I am about to start construction on 3 or 4 raised bedds in my yard. here is my question. What is the best material to use and how tall should they be? I have a lot of rabbits in my yard and also 2 large dogs. I am thinking about using paving stones unless I and find some 4X6 ceder. Will 2X6 work just as well?
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Troy -
You should check out Mel Bartholomew's book, "Square Foot Gardening" as well as his website http://www.squarefootgardening.com - he has a lot of ideas in his book and on his site on raised beds as well as how to keep out predators. Also in his book he explains how most veggies do not need more than 6" of dirt to grow in. We have tried this with everything from beans, tomatoes, melons, carrots, corn, etc... and have found this to be true.
Due to weeding (not wanting to) we grow most everything in self-watering containers that we have built. We made them from storage totes ($4.00 at Walmart). They are large where you can grow around 9 - 12 heads of lettuce in it and because it is self-watering you only have to water once every couple of weeks. They are easy to move if needed and weeds don't get in them. For mulch we use shredded, recycled paper. Once that particular crop is done the paper goes into the compost heap.
I also have a side bed that I have done with brick blocks (it is just a square bed) and they seem to work quite nicely. They are stacked two high and so far not too many problems with weeds. However, I still have to water most every day in the heat of summer so, really prefer the self-watering containers to this. Just my personal preference.
Again, you have to choose what will be the most cost effective for you as well as what will work for your situation such as time watering and weeding, etc...
If you are interested in making any of the self-watering containers let me know and I will get the info up for you. They really are not hard to make - a little time consuming, however we made 25 the first time and set up kind of an assembly line working on one particular part of the container and then the next. It took us a couple of afternoons to make that many, but well worth every minute.
Hope this helps - Deb (debfroggie)
Troy -
You should check out Mel Bartholomew's book, "Square Foot Gardening" as well as his website http://www.squarefootgardening.com - he has a lot of ideas in his book and on his site on raised beds as well as how to keep out predators. Also in his book he explains how most veggies do not need more than 6" of dirt to grow in. We have tried this with everything from beans, tomatoes, melons, carrots, corn, etc... and have found this to be true.
Due to weeding (not wanting to) we grow most everything in self-watering containers that we have built. We made them from storage totes ($4.00 at Walmart). They are large where you can grow around 9 - 12 heads of lettuce in it and because it is self-watering you only have to water once every couple of weeks. They are easy to move if needed and weeds don't get in them. For mulch we use shredded, recycled paper. Once that particular crop is done the paper goes into the compost heap.
I also have a side bed that I have done with brick blocks (it is just a square bed) and they seem to work quite nicely. They are stacked two high and so far not too many problems with weeds. However, I still have to water most every day in the heat of summer so, really prefer the self-watering containers to this. Just my personal preference.
Again, you have to choose what will be the most cost effective for you as well as what will work for your situation such as time watering and weeding, etc...
If you are interested in making any of the self-watering containers let me know and I will get the info up for you. They really are not hard to make - a little time consuming, however we made 25 the first time and set up kind of an assembly line working on one particular part of the container and then the next. It took us a couple of afternoons to make that many, but well worth every minute.
Hope this helps - Deb (debfroggie)
Troy -
You should check out Mel Bartholomew's book, "Square Foot Gardening" as well as his website http://www.squarefootgardening.com - he has a lot of ideas in his book and on his site on raised beds as well as how to keep out predators. Also in his book he explains how most veggies do not need more than 6" of dirt to grow in. We have tried this with everything from beans, tomatoes, melons, carrots, corn, etc... and have found this to be true.
Due to weeding (not wanting to) we grow most everything in self-watering containers that we have built. We made them from storage totes ($4.00 at Walmart). They are large where you can grow around 9 - 12 heads of lettuce in it and because it is self-watering you only have to water once every couple of weeks. They are easy to move if needed and weeds don't get in them. For mulch we use shredded, recycled paper. Once that particular crop is done the paper goes into the compost heap.
I also have a side bed that I have done with brick blocks (it is just a square bed) and they seem to work quite nicely. They are stacked two high and so far not too many problems with weeds. However, I still have to water most every day in the heat of summer so, really prefer the self-watering containers to this. Just my personal preference.
Again, you have to choose what will be the most cost effective for you as well as what will work for your situation such as time watering and weeding, etc...
If you are interested in making any of the self-watering containers let me know and I will get the info up for you. They really are not hard to make - a little time consuming, however we made 25 the first time and set up kind of an assembly line working on one particular part of the container and then the next. It took us a couple of afternoons to make that many, but well worth every minute.
Hope this helps - Deb (debfroggie)
Here's a wicked cool idea for making raised beds on the cheap: Use cedar fence pickets!From a pretty righteous web site called Ana White Homemaker!
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