and reusing the lumber to go higher! We used 2x10" and it wasn't deep enough.. we have very deep rooting lateral grasses (bermuda, devil's weed, strangle grass) and it overtook all of our beds in 1 spring season following an injury and wedding that took me out of the space. It was weeded in March and growing lawn by May. So I would definitely suggest... if you have lateral grasses... go higher than 10" and use the weed barriers. We are going up to 16" beds and 32" beds. And we are very excited!
Can't you make it out of 2"x4" raise bed One frame for the bottom then make a nether one for the top in the middle put Mimi corrugated steel panels to make tall raised beds on the outside of the steel panels if you use some sandpaper to ruff up the steel then spray paint then to the color you like or if you have someone that has air compressor and automotive paint gun you can go to a place that has auto motive paint you would want a one step trip of paint that they can mix to the color. You could try a Rust-Oleum oil base paint
My ground is of an old river bed. So, with the exception of a few inches to grow grass...its 100% river rock. From pea gravel to 3ft diameter baby bolders.
Yes.. I use raised beds. My corn bed has been built up with organics.
When my husband and I bought a place 20 + years ago, we tried to do an in ground garden. We didn't know what type of soil we had and rented a tiller. Well, the soil was so hard, and along with the tiller, beat him up so bad. The soil was totally clay and so compacted! Drainage was bad also. That's when I made the decision to use raised beds. I used 10 x 12 and 8 x 12 untreated lumber. Raised beds were the best decisions I ever made. Now that I'm older, raised beds anywhere we move are a must. Putting together four new beds this year as we moved to another place. As we age, the higher beds make it so much better as I can no longer get on my knees.
We just happen to be expanding our garden space this year and are planning a 4x8x12 bed for our corn. Planted in a 4x4 last year but determined we needed more space for it. We are planning on using cedar because we feel it will last better through our snowy winters here in the Tehachapi mountains (8b). We also have a gopher problem and line all our beds with wire, and plant everything else in cages. Looking forward to getting our new beds in and getting them fenced off from all the other critters.🦌🐻
This video is right on time! My niece and I were just discussing what she can do for raised bed options!
Always in raised beds here. I used untreated fence board ( 12" deep)with corner posts. I also layered with untreated cardboard. No weeds or grass. And all fall and winter I trench compost. It degrades by spring. And I plant comfrey in several beds which always amends soil. I also use it for medicine as well as compost tea.
Age and expense is my issue. I have a compost pile that is mostly leaves and fallen tree branches. Can I use this in a raised bed that is at least 12-16 inches deep then use a container bed medium for the top layer like you suggested? I also have old cardboard boxes I was planning to use and a block of alfalfa still in it's bag from tractor supply. I also have those corner blocks that are made to use with 2inch thick boards to make raised beds. I really like the bed you made with the gopher wire.
RebeccaD@Yes! Use all that material for the bottom of your raised bed and just the top 8 inches or so (depending of what you grow) of good quality soil. Good luck!🍀😄👍🙏💕
How much would the double layer beds cost per square foot? I have a very big property and I am wondering how many of these beds i can fit into my budget :D
I have watched your detailed school of traditions multiple time it was super informative. Thank you so Much!!!
Awesome! Thank you
raised beds are just magic. We have built 9 mainly different shapes, hights and materials and do not regret any of it. This year two further will follow. Blessings from northern Gernany.
I grow in food safe buckets and grow bags. My yard is a haven for weeds after being neglected due to a series of broken leg bones 🤦♀️. I’m excited about this season after having no veggies or flowers last year! I would love to start a few raised beds.
I have been gardening for 20 years. I try to stick to organic, mainly for health reasons. I started at one house with 12" raised beds and high quality soil. When we moved the hubby decided I did not need raised beds and did not want them in his backyard. I know I should have dumped him then, but I didn't LOL. Fast forward, 14 years and he decided he would like to grow a few things (his fav tomatoes and jalapenos) and wants a raised bed. I can tell you karma is a B..... and I will be installing 12" or higher raised beds with high quality soil.
Reason #1 CA Central Valley hard pan. The stuff is legendary.
box stores have seconds/damaged wood racks, Check for them. For example HD will sell you TREX at 70% off for chipped decking. Lasts FOREVER and is tongue and groove. I got reclaimed wood from a pipe shipping company true 2x6x10' (((OAK))) for $10ea. they strap the pipes to the oak to ship it then discard it. also check out wicking bed and beds with cores of Straw for holding water. I staple copper mesh around the outside of the beds and it discourages slugs coming in from the woodchips.
Great tips!
Wow what a beautiful view ❤️
I use to in ground garden when I first started gardening and boy did my back hate it! Last summer I built my first raised raised bed. Love the comfort and ease. But my crops didn't do well, may have been my soil. This summer I'm purchasing soil (by truck load) from Home Depot. Hopefully it is better.
This is my first year using raised beds. The house we bought came with them. They need another foot of soil, so I'll be pricing that out soon. I heard that maple leaves are good for compost/fill. So, I may lay a layer of that down before the soil. Lots to learn. I'm journaling everything so I'll have ideas for the next season. Love your videos. They are so helpful! Thanks!
I go to a landscape company to get my fill. I need bags because I’m old/have a bad back/small car. It’s nearly 50% less than a nursery or big box store (better quality too).
@@user-mc3tp5sd2z thank you very much! What a great idea!
Don't forget to shred any leaves you put in your beds so they don't form of impenetrable blanket
I grow in raised beds because I live in an oak forest. Tree roots are very invasive and took over my raised beds in less than a year. I had to dig out the dirt and put in heavy duty landscape fabric. The next beds were done with the landscape fabric to start with.
I’ve always grown in ground because the side of my house is south facing. (And that’s how mom did it.) That only gives me 5’ with stepping stones down the center. I have clay soil, which I found out is fairy nutrient rich, but I spade in compost when I first ready it as a growing bed to make it workable. I also have the 48” round fabric beds down the side of my driveway out front, which is mostly herbs and strawberries (I was teaching the neighborhood kids about gardening and strawberries were a big sell.) This year I need to redo them (they lasted approximately 10- 12:23 15 yrs). Herbs will go in and I’m not sure what else yet.
One of my biggest issues maybe you can address, is where I could put raised beds that get enough sun, is far from where my water spigots are and I’m not sure what to do about that.
Buy a longer hose or connect multiple hoses together.
@@juresichj maybe I should’ve been more specific. I have long hoses, but I’m wondering how to do it properly with a drip system so I don’t have to hand water. I’ve used a hose connected to a commercial grade 100’ soaker hose that works great for the side of the house up and back both sides, but it leaves me without a way to do the rest of the yard. (I did a a splitter so I can attach another house, but I have to manually divert to one side or the other. So, this can’t be right if I want to plant three side of the back yard, maybe with some added raised beds in rows, and use drip on timers.) I only have one water spigot in my backyard. I’ve seen you put drip in beds, but how do you get water to them?
I also use 4’ round fabric beds on the side of my cement driveway that has no spigot. I’ve been using ollas in them for water, which is better than hand watering, but not much when it’s hot. Sometimes I have to fill those daily. I don’t think there is a fix for that, but can’t hurt to ask.
So, Brian, I was wondering if there is a water spigot in the cottage garden, or if you are somehow going to have to run a line over there, given you have a driveway in between as well.
Great tips, great video, will be doing this in my new home. Could you perhaps give us some tips on shielding our veg from chemtrails?
That’s exactly how I made mine several yrs ago. GREAT to keep those pesky ground squirrels 🐿 out 😂. I used 2 tiers of 2x12 & hugelkulture in the bottom 👍. Have a great day 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
we have buried power lines, and phone lines , cable lines all over our field and so I use raised beds to keep from digging up these lines. great idea for all problems
Your videos are awesome 😊. Thank you 🙏
I made a tool to bust apart free pallets and made all my raised beds from them, even reused the nails so they cost nothing and have been working great-good oak wood too.
This is the first year I've had a raised bed garden. My only option was to put it on concrete and I was wondering the reason for lining the bed with plastic? I had plastic in it but everybody said I should take it out. So after putting it in, I took it all out! 😢 Love all of your videos!❤😊
Thank you, and I have become a member of the Homesteading family, and I am looking forward to the class you taught there. It was one of the reasons I signed up for a year. There are so many classes to take in areas like canning, how to make sour dough bread, and other areas you don't cover. You are my main go-to help with gardening. It is where I will, want to stay for help, and advise for my garden. Thank you for all you do, muchly appreciated
I'm new to your channel. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and best practices for gardening. I'm going to try raised beds this year. Is kiln dried wood safe?
Youre welcome...Yes
The ground in my area, central Alabama, is red clay with little top soil above it. It isn't even close to what I would consider good for gardening without serious soil amending. I just expanded my garden by adding three 2ft x 8ft x 8in raised beds, all lined with 1/4 hardware cloth. We have a critter that is equally as damaging as gophers in my area-VOLES! I use the same Kellogg's Organic Raised Bed Mix in all of my 8 raided beds, and two GreenStalk towers. In the three years that I have been using it, I have not had any issues with it.
I grow in ground , tall wood beds, containers and Vego raised beds. I experiment each year with what I can grow in ground because we have root knot nematodes.
I thank you, man. Your content so far has been on point and easy to take notes on.
Loved this video. Would also love to see how you do/did the asparagus. I have plans to do this as well but have never done it. Thanks for sharing.
Brian, "spot-on," super, quality info as usual!!! Many thanks!!! ❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉
I grow in raised beds and fabric containers! I think it’s a better Choice than growing in the ground.
And I can’t wait for you to do more with the school of traditional skills! It was awesome!!!!
moved to our little 40 acre 'farm' a few years ago, planning a garden finally. i am pushing 70, with serious health issues, hence wanting to grow some healthier food. as i cannot bend/squat/or kneel, raised beds are for me. we have been collecting dead freezers, washers, dryers to fill. going with hugelkulter too. we are on solid clay. if i could dig it up, i would make pottery!! my last garden was made from leaky stock tanks, but i havent found any nearby. sigh. we are already raising our meat/eggs/and milk (steer, hog, goat, rabbits, chickens) now i want to get back to plants. we are zone 2B!! up by the Canada boarder. i must admit i laughed out loud when you were 'winterizing' your beds in ZONE 5 .....goodness, i wish i had been able to move a little more south. oh well.
I originally built my beds out of cedar but after a few years they were rotting and falling apart spilling soil out onto the ground. Now I’m replacing them with the Vego metal ones and love them. I like raised beds because I can have good soil from the beginning and I like that they are taller so it saves my back and knees. My native soil is very heavy dense clay and even though I’ve amended it for years it still doesn’t grow things well.
Hi, my wife and I started building raised beds simply due to accessibility. We are both in our sixties and needed gardens that are easier to work.
Your property has come along beautifully. This makes so much sense. I always thought my soil needed to be deep. I grew a cucumber plant in eight inches of soil. It grew to the second floor window. I was amazed🎉 I think I will try 4x8. Thanks again for valuable information.
Good morning! Thank you for all of your great information, as always! A few years back, (2?, 3?), you gave a 4 wk series on gardening basics. In it you gave a link to spring and fall frost dates. I went back and watched the video and went to the garden channel link but am unable to find 'how to find' my frost dates or to get to the spreadsheet that you had developed for starting seeds. Will you help me access that information again? I would really appreciate your help. Thank you.
Oh, I don't use social media other than following some gardening/homesteading RUclips channels, no Facebook.
I used the "old school " pressure treated for my tomatoes and have had zero issues with the plants or the fruit. They've lasted a solid 10 years.
Thanks for the detailed info. I'm glad you included the part about raised bed depth. We need to build more this year but they will be off the ground, so it was nice to hear that my planned 18" depth will be good. As for why I used raised beds: it's mostly because of my back. I admit, I do also like the organization and convenience of growing in raised beds. Just like you said, it seems to offer more control on soil amendments, watering and erosion loss. Thanks again for another great video!
Raised beds can be super cheap to make. 7 fence pickets will make a 3x6 bed just shy of a foot high. And you can add on to them to make them higher by stacking 2 and securing with scrape wood or another puxket cut in 4 pieces and screwed vertically joining the bottom bed to the top bed.
I have 3 now but also use unbordered beds i literally hand pulled grass and weeds, broke up the soil then addes garden soil on top. Its low but works great for next to my cattle panel arches.
Hi again Brian. Good video(s) - very helpful as I'm going to be needing raised beds this season and DEFINITELY next year. It's helpful to know that my beds only need to be 20 cm high. I thought I would have to make them deeper for growth but now I'll save $ on materials. I have raised beds in my garden because the ground is peat soil and drains slowly so when it rains the top soil stars wet a long time. Success in your new home/ garden and keep up the great blogs 👍😉
Dont forget to masure and trim the boards if needed. Some of my beds became crooked because some of the boards were longer than 96” and i didnt know it. And our groundhogs climb OVER the beds to get in them. I have to fence off the entife garden to keep them out-we lost almost everything last year. It was the first time in almost 20 years of gardening. The beds are 18” tall, 4x8 feet.
I’m building a 12x12 foot raised garden in a keyhole shape, that I can fence off from the cats and squirrels. It will have bird netting over the top and a screen door too. It is made from cedar and the beds are 2 feet high and 3 feet wide. I like your idea of using hardware cloth for the gophers. I plan on watering the garden from the water from the koi pond. I am hoping that the plants will be happy and the critters will be thwarted.
Please talk about using shredded paper in raised bed. Where would you use it? At the bottom? Mixed with fancy soil?
Honestly I'm glad I don't have to worry about it but I'd build them high af if I had to build one at all. Prices for large pots are crazy even for the plastic.
Lots of good info Brian. Thanks
Great concise and information-packed video. Thanks for all the pointers!
Great info and perfect timing
I grow in raised beds (a couple of them at 3-feet height) because I've had a couple of back surgeries in the past & it's just so much more comfortable not having to lean over so much as you have to at ground level gardening! Also, the wild rabbits can't reach them!
There is something satisfying about putting that hardware cloth under the soil winning the gopher war before it begins! We have used stock tanks and washer tanks. They are high enough to minimize back issues.
Yes!
Can't gophers just walk over your 6 inch high boards to get to the plants? Sorry if this is a stupid question but this year will be my 1st garden
They can. But they don't. I don't know why. We have 1 ft high and 4 ft high wooden raised beds. Our only issue with those is rats and mice...it's always something.
@@hollyreilly4818 what can you do about rats and mice? We have had this issue and now I worry about planting again in these areas due to their poop and diseases they carry.
Thank you for this awesome and straightforward information. This is what i was looking for!
Nice view, house by the mountain that is my dream home and thank you for the great ideas
Bryan you need to do some massive maximum vertical gardening in those raised beds. Recent commentary to another mid-Central CA RUclipsr site - I mentioned my various designs for growing vertical in a raised bed, and can turn a 10 ft x 20 ft (200 sq ft) bed into nearly 800+ sq ft outdoor growing area. If you like I can send you the same commentary, and try my tricks in maximum growing space - and vertical growing that will have you canning, freeze drying, air drying, vakpaking, ... and taking extra to the Farmer's Market to sell or give away !
Love to see it John! Contact me via my website. Www.nextlevelgardening.tv
I've seen fabric pots, but I've never seen fabric raised beds!
Good informative video. Thank you! When will we see the final product;-) ?
Very soon! Next video I will be planting asparagus and strawberries in them.
@@NextLevelGardening sweet! I can’t wait
@@NextLevelGardening I would love to see how you space them.
@@NextLevelGardening Oh that was my question, can I plant asparagus and strawberries in the same bed. Can't wait for the video.
Just letting you know, I love your channel so much and always I’m getting ideas from you. What a wise man. Where your vegetable gardens are located? I’m from Utah, we have to make our vegetable gardens every year, because we have snow and cold wrather Utah winter. Thank you for your advices. 🤩🙌
Thank you that means alot! I'm in San Diego county CA