Hi guys, when you are over the shock and back up on your chairs , I’d like to get back into my vegie garden and I have talked it over with the elf and we have decided to go with a raided bed.

So my questions are what kind of wood do I need to use? I don’t want huge beds, more smaller and I’ll start with one for tomatoes and grow slowly back into more beds as time goes by.

I have my compost bins still working and they can be the filling.

Thoughts and ideas appreciated.

Lucky1 said:

Hi guys, when you are over the shock and back up on your chairs , I’d like to get back into my vegie garden and I have talked it over with the elf and we have decided to go with a raided bed.

So my questions are what kind of wood do I need to use? I don’t want huge beds, more smaller and I’ll start with one for tomatoes and grow slowly back into more beds as time goes by.

I have my compost bins still working and they can be the filling.

Thoughts and ideas appreciated.

Sounds like a plan Lucky… your worm farms still powering away?

Dad used to have weatherboard borders, a good 6” I think, and backfilled with topsoil…I had besser block borders at the “old” place, filled with compost addition, and it grew tomatoes like a charm…

Dad grew carrots in these beds, I must add, so they were obviously deep enough…

Can I ask “Why raised garden beds?”

Yes worm farms are still going and doing “their thing” :)

Dinetta said:

Can I ask “Why raised garden beds?”

My knees and hips are stuffed. Also the elf isn’t too go with bending now a days. So I though if I want to grow some plants I have to adapt.

Yay! Good to see you Lucky1 :D

raised beds are a good idea. Any sort of material you can recycle would work – corrugated iron sheets or old water tanks cut down to size, timber sleepers (you can get non-arsenic treated ones these days), bricks. You can also buy little kits of timber or steel from hardware stores or even Reject these days of small beds.

Hi Bluegreen. I was wondering about what to get. Thinking a second hand place maybe the way to go too.

Or keep an eye out on FreeCycle in your area? Whatever it is that Happy Potter uses for a trading centre…

Those galvanised or colourbond borders have been all the go the last few years, become much cheeper than they used to be. Hay bales are lovely but would probably take up too much room…

Dinetta said:

Hay bales are lovely but would probably take up too much room…

But they double up as compost as they break down.

bluegreen said:

Dinetta said:

Hay bales are lovely but would probably take up too much room…

But they double up as compost as they break down.

Yes, that’s what I really meant when I said they were lovely…make great soil…

Lucky!
Lovely to see you in here again :)

After trying to get down to plant out heaps of leek seedlings yesty, my phone in my pocket in case I had to call someone to help me get up, I’m thinking raised bed may be the go here too soon.
Ageing sucks. Add in a health concern or two and it gets silly.

I like the bessa block idea. Then as one can bend even less, add another layer to make it higher. Filled with compost and manures of every type, thata make a good tomata bed, carrots in next crop and so on, and herby stuff and strawberry things planted in the side holes. Yeah.

Happy Potter said:

… … and herby stuff and strawberry things planted in the side holes. Yeah.

The blocks I had, you couldn’t do that because of the summer heat, but I guess I could have given the herbs a go during winter…

However I did fill the holes with dirt as a form of insulation for the soil inside the bed…

If your back is not up to bending, try hanging your plants. http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/event/18710/product/the-original-topsy-turvy-tomato-tree-16906?preview=0

Happy Potter said:

Lucky!
Lovely to see you in here again :)

After trying to get down to plant out heaps of leek seedlings yesty, my phone in my pocket in case I had to call someone to help me get up, I’m thinking raised bed may be the go here too soon.
Ageing sucks. Add in a health concern or two and it gets silly.

I like the bessa block idea. Then as one can bend even less, add another layer to make it higher. Filled with compost and manures of every type, thata make a good tomata bed, carrots in next crop and so on, and herby stuff and strawberry things planted in the side holes. Yeah.

Hi ya HP. Thanks for the input :)

Hey Lucky..and everyone else ofcourse :)

I am just a lurker these days but felt compelled to add to this and I do hope it helps.
Although I only have a couple of these, had I known how well they work, my whole veg garden would be full of bathtubs!!
There’s hardly any bending over and the water and nutrient levels are easily controlled.
During summer this tub get a shade cloth cover to protect the rhubarb from the burning sun.
The whole thing can be easily reticulated top & bottom gardens.
Hope the photo comes out ok…haven’t touched photo bucket in a year or so.

http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af326/RubysRoom/IMG_0174.jpg

Thanks Muschee for your input. We are going to go with the straw bales for the time being. Just start off with tomatoes and see how we go and increase as we go.

Muschee said:

Hey Lucky..and everyone else ofcourse :)

I am just a lurker these days but felt compelled to add to this and I do hope it helps.
Although I only have a couple of these, had I known how well they work, my whole veg garden would be full of bathtubs!!
There’s hardly any bending over and the water and nutrient levels are easily controlled.
During summer this tub get a shade cloth cover to protect the rhubarb from the burning sun.
The whole thing can be easily reticulated top & bottom gardens.
Hope the photo comes out ok…haven’t touched photo bucket in a year or so.

http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af326/RubysRoom/IMG_0174.jpg

hello Muschee :D

bluegreen said:

Muschee said:

Hey Lucky..and everyone else ofcourse :)

I am just a lurker these days but felt compelled to add to this and I do hope it helps.
Although I only have a couple of these, had I known how well they work, my whole veg garden would be full of bathtubs!!
There’s hardly any bending over and the water and nutrient levels are easily controlled.
During summer this tub get a shade cloth cover to protect the rhubarb from the burning sun.
The whole thing can be easily reticulated top & bottom gardens.
Hope the photo comes out ok…haven’t touched photo bucket in a year or so.

http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af326/RubysRoom/IMG_0174.jpg

hello Muschee :D

Hi BG Hope you’re going well :) You’re cutie post always brings me back here…I’m such a sucker for all those cute animals, especially the strange and weird ones.
Hope alls going well on two wheels too for you. Mr M is always adding to his collection. The last one which is a fav of mine is a Diavel :)

Finally the backyard has some order to it. Elf has finally finished the scalping of the vegie garden area. except one small area down the back. He’s been struggling with a chest infection. Beautiful weather here today as well.

Lucky1 said:

Finally the backyard has some order to it. Elf has finally finished the scalping of the vegie garden area. except one small area down the back. He’s been struggling with a chest infection. Beautiful weather here today as well.

Pics?? sounds great Lucky :)

Lucky1 said:

Finally the backyard has some order to it. Elf has finally finished the scalping of the vegie garden area. except one small area down the back. He’s been struggling with a chest infection. Beautiful weather here today as well.

Good to see him out and about, tho’…

Our scrap iron raised beds work well and drain freely. Last Tuesday we had 87.5mm of rain, but yesterday when I was planting out more spuds the soil had dried out really well. I also planted out some pumpkins and that particular bed was almost dry!

The only thing, if we were building them again I think I would have raised them a little bit more than they are to further reduce the bending.