How to Fill a Raised Bed (And Save Money)
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- Опубликовано: 24 ноя 2024
- You can fill a raised bed for free or for greatly reduced cost. Being aware of how much soil you need and what your options are can save you money when you fill a raised bed. Gardener Scott shows three different methods for filling raised beds and discusses the great expense when choosing to use store-bought, bagged "garden soil". Most gardeners can use soil and organic materials in their landscape to fill raised beds and create a healthy soil environment for plants. Similar to Hugelkultur, burying branches can fill the bottom half of raised beds and no extra cost.
Hugelkultur books:
"Sepp Holzer's Permaculture" amzn.to/2mN5MKj
"Gaia's Garden" amzn.to/2mHU7fV
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For more videos about raised bed gardening check out this playlist: ruclips.net/p/PL812xhuxJaclJKMHKJdNHzt7jROvfKd1R
Thank you.
I guessed $500! 🤣🤣
I am trying to fill several large beds now. I'm having trouble finding somewhere to purchase soil in bulk, but in fairly smaller sizes if that makes sense. I'm not looking to spend a 1000 dollars for soil. Can you tell me where to look for quality soil in bulk? I'm in TN and dont know where to begin to look for this. Thanks for your help
@@amberemma6136 perhaps if you know someone building a house, you could load up a few trailers of top soil when they're digging the foundations
@@amberemma6136 Look for a landscape supply company or a rock yard for bulk soil.
Thank you for such an informative option for raised beds. The recent loss of my husband has left me with empty gardens and an empty heart.
I am not able to take on the enormaty of his established gardens and wanted downsized options. Our children built me raised beds from wood scrapes and now
i know exactly how to fill them without huge out of pocket expense. So glad i stumbled on your channel. I think it was my husband who put you in my path. God bless you and yours. I look forward to watching and learning more. ❤
I hope you are doing well Charlene 💖 I’m sorry for your loss
I like the way he speaks slowly and clearly for those who are new to gardening, as well as raised beds
Thanks for sharing this info. I have been doing the "free method" for years and getting wonderful results. When I moved to North Carolina in 2007 I discovered the development had been built over a tobacco farm - not very conducive for vegetable gardening. By 2009 my neighbors were commenting about how black my garden soil was and still is today. I buried pine, oak, pecan tree limbs from our yard with grass cuttings, peat moss, compost from our kitchen, manure, egg shells etc. I built simple cages to compost from chicken wire and zip ties and dumped everything into them. Over the years, occasionally, I would add a mix of top soil and a bag of garden dirt. It does work! In the beginning I wasn't sure how to set up everything so I used huge planters and moved them accordingly. When I relocated the planters, I discovered the grass underneath was dying which made it easier to dig up and put a plant (normally tomato) with dirt in the spot. Last year we moved to an area with red clay. Doing the same thing and my garden is already producing!
Thank you for sharing your success story.
You should consider digging out a lot of the clay and throwing it away. I had too do that after trying several years. I started over and did better also adding egg shells, and other good things.
Thank you for this info. We have clay soil here too
Clear, concise good common sense. People need to hear more like this. A lot of people never "get it" and just go buy crap from a big box store and then wonder why their garden doesn't flourish
I am 70 years old and have not gardened before now. I am very grateful for your time and expertise to read my numerous questions and your (place dozens of affirmations and adjectives here!) very educational responses. Thank You.
I have a buddy who has 3 thoroughbred horses. He composts the manure from his barn in some large compost bins and it comes out soooo nice. Black, rich, organic material. I get a trailer load or two every year to add to my garden and the one raised bed that I have. I built the raised bed with some old porch posts that I had replaced with Aluminum and filled the bottom with very old dry rotted fire wood and some of that compost. Then added some bulk mix that I had purchased. Worked great the first year and each year I just add some compost and turn it over with a shovel. Great video! Keep on keepin on.
Thank you so much Scott!! I love your thorough explanation and believe it is important to know the "whys" of anything you are involved in, not just the "how to". Don't change your style of teaching, many of us like to know why. One day those who only know half the story will only reap half the rewards then wonder why. Thanks again!!
He's one channel I enjoy watching. Knows his stuff.
Thank you. You solved two of my problems at once, filling my beds and eliminating my brush pile.
I was trying to figure out how many bags of soil needed for my plants when happened to see this video. So glad to learn about this amazing method before trimming my tree branches and buying soil (planned to do it tomorrow). This will definitely save me at least half of the costs. Thanks for sharing!
Terrific video Scott. I live in Daytona Beach, Florida. I go to the beach regularly and pick up free dried seaweed. I wash it down , get the sand out and incorporate it in my beds around September. By February, the bed is ready and on fire. I actually use the exact same method you use. I do sprinkle some bone meal 2 weeks before planting. I will try to incorporate some peat moss later this year like you suggested. I think it will help with the drainage. Thank you again for educating us. God Bless you and your family.
Sand helps also
Another thing to help with the bulk is deciding to dig a pond. Not only do you get dirt for your mix (for free) but you also have a place to keep fish for an additional food source.
Good tip. I actually did that for mine but no fish in it yet. Except for the kid spastic one and little fishing rods from their fishing game. :)
Though it was cause one I wanted a small pond and two fir the birds and stuff 4o drink as supposedly having this source nearby helps to keep them from digging up your garden and your tomatoes etc looking for moisture. So yeah several possible benefits there , good one. :)
@TheCharleseye too many ignore ponds as a food source… practically care free and renewable.
This is so accurate and people don’t realize how much it actually takes!
Finally! The best advice on soil that makes sense. Thank you so much! Paying for growing soil is a drag.
I agree and kind of practice this approach. Burying compostables in soil is a great way to attract and feed earthworms and build up healthy garden soil. Though, it's wise to be mindful of which things release NPK as they break down, and which ones eat up NPK in the soil. (Ex: too much wood can initially eat up too much nitrogen, and release it much later, but the right amount Is beneficial to soil composition and aeration). I just spent a day slogging in muddy clay that wouldnt drain from a 4'x4' terraced bed, despite adding several 5 gal. buckets of compost. I finally alleviated my colorado clay/drainage issue in my veggie garden by mixing in my bolted spinach pieces, grass leaves, torn up news paper, dead branches and torn egg crates with the soil. Then, tested again with water and FINALLY had fluffy soil that drained easily!🥳 it's definitely good advice to use your readily available organic matter and amend it with preexisting soil to save $, and I'd add to use cover crops that restore nutrients and build up soil too. Otherwise, I have always bought in bulk from a local dirt yard after inspecting their soil blends & composts in person. After a while, with this "free soil" approach, you'll have to remove fertile fluffy soil from over flowing garden beds, and that will be a good problem to have for sustainable gardening practices. :)
One source of compostables is the yard waste your neighbors put out on the street for collection. I get out before the truck takes them away and put them in the bottom of my bed before adding soil and compost. All free!
I was shocked at the price of peat moss this year. I just bought a bag that big for $22 Canadian! Terrible. I remember buying it for $8 Canadian! I think just last year it was about $16. Inflation is making gardening and self sustainability even harder! That’s why videos like yours are so important! Thanks so much!!
I just watched this video a couple days ago. Today I was at my local nursery to discover that the prices for peat moss have doubled since this video. Ridiculous. 😢
Energy costs have gone up due to policy. When you make energy go up, you make everything go up, because every step of the process by which that product is sitting in the store has increased in cost. "Going Green" has a double meaning $$$
Peat moss is effectively a non-renewable resource because it takes many thousands of years to form
That's what they want!! They don't want us growing our own food.. or saving our own seeds everything's genetically modified so you have to buy drink seeds every year so save your seeds plz🙏❤️🌞😁
Omg a bag of good soil is 15 bucks a bag in Canada lol it would cost a fortune to fill that bed hahaha I use grass clippings , leaves , kitchen scraps ect to fill my beds …❤
I loved your video. And I liked how your so to the point and not wasting my time hearing about your family or friends that I don't know and will never meet. Thank you from BLACK CANYON CITY , ARIZONA.
I had huge planters at each corner of our in ground pool. Over in the shade of a mulberry tree I placed our rabbit hutch and run up on cement blocks. Every fall I would rake out that rabbit poo and add it to the planters. It composted down all winter and in summer when I added the annuals..... Huge, beautiful flowers every year.
Yeah, rabbit manufacture awesome fertilizer, & it doesn't burn the roots if it's too fresh!
I use course sand in the bottom half mixed with soil. It cost me 13 bucks a trucks load, enough to do 2 beds or a garden area. This does 2 things. Gives really good drainage and adds trace elements to the soil that it often lacks. I also line the wood inside with thick plastic to keep water from decaying the wood over time.
We are considering that as well. We think we are going to try a raised bed with wicking using course sand as the wicking medium. The soil is from a local guy who is much cheaper than Home Depot or Lowe’s. All the best from north Texas.
I think the plastic will keep the wood sides from breathing and reduce the life of the boards. I find bare pine 2 x lumber lasts about 6 years bare. I have not done the plastic but heard from others who have that it decreases the life of the wood. Not sure either way, but consider it questionable.
Damn thanks you guys for all the knowledge and thank you Gardner Scott... I'm retired and I don't crochet I don't knit I don't sew but I love being outside and love to grow things
From seeds that I harvest out of my food❤ I love these raised beds because it's really hard for me to get down on my knees on the ground and stay down there all day moving around so thank you so much for this can you please tell me what those cement things are called in the corners that you said you got for $4? I liked Shared and subscribed🎉😂❤
I’d say get rid of the plastic liner chemicals. Linseed oil the wood and you’ll be fine.
Really good breakdown there and reminding people what they can do when approaching gardening.
We've used truck loads for DIRT, and usually DIRT is what we get or it's mostly DIRT and that's what you need for the top, and then you can mix whatever stuff you want to add organic material and that's what I like to do and you don't get all that sinking and that DIRT is partially what holds the life while it eats that organic material. Then it's just a matter of mixing and doing a soil test to see if there's any amendments you need to have the right minerals the plants need.
I recognized the drop in my soil and now I know what to do for my vegetable and flowers gardens❣️ Thank you sooo much ❤️
Absolutely genuine ' matter-of-fact' video that makes so much sense! Thank you! Really helped solidify my approach to filling my 4x8 raised bed cost effectively.
You sir, have just made one of the most informative videos on raised bed gardening... very detailed... I heartedly Thank You for this... it makes so much sense to the would be home gardener who are not truly informed on what they need...
Thank you.
I got a lot out of it too
@@GardenerScott I think it was very informative as well I didn't feel like it was a waste of my time
@@mr.greenjeans8323 Thanks.
Very informative shining new lights
Thank you for this clear and direct information. Just building my cinderblock bed (I watched your video for that as well) and wasn’t sure how to fill it for cheap. Luckily I just collected like 10 bags of leaves and I’m about to do some pruning so it’s awesome I can reuse everything to lower my cost. Thank you
Our 200 yr old willow fell over last summer. It is now composting away in my garden.Lots of work, but well worth it!! did just what you suggested! Even had dirt delivered! TY
I built 2 4x6 by 22ft tall beds this year. Went to my local nursery for a a pickup truck load for $55. Mix of forest mulch and soil. Yep, shovel work, but much easier from standing on the bed of my truck rather than a wheelbarrow. And a lot of $$$ saved. Next year, I'm adding two 4x8 x 2ft tall beds.
Dude your bed is 22’ tall 😮😮😮 😉
I think it is a good idea by cleaning your surrounded areas to collect fall leaves, branches, weeds, grass clippings, and make them ready for the next planting season. Therefore, you can both keep your place clean , and save money from buying soil for gardening. Thanks sir!
Probably the single most cost effective video I've seen all year. Great run down.
Personally, I like free. So I fill the bottom half of my 4x 24 x32 inch planter box with wood chips which I get free from a local arborist. They have to pay to dump so if I take all of their 10 to 12 cubic yards of ground-up tree they are more than happy to deliver. Next, I find a horse stable and a dairy ranch and again they have an abundance of fertilizer and will gladly give me all that my heart desires then I rent a front end loader and blend the piles together and that is my base and the chips will decompose fairly fast but not overheat the beds. Then the top 6 inches is compost an Bi-Mart sells 3 cubic foot bales for $10 and I top it off with that when I run out of my own.
any comments from the host on wood chips. I am 1/2 mile from arborist...and was thinking...maybe age til next year as maybe in ground the wood needs air to decompose. what say you gardener SCOTT ???
Jeff Strong how do you make sure the chips didn’t come from diseased trees? I’ve lost trees from using tree removal company chips
don't have access to a front end loader
How do I know that if I use the same base as you (woodchips and manure) then it will not get heat up? Do you have the ratio?
Must be wonderful to have enough land and heavy equipment to be able to do that. 🙂
I have to say that this is one of the better videos on this subject that I have ever seen. You definitely know your stuff and deserve great credit for passing this information on for others to become successful in their garden-making ventures.
I personally excavate earth (there is no such thing as "bad dirt": it only needs conditioning, such as Sepp Holzer's Hugelkultur or the addition of organic matter and manure to "fix" it) from around the beds, creating furrows that fill with water when it rains, and add this soil to the raised beds. I'll fill these furrows with other peoples' thrown away "garden waste". This creates areas of compost. I keep everything, including the growth beds, covered with a deep layer of mulch to reduce evaporation and add fertility to the soil.
I also add ash and my own urine to acid soils. The uric acid in the pee turns into ammonia (nitrogen-rich urea) and helps to neutralise the acidic nature of the soil. The ash and urine also deters ants and other insects, in addition to cats, rabbits and other animals. Only add fresh urine if you are a guy, though: women's menstrual and ovulation cycles add aromas that male animals tend to find irresistible. The ladies' urine should be stored for at least three months first, then used.
If you have a decent-sized compost heap, you can keep chickens and never need to spend a single cent on feed for them. They will scratch away at the heap and find their own food while doing you the favour of adding more nutrients by fertilising it with their droppings. If you put a roof over the compost heap, the chickens will bed down in it during the winter months, benefitting from the heat produced by the micro-organisms. If you bury a few hundred feet of PVC piping in the compost, with one end connected to a water supply and run water through the piping, you will get hot water out the other end.
Joseph Jenkins' "Humanure handbook" provides another source of fertility for people who are willing to take this step, especially in rural areas where one can get around certain rules that pertain to built-up areas.
Amelia Hazelip's "Synergistic Gardening" and Ruth Stout's "No Till Method" are further sources of inspiration.
All in all, this is an excellent video on raised-bed gardening. Well done, sir!
I just was reading that. I copied and pasted it. Tell me what you think of it. .For no-effort clearing, buy the best quality highest mil large black plastic covering you can find at any hardware superstore; it can be used over and over. Spread it out late summer over the area you want to plant the next spring. Peg the corners down securely with heavy stones. Next spring roll it back a section at a time and drive garden stakes and run string to indicate rows. You will be amazed as you roll the plastic back, because worms have come from everywhere and eaten the dead and rotting vegetation underneath and you will see bare dirt. As you work each section, either till that row or not as you wish. Cover it with saved cardboard and/or layers of newspaper. Then toss grass clippings, leaves or pulled weeds on top to keep the paper from blowing away. I have learned even to keep the planted rows under the paper/weed mulch to eliminate weeding around the plants. I leave only a 2" bare strip down the midrow to insert each seedling in. Try buying space-saver variety seeds, even if you have space, and start the seeds indoors in February. My garden alternates 4' rows with 4' paths, all mulched. Plant everything down the middle of the row, setting and securing a cage (mine are made from sections of 5' or 6' fence wire, rolled into about a 20" diameter cage and secured by bending down the clipped wires over the opposite side) over each plant. Secure from high winds/storms with metal poles driven into the ground and tied to each cage. The cages/poles have lasted over 20 years for me. I leave no space between the cages running down the row. Besides keeping the garden tidy and easy to get to,
In
Beware of herbicide Aminopyralid (manure, straw, hay, even bought compost, it kills all but grass and damages many plants and veggies even in very small doses. In the UK gardeners do tests with sensitive plants (peas or tomatoes) to see if bought compost or compost they made with free materials (or they gett it from the city for instance grass) is safe.
If they do not germinate or if existing seedling show the typical damage after being planted into it, they know they must not spread that batch. A few veggies can tolerate it, but not too many, and not even all flowers. One can grow grasses like rye or barley) or corn. But most hobby gardeners or
It does not break down through digestion or composting not even hot composting. Only through contact with soil bacteria and only after a few years. After ruining your garden for years of course if you were unaware of that danger.
I think it is only supposed to be used for cows fodder not horses - oh well. And muncipalities also use it to control what grows on their land.
Considering that herbicide from hell, and that most people must bring in some material / nutrition from outside (and wood chips even if you grow mushrooms for a while are not enough regarding nitrogen and minnerals ) humanure or the feces of your pets (if the litter is O.K. ) starts sounding good.
Of course there are coffee shops, restaurants, snack bars where they sell pressed fruit juice. and Gardener Scott forgot good old brown carton and newspapers.
A
There's nothing better than saving money and growing food. #TFS
I roll cardboard to fill the bottom 2-4 inches of planters. Makes them lighter and it will compost and sink over time, allowing you to add some fresh mulch and good soil. Same idea as putting branches at the bottom of a raised bed, with the bonus of making planter buckets lighter and drain better.
P.S. 8x4 feet just reminds me I have a cord of wood to stack... Thanks Scott >:I
Card board is great idea! I get all these deliveries which I can now recycle them myself
Exactly
What are planters
@@KeiKreatrix It's the pot or box you put your soil in to grow plants...
@@IndigenousIndianLady65 thank you I was over complicating it😂💓
Hi Scott. Your advice for my raised beds was great. But the reason I'm writing tonight is because a man came into the store at which I work with questions about raised bed gardens for his wife. She needs it to be at least 30" high. He walked around the garden soil, potting soil, manure and top soil that is sold there. His concern was that it would be very expensive to fill it. I remembered your video on Hugelkultur. We calculated that he'd need 5 levels (based on using 2 x 6 boards) to reach the 30". I told him about Hugelkultur for the lower 4 levels, wood, leaves, cardboard, papers, grass clippings, wood chips.
I asked him if he knew of anyone who had a woods where trees had fallen and if he had a chain saw to cut the felled trees to fill the beds. I told him the lower 4 levels of the 30" raised bed would be decaying, adding nutrients. Now, since it's really close to freezing, I suggested he get the beds set up and get them filled with Hugelkultur. At first he thought I was crazy but the more we talked and he started getting a grasp on what I was saying, he said that he'd go home, calculate the lumber and call some friends. He thanked me and said he'd be back to talk more. He agreed that 30" was quite tall but his wife has a really bad back and it needs to be that high. I fully understand. So, thank you for sharing your knowledge.
That's great, Kay. I'm so glad to hear you're helping out new gardeners.
I've been filling the bottom half with local dirt from construction sights where they dug out a basement and made a mountain of dirt next to it. My municipality actually has a place that dirt goes and people take from that. It's heavy in clay and far from ideal but when mixed with better stuff, it helps fill that bed with what people who plant directly in the ground are using. I live in southwest Wisconsin, we grow a lot of food in less than ideal soil.
Thank you so much! This saves me removing my yard waste AND it saves me on soil.
Sir, you just saved me a BUNCH of money! I was so disappointed when I calculated how much it was going to cost me to fill my raised bed but now I have some hope!
I am from Germany and moved to Colorado last year! Starting my garden beds this year and I am excited! So nice that you are from Colorado, too!! Thank you for all the tips! ☀️😊
Beware of herbicide Aminopyralid (manure, straw, hay, even bought compost, everything that could contain grass treated with it). It kills all but grass on the meadows, and damages many plants and veggies even in very small doses. _Neither digestion nor compsting_ breaks it down !
In the UK gardeners *_Charles Dowding_* * do tests with sensitive plants (peas or tomatoes) to see if bought compost or compost they made with free materials from farmers (or they get it from the city for instance, grass) is safe.
* highly recommended channel btw, if you like this channel you will be blown away by Dowding. After he rang the alarm bell (he has a following) and The Guardian reported on it, more and more gardeners (in Europe in the U.S. came forward). They had no idea what damaged their crops. But Dowding has a large enough operation to test in severa spots, and he has the authority - so to him it was clear it was not the location, the vatiety, it was the compost, so he started "digging".
If the test seeds / seedlings do not germinate or if existing seedling show the typical damage after being planted into the compost, they know they must not spread that batch of compost (they grow a few in soil that they know is safe to compare - so the company DOW Chemicals cannot deny and downplay. Needless to say politicians have not reacted. That blew up in 2019, at least in the scene.
If the farmers would handle the manure of these cows and horses responsibly and only compost it themselves and then use the compost only for growing grass and it would be explicitely stated that this compost contains Aminopyralid - then it could work. (I am sceptical however about a substance that can only be broken down by soil bacteria over years, who knows what it does to the animal in the long run and to mild and meat).
And now they also use it for wheat, ....
It sure beats regenerative methods if one wants maximum short term gain, monocultures and does not care to change the mode of operation.
For the farmers it is a short term gain, no weeds and nothing that is harmful for cows (or horses) can grow (because of the big ag methods and maybe climate change some poisonous weeds have become more wide spread, and their answer is the over kill - screw organic farmers / homesteaders.
Of course that effect of the herbicide will not last long, I am sure in 10 years the weeds have evolved, then they will either have to increase the dose or use an even more extreme herbicide.
A few veggies can tolerate it, but not too many, and not even all flowers. One can grow grasses like rye, barley or corn and I think cabbages etc also tolerate it (at least they have medium yield). But most hobby gardeners or homesteaders want veggies, strawberries etc. Not wheat or rye.
It does not break down through digestion or composting - not even hot composting. Only through contact with soil bacteria and only after a few years, in some cases in can last for 10 years. After ruining your garden for years of course if you were unaware of that danger.
I think it is only supposed to be used for cows fodder not horses - oh well. And muncipalities also use it to control what grows on their land.
Thank you! You are so right about purchasing soil for raised beds. I'll remember the log and branch trick for my next raised bed.
Thank you for spending all this time to get information out to people. My husband and I are newbies and trying to learn as much as we can in the short time we have.
Actually, the mass never changes......the volume may decrease, but the mass does not.
Excellent video! Very helpful.
I just built my first raised bed. This is the video I needed!
Great video on filling raised beds. I use the SFM with Mel Bartholomew and my beds are only 6" deep saving me lots of $$$. I simply cover the grass which my 4x8 bed will be with either cardboard, or newspaper allowing this to choke out the grass, thus stopping weeds. Both of these break down and is used by the plants later. I find the 6" plenty deep enough for all plants. If I want to grow root crops, I simply add a box for whatever I am planting in that square foot and fill that with whatever soil I need. This way I don't need to buy tons of soil. I also have compost bins going all year long. Another great idea I picked up a few years ago was to let my neighbors know I needed tons of bagged leaves for my garden/compost bins and that I'd come over and pick up the bags myself. I have more dang leaves than you could ever imagine and it is all free. Some of the leaves I put in the compost pile, while others I chop up with my mower and spread on top of the beds for the winter. I've also raised worms for a few years, then dumped them in my compost bins. They don't go anywhere,even in the winter. They tend to ball up to stay warm here in PA and are ready to roll the entire next year. I've had them for 5 years and they keep producing like crazy.
Thanks, Tom. It sounds like you have it well in hand. I'll be doing a video on square foot gardening next year. I too ask everyone I know for leaves and grass. I've even stopped and knocked on strangers' doors to ask for bags of leaves when I see them on the curb. They are great for the garden.
I loved that show and bought the book; gave it to a person in need at the time; bought the book again!
Just be careful...I do not want leaves from yards that have synthetic chemicals used by the homeowner or a lawn service.
I do the same thing exactly as you do! Works great! Less work as it keeps weed maintenance to a minimum!
Great information and excellent presentation. We are putting in our first set of 4x8 raised beds at our new home. Prior we had always planted directly in the ground as we had ideal soil conditions and plenty of space to use machinery to prep and turnover the soil. Our new home has fair soil at best and serious gopher problems so we are going raised beds. I now have a great economical plan thanks to your video. Thank you for taking the time to make your videos
I was just starting my winter cleaning and complaining to my husband about all the sticks and here comes your video! Thank you so much such an education and clear video.
Haha! I just bagged a ton of leaves... Oh well. There's alot more. I will use leaves and sticks . 👍
Awesome video, man! I'm starting a vegetable/medicine raised bed garden this year and your videos are the best and most informative I've found so far. Thanks for all the work you've put into these
How is the vegetable/ medicine garden doing?
I fill the bottom 1/3 of my beds with wood chips from the local arborist. We just had 40 yards of chips dropped off for free. I like that you explain that lots of “topsoil” doesn’t contain actual soil. We get bulk topsoil mixed from sand and compost from a local aggregate company. They make amazing soil, and it’s much cheaper in bulk.
Hands down this is the best video I have seen on this subject! Thank you for your time and effort...blessings!
Thank you very much.
I was lucky when I started to garden as I had two books I had read, one was about lasagna gardening, the layering of different types of organic material, such as, leaves, twigs and branches, grass clippings, pine needles, wood chips, shredded newspaper, manure, chopped up corn shocks, coffee grounds , chopped eggshells, cardboard, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, and then your own mixture of the soil you actually wanted to plant in for the top with mulch around what you planted to eliminate weeding and retain moisture. 'The other book was about square foot gardening. I had great luck combining the knowledge in the two books and my first experiences in gardening just whet my appetite to learn more. Since then, I have studied the Garden of Eden method and subscribed to magazines such as Organic gardening. Now the world of RUclips has made so much more knowledge available. I turned an area that was inhabited by huge norway pine trees into a lovely shade garden where the soil I made between the trees by lasagna gardening created wonderful black dirt with so many large earthworms in it that I only had to dig one shovelful of dirt to find enough worms to go fishing with all day. The secret ingredient for that sucess was cardboard layers as it seems that earthworms love to eat the glue that is in the cardboard. I created a lovely shade garden of mostly perennials there. This year I will be using a combination of hugelculture and lasagna gardening in layered containers as now that I am old I need to keep my work area about waist level due to my bad back. I am learning to create my own fertilizer. It should be fun.....check Robbie and Gary Gardening Easy here on RUclips.
Im learning the same thing . Its so cool to watch it all come together.
I just ordered my garden beds. I'm so glad I watched this before buying garden soil.
My Ex-Wife used to go to all places that served coffee and get their coffee grounds for free. Worms grow and mate like crazy and she ended up with thousands of worms in her raised beds which create holes for better drainage in the soils. So use lots of card boxes and coffee grounds for fantastic gardens! And chicken manure.
That's a great idea for coffee grounds... heard they were good, but I only drink instant!
Coffee grounds, egg shells (well rinsed & crushed) & horse manure = happy garden! Marigolds at edges helps repel some insects, too. I would also place a 3" base of smoothed stone for drainage!
@@mdee860 I have been told by several people that it is not even necessary to rinse and crush the egg shells!
@@mdee860 no need to rinse your shells.
@@allenmartin7193 - yes, but best to have lowest level of larger stone, like the polished Goose egg type. If you use all same size & smaller stones, they can compact, then mix with the dirt & rain & that will make for bad drainage & root rot. The larger stones help prevent that.
Perfect I cut a load of branches off of my bay tree and hadn’t got round to bagging them. Randomly came to me to see if I could use them to fill out my last bed. Definitely worth playing about with
Great video! Your audio is so clear and precise, the camera remains still, and your knowledge is free-flowing! Thank you, thank you! All I get from my gardening friends is advice on how I should convert from ground to beds. Yadda...yadda...yadda, everyone thinks beds are so great because they are getting older and say it is less work, especially on aging backs. Not one of them ever mentioned the cons of this method. Now I will be putting some very serious thought, planning, and financial calculating into action before I ever head in this direction. I appreciate having my eyes opened beforehand!
Thanks, Susan. Glad to help.
Love that.Yes am gardening again.Have had large garden beds like that.pls dont forget .use of rabbit and guinea pig manure x hay straw etc...Now have hanging baskets for my peas.and two raised beds for silverbeet and baby carrots.Rest is huge pots for potaties and pumpkins and last growing well herbs and sring onions and garlic.I feel better this year growing our food for our table etc.Even my daughter was impressed about the 20 baby cherrie tomatoes for her salad.🍓🐇🐇🐇
That is such a good idea! I have a bunch of branches that i needed to get rid of and i’m planning a garden for this summer so this is just perfect! Thanks for the idea
The Bob Ross of the plant world
Thx Scott, it was a really good idea to hear this thing from you too. This method is sustainable and recycles all the wastes around a household, then finally produces again meal for a family. Pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris. (Ter 3,19)
This is the best video I have seen on RUclips about raised bed filling. You are exactly right. We should used earth soil instead of bagged so called garden soil. Make a blend yourself.
You can tell that “garden soil” really ticks him off! I love his passion!
I have covered the bottom of my raised beds with layers of cardboard (from carton boxes) and I have discovered that these are loved by earthworms, which do a great job of breaking down organic matter. I've never seen so many earthworms in such a small area of soil, keeping the soil in my raised beds nice and aerated. My vegetables grow marvellously well. I've had a great harvest of "French beans" in that particular bed. ... I like your videos, very instructive and well made. Take care Gardener Scott .
I did option 3 to top off my beds this year. Filled them for free last year, all it cost was a lot of sweat.
I like the way he speaks slowly and clearly for people who don’t math very good.
It looks like I'm going to be a professional farmer while I'm quarantine at home
Exactly why I’m here
cj p 😆😆😆right
Same!
I"ve been planning on doing a raised bed for a couple years and now is a good time to start.
We all better learn. The long term effects of this virus economically and the shutting of businesses (unemployment at an all time high) is going to take out the middle class, drive food and gas prices through the roof.
I love your tips, no one said gardening was easy, that’s why everyone doesn’t do it💐🌸🌼🌷🍄
I pick up horse manure from my neighbor and make my own compost for my garden
I am using horse manure too! My best friend gave me two buckets!!!
I live on the outskirts of the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) metroplex and am lucky to still have some farms and stables nearby. I am picking up horse manure mixed with straws that has been decomposing over time and add them to start my first raised beds. Given I am late to the party (it's May already?), I am using mainly horse manure mixed with my in-ground garden soil to fill the bed(s). I am hoping to start a compost pile too. From what I have calculated for the amount I will need for next year, I have started to collect all the flyers that the lawn services folks dorp off at my door and ask them if I can take their grass clippings and other organic materials off of their hands. Let's see...
It is the hardest thing I have ever done. I want to quit everyday. Now that I have discovered Gardener Scott I am wondering if I need to scrap it all. I have made mistakes I cannot undo. ugh
Andy A. Nature is very forgiving, can change or adjust anything, anytime and move on!
I can't figure out how to compost horse manure correctly... I have horses and our soil is clay. Horrible to plant in, so raised beds have to be the way... But I've got a black thumb and can't even figure out composting...
In New Jersey we get free compost and mulch from our town. I filled my raised beds mostly with this free compost and mulch!
That's great! Definitely take advantage of it.
Which town do you live in?
Colorado Springs.
yes many towns cities offer this. if you have a cheap harbor freight trailer and hitch just drive down there and get a load for free. Buy a dozen plastic containers and put them on the bottom of the trailer and they are just as easy to move around as bagged soil.
At least in New York State, each county has a Soil & Water Conservation District. My County's (Monroe: www.monroecoswcd.org/) is pretty active, and they offer a number of classes to the public. They also have free soil and wood chips available.
My grandpa had 2 styles of planting, beds and pots/planters. For the beds he put tomatoes in, he just used 1/2-3/4 top soil and the rest was fruit & vegetable soil mix, all from bags. For his planters and pots, he typically put rocks or gravel in the bottom to about 1/4 depth then top soil to raise it another 1/4 to 1/2 then the rest was potting soil mix. I follow the method of top soil to 3/4 depth in my containers and 1/4 planting mix (estimates based upon size of container/planter) and I have had success growing fruits and veggies.
🤔🦧🤔
Planning our beds now - perfect timing to see this!
Hi Scott.
I thoroughly enjoyed your video, as I use a very similar method (I'm all about freedom and efficiency) and I'd just like to add a little tip for those half filling with organic material.
If you apply a temporary gardening edge in the top of your raised beds, you can over fill in anticipation of the decomposition drop.
Sincerely,
Adrian
Thanks. That's a good tip.
Great video, and very helpful to those of varying budgets.
Yep, I dug the ground below, then did huglekultur stuff, cardboard strips, raw compost not broken down so much and grass clippings, dug up soil, then the very little bit of compost around each plant.
I still have to build bed boundary of 8-10 inches, currently thick cardboard wrapped in split black bin liners, staked with strong twigs. I’ll have some big tree branches soon that I might split to make log wall.
I used to be very financially comfortable by my own income but thanks to an ex, I lost everything and now having to be more ingenious lol. Certainly looks .... rustic 😂
I heavily regret the amount of garden waste I would put out for the council to collect. Always done composting but I wasted so much. Now only roots and weed seeds going out. The garden is quite lush and needs heavy maintenance so hopefully in future I’ll have lots more compost, soil
Another good tip for folks… you can easily and cheaply make good soil using soil conditioner from Lowes. It is just ground up trees and is amazing to to work with. Lightweight too.
I learned the hugelkultur method last year when I realized how much it was going to cost to fill the beds. I also start my bed with cardboard...brings the worms...then hugelkultur method and top soil
Costco has lots of cardboard...
Cool Haga I’m completely new to this. When you use cardboard are you cutting in up into smaller pieces or just laying it flat on the bottom?
@@kimwiser445 I just throw it in there....I find it easier to work with cardboard when its wet...worms will come and take care of the cardboard
Cool Haga thank you!!
with all the Amazon deliveries, we should have plenty of cardboard
Thank you for the soil building info. I was headed toward the $150.00 for a single level bed. I keep compost going so I will add some of that to my weekly grass cuttings, weeds I collect daily and even the veggie scraps I add daily. I am so glad to have found your great channel.
Your own compost is a great option.
And guess who's filling raised garden beds that I just built? Perfect timing young man thank you. I truly enjoyed your presentation. Bless you
Thank you!
Thank you for this video. I tried raised beds once and did it the expensive way and the following year had to readd too much ,so i gave up. After seeing this video i am ready to try again.
I love that you're in Colorado, where I live. Different parts of the country have different zones. It's clay 'soil' here and amending it takes some dedication. I'll be watching more of your videos as the seasons progress. Thanks!
I have installed a 4" PVC pipe in the bed with random spaced 1" drilled holes to the underground part of the pipe. I now add my food scraps, paper, and along with a starter pack of redworms. Cap the top off with some screen, water and feed when needed and the worms will be a continuous help to fertilizing and aerating the garden soil
I love the filling the bottom of the beds with branches. I have so many guava branches from my trees and they're full of minerals. Great advice.
Thanks.
Your math is right on!! Before you said what you thought it would cost I guessed at least 200$- 400$ for quality potting and or raised bed soil. Stuff is outrageous and has even gone up in 2022!
I forgot to to mention, I have a few acres of grass and even more acres of fully matured hardwood forest and 6 cu feet of two year old chicken manure. I was in the nursery business for over twenty years and grew alot of plants to sell wholesale and retail. I just subscribed to your channel but the videos I've seen so far of yours I've learned alot from each of them. Great stuff.
Thank you much.
I'm a relatively new gardener this year, and to fill my beds, I was going to use some of my donkey's droppings. His diet is hay, oats, carrots, apples, corn and pears. He also grazes a lot. Once in a while, I find remnants of other people feeding him bread, strawberries, and peppermint candy, etc, but not on a regular basis. Some gardeners tell me this will be an excellent add-in to my soil, but others say don't do it. What do you think? Am I throwing away something valuable, or, well, crap? Lol Thanks.
Compost the 'dropings' of your Donkey or use it just for plants that need lots of nutritions. Or u compost it direct in the lower soil, where in this Vid the branches are as bottom filling.
Nice gardening
@@pamelatorres2219 put it on top of soil after seed is placed
Lots of great information regarding compost, soils, mulch, and how to create good soil for planting. I have back yard gardened for several years now. Never thought of using my grass clippings for compost. Thanks Scott.
Why couldn’t I have found this channel a week ago after spending $400.00 at my local nursery. At least I supported the little guy and not the big box. Oh well.
Sorry it cost you so much, but glad you helped keep the little guy in business. I’d venture to say that most backyard gardeners don’t have easy access to free branches and twigs, so will have to choose between buying more soil for raised beds or the less desirable gardening at ground level, as I had to do this year.
was thinking the same thing hahaha. I've bought so much soil from the local nursery. but at the end of the day- its better than putting money in Home Depot's pockets! the little guys need the money much more
Wood is a better base anyhow, because it retains water once it starts to break down.
Me too!
Common sense would have stopped me from forking out $400 for what the Creator provided us for free. I'm selling bottles of fresh air if you're interested 😂
Excellent! Thank you for getting to the very basics of this- I wish all manuals were written like this.
Thanks Scott. Couple of ideas for Gardeners in the suburbs who may only have green lawn clippings on hand. Too much of these in the base of the bed will go very slimy (I learned the hard way) and make your soil sour, so use sparingly, and layer with dryer things like torn up cardboard, egg shells, wood ash, etc.
If you need to buy it, straw is a really good option as it’s not too expensive. You can pack a whole bale or two in the bottom and it breaks down really well. Ask for the cheapest. Sometimes you can get ‘spoiled’ hay that got rained on before it was wrapped in plastic in the field. This is great too, and is also cheap if you can get it. It is still good for gardens, but not for feed. Also, some horse stables give the straw bedding away that they replace daily in the stables. They call it ‘stable manure’, but it has very little manure, and also urine, but it’s good for filling the base of the garden beds. Don’t put it on top of the beds unless you age it first because the urine will burn your plant roots.
PS: I’m not sure if I would use racing stable manure because it may have drugs they’ve given the horses in the manure/ urine.
Good suggestions, Lola. Stable manure can be a great amendment in beds and compost piles.
@@GardenerScott Thanks Scott. Love your channel👍🧑🌾Happy gardening😊
Your voice makes me want to sit on the other side of the raised bed and tell you my problems
Amber leigh - you haven’t listened my voice yet Amber...:)
@@bobbyutube1 ;)
LOL!
Best one yet
@@bobbyutube1 You have my profile name....
I'm researching all of this because I plan to start my very first garden (I live in Texas). I've watched a couple of your videos now and they are helpful, so thank you for that. I think I will shoot for building and filling my raised bed this fall. Thanks so much for all the tips!!
It's a year since you posted your comment, and I'm about to start a large garden (in Texas as well!) starting this Fall and hoping you've had success. I'm planning on using the Hugelkultur method. I need to look on the Internet after posting this to see if all the invasive Texas Mountain Cedar (which is actually Juniper not Cedar) that we've had uprooted will be acceptable to use in the garden.
I'm in a cold climate too.... I'm in Chicago and I like everything you've shown me so far....I will emplement everything I was shown
Thank you this is very helpful and I feel more confident in how I'm going to start my garden now for next year. I was going to start building the bed and gardening next spring I'm glad I didn't make that mistake.
I used to be annoyed by these big plants that grew out behind my garage with huge leaves on them that grew pretty quickly as well. Now I will harvest all this wild goodness for soil enhancement purposes!
Thanks Gardener Scott. This is the best explanation I've seen on how to fill my garden beds. Absolutely well done!
That is a beautiful load of soil you bought! I'm a little jealous and frustrated because I paid a local company last year for a load of topsoil, and instead they brought me a load of orange clay mixed with sand. It gets a crust that's hard as stone, but stays soggy wet on the inside for weeks, even months. I used it anyway in my larger elevated garden, and just put in pockets of good soil where I planted. This year I'm trying to salvage it by mixing in looser organic material, in hopes of gradually changing it. Also this year I built a new bed, and I'm using bagged dirt from Lowe's and Home Depot - still a lot of money but worth it to have a better foundation. For the future, trying to build some of my own compost from raked leaves and kitchen scraps. This is definitely a long-term creative endeavor! :-) Thank you for all that you share with us newbies!
I'm so sorry they did that to you. You're doing well. LIME breaks down that clay ! You should have gone to that company and raised the roof!!! Who doesn't know topsoil is not clayish or sandy!!! Do you live near the country? A farmers co-op can test your soil & tell you how much lime to add to the bad stuff they gave you. Or a state university extension service - call them.
Never thought to add branches... I do always have a lot of leaves piled up. We just go to the dump and get a trailer load of their wood compost for $30. It does the whole lawn and fills my raised beds plus an extra pile to add through the season. The porcupines love our grass because of all the wood in it. As for pots of flowers we add empty pop cans to fill the bottom and rest with nice potting soil. Saves $$$ =)
Thank you! That was very informative. I've just started gardening and was a bit discouraged by how much one bed alone can cost. I live in an urban area where I don't trust the soil. Now I know I'll need to store up more patience to build good soil before I even start planting seeds.
Glad to help. Good soil is the key and it can take a long time to get it perfect, but that's part of the fun to being a gardener... having patience and creating a place plants love.
Nothing wrong with starting your own worm farm either, helping your neighbours come spring and fall and their weekly lawn mowing sessions, gathering all those small bits of pebbles, storing them somewhere, maybe gradually collecting the rock dust as they happen to collide in their container, snag a bag of chicken grit, do the same, add some of THAT dust to your worm farm so the worms enrich their own castings..seeing as THEY have even fewer teeth than chickens!😉
I've gone to container planting! Enriched with worms! For exactly those reasons. Humans have polluted the very earth we ALL rely upon! And even the WATER isn't safe!
You’re an excellent teacher. I’m planning to expand my garden and I learned a lot from you
I SUBSCRIBED today 2/27/23!!! I'm gonna try your tips for my raised beds I'm doing on my homestead this year!! Haven't gardened in about 4 year because of health problems but I'm getting back to it this year!!!!
Welcome to the channel! Thanks! Hope you have a great gardening year.
Love the T-Shirt!!! Haven't been to Miramar since I lived in base housing back in 2004. Thanks for the video, great stuff!!
I put on my tree branches bags of neighbor's raked leaf's, that holds the dirt above, all free. And I put a plant in a hole filled with expensive blend with raked yard thatch. And covered in straw.
I have found your video EXTREMELY useful and informative, I'm now a step closer to start gardening. Thank you so much.
Start with growing herbs or one pepper plant in pots,that’s what I do,it’s fun. I’m about to venture in the raised bed garden myself.Wish me luck.😉
We filled our beds for free. Went down to the public compost heap and filled buckets with leaf compost. Drywall and vermiculite, we removed during remodeling, went in and lots of veggie compost from our home. It turned out great.
Shalom! Gardener Scott, thank you so much for teaching us your gardening skills and expertise. Blessings!
Thank you.
Brilliant! I always make my own soils. A mix of everything. The sticks over cardboard works real well!
Wonderful!
I have a 2x2x14' bed in my greenhouse. In early fall I was heading out to the farm to get more (free) compost, while I was driving there, I noted people in the residential area were putting out the paper leave bags. I realized that it was too early for Oak leaves, and most of the bags were going to be Maple. After I picked up a landscaping trailer full of compost, stopped on the way home and pulled over to check out the bags. Most were Maple, a few ,I passed over, were Pine needles. Got home and poured the 16 bags into my bed, it filled to about 1-1.5' over the level of the bed. Added my yard of compost, it brought the leaves down, and the compost filled almost exactly to the top. The second year, I added a half yard to the bed, the leaves had started to compost more.
Where/how do you get free compost?
@@Nicaragua952 I have pigs, but we go up the road to a friends with horses and cows. If you have farms within driving range, then there is manure available.
Came to comments precisely for this, to double check that my evergreen clippings can’t work for the bottom of a new bed, can you confirm that?
I’ve been told pine will actually prevent composting… so yeah, avoid. What others should one avoid?