Good garden idea?

[eca7891]

https://www.americanpartisan.org/2023/03/next-level-raised-bed-gardens-48-culvert-pipe/

If there would be a way to get used or damaged ones it might not be a bad idea.

Buying new ones might be rather expensive. Along those lines, if you wanted a large garden set up like this it would be expensive.

Thoughts?

 

[Devildog]

That’s a great idea, my beds need re-done and I’ve been trying to figure out a good solution that doesn’t break the bank. Thanks for posting this.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

For raised garden beds here, we use the 'cubes' which originally contained fertilizer. split them in half, place the upside down top onto a pallet and done. It's how we grow our peppers.

 

[forrestgump01]

It's a great idea but Culvert pipe is expensive !
If your wanting a material that won't rot or rust and would last forever , then you could use composite decking boards and probably come out cheaper than pipe.

 

[armorpl8chikn]

You'd get 7 proper "tubs" from a stick of pipe, at roughly $215 each.
Lots of better options out there.
Scrap roofing tin would be a much better option.
Plastic barrels. Cut in half. Much better idea. Cheap too.
Cut offs from roofing metal can be held in place by a few screws and 4 pieces of rebar.
Stay tuned. I'll show you in a month or two.
I'm working on a trick.

 

[eca7891]

If anyone does something like this or has better suggestions please post them along with any pics.

I might have to do this when we move to the black hills this spring.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

Don't allow "Gardening" to overwhelm you. For those trapped in a mega city, get a 5 gallon bucket, a bag of potting soil and a package of radishes. Cut drain holes near the bottom of the bucket, fill with soil and plant. Every environment will be different. Learn by doing. The guy on the YouTube video is never in your neighborhood and knows nothing of the challenges Mother Nature hands you. Buy local, talk local, plant local, eat local... Not rocket science.

 

[eca7891]

A friend did that with lettuce.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

A friend did that with lettuce.

The herbicide experts will use the radish to define if an area is plantable after an over dose of Roundup or similar products.
The radish will "speak" to them about soil quality.
In unknown soil, plant a radish and listen to what it says.

 

[forrestgump01]

The Composite decking
Basically this with 2x4 or 4x4 in the corners .
$18 for 8ft board for. So a 4 foot x 8 foot bed 2 boards high would be $108 .
I've done several of these.

 

[MadDuner]

I used stock tanks from Home Depot....

Behlen 2 ft. x 2 ft. x 6 ft. Stock Tank 50130048 - The Home Depot

Behlen - 2 ft. x 2 ft. x 6 ft. Stock Tank - Constructed with premium G90 galvanized, corrugated sidewalls for strength. Extra heavy,20 gauge tank bottom. Designed with a heavy reinforced steel tube. -

www.homedepot.com

Although they weren’t that price when I bought them.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

Why are you not planting in the ground? Soil issues?

 

[acpchuck]

I found a great deal on galvanized steel roofing material last year, 8 and 12 foot lengths, that I used to build this beds. They are 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and just over 2 feet tall. First three I framed using peeler cores. Was a PIA and took a long time to put together with those so the next three I used 2x4s. Much faster. Found DIY plans on line for how to build.

Used sod at the bottom that I got from leveling out the beds, then wood chips and then a mix of composted cow manure and top soil. What was planted grew very well. Height makes it much easier to work the beds. Looking forward to planting some stuff here in a few weeks.

 

[eca7891]

The original link was due to flooding threat.

The area we bought in SD is pretty rocky. I’ll have a constant flow of rabbit shit so I could always supplement the existing soil.

I just thought that was a neat option. Especially if you could find them used.

 

[Maggot]

https://www.americanpartisan.org/2023/03/next-level-raised-bed-gardens-48-culvert-pipe/

If there would be a way to get used or damaged ones it might not be a bad idea.

Buying new ones might be rather expensive. Along those lines, if you wanted a large garden set up like this it would be expensive.

Thoughts?

The video guy is in a flood plain. I didnt see him anchor his work in any way. If two feet of water come through there, the water will undermine the pipe, the soil wash away, and his pipe will all go down river.

And their Glowie's anyway.

 

[eca7891]

Height makes it much easier to work the beds

This is another plus to me.

 

[MadDuner]

Why are you not planting in the ground? Soil issues?

Yes. In my case, it’s difficult to get anything to grow in rocks. Lol

 

[Hobo Hilton]

Why are you not planting in the ground? Soil issues?

A great question for the group.
In my case, the majority of my homestead is very rocky.
Fortunate to have an old creek bed running through my place with deep, fertile soil that test excellent.
Took me 5 years to find the best all around location. Many failed gardens.

 

[IronSkillet]

Just built another raised bed; had the cover sheet + 1 full piece of metal leftover, the raised bed's are much easier for me to manage with back problems. First 2x beds used soaker-hose to irrigate, this latest build after extending the water supply trying a couple shrub sprinklers. If this works will simply tap into the zone for the sprinkler system and change over the other 2 boxes. Soaker hoses are falling apart after one year. Going to add a sun screen 10x20' protect against Summer sun,Amazon dropped it off last night, not sure on installation of this yet it is kind of a work in progress.

 

[VandelayIndustries]

Why not plant in the ground?

Ground temp can be a little warmer in a raised bed in cool climates. Also if you have the material then build them higher so you don’t have to bend over to weed/pick.

 

[Alphatreedog]

Why are you not planting in the ground? Soil issues?

Yeah right . I can see containers and trellis for cucumbers , squash , even sweet potatoes or reg taters . Those plants go crazy horizontal . Trellis runs em vertical .

 

[Maggot]

This looks almost too good to be true. I wonder what the shipping is? Raised beds $39.00

www.taina.shop › collections › garden-decorationGarden Decoration - Taina​

Taina. Taina. Free Shipping For Orders Over $45！ ... Garden Decoration 12 Products. Filter. Availability 0 selected. Reset; In stock (12) Out of stock ...

 

[acudaowner]

if you find something you like there are almost always ways to do it in a way that cuts cost hanging 2 liter bottels work great for some veggies and cost nothing to transform into planters

 

[alamo5000]

I am using old metal horse troughs. One was given to me and the other I bought for like $50 or something. I'm going to grow 12 tomato plants in them this year. Hopefully I can transplant the plants in a few more days from now.

Generally speaking I will not go back to in the ground growing. The beds eliminate 98% of all weed issues. Plus I can make the soil exactly how I want it. Also I can much more easily control the water with the exception of a big rain or something.

If you go to a tree nursery or something like that you can get pretty good size containers for a lot less than that pipe in the video. For example a 28" wide 20" deep tree container brand new for like $35 bucks. If you hunt around sometimes they will either give them to you or sell used ones cheap. Even if you got two of those sizes that I mentioned it would still be about half price compared to the pipe he cut up.

Another thing is get something with a bottom on it. This gives you the option to move them around if needed. Growing in containers is awesome but you can have too big of a container. To me having a few smaller ones is better than one giant one, but in the end you can get the same growing space.

You don't want them too small or too big. Just right is perfect.

 

[alamo5000]

This looks almost too good to be true. I wonder what the shipping is? Raised beds $39.00

www.taina.shop › collections › garden-decorationGarden Decoration - Taina​

Taina. Taina. Free Shipping For Orders Over $45！ ... Garden Decoration 12 Products. Filter. Availability 0 selected. Reset; In stock (12) Out of stock ...

Yes, if you want one 17 inches long and a foot wide.

 

[supercorndogs]

Raised beds are a decent solution to get on top of bad clay soil. By the time you fill them, you can have some expensive vegetables. Especially if you use potting soil.

The simple solution to eliminate bending in the garden is getting down on the ground.

 

[K470]

I have seen people use 8 inch concrete block dry stacked to build raised beds. They filled the cores with soil and planted herbs in the cores or flowers to deter deer. Or you can put posts in each corner to hold fencing to keep the deer out. You can get a 4x4x2 foot bed for about $50 and each layer adds another $25. That's with a price of $2.00 per block, YMMV.

 

[Lawless]

Has taken me 3 years of removing rocks, adding compost and cow compost and liming to get me to the point I’m happy. Garden almost worked me to death last summer and I enjoyed every minute. It is 75 x 60 feet of heaven.

Where I’m from, soil is just always fantastic, here you gotta earn it.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

Raised beds are a decent solution to get on top of bad clay soil. By the time you fill them, you can have some expensive vegetables. Especially if you use potting soil.

The simple solution to eliminate bending in the garden is getting down on the ground.

Compost, when we clean out the chicken coops it goes in the compost pile, in the fall the leaves are shredded and used to cover the garden and the remainder are added and I'll add a cubic yard of cow pie to it along with the household food scraps and grass clippings.
We control weeds with cardboard. In a couple weeks I will till the leaves in. Then I will run the soaker lines down each row. They are fed rain water collected in 450 gallon tanks. Then cardboard is used to cover between the rows. (Remove the stickers and tape) It will degrade and add to the dirt. A deep cover of straw will also help with weeds and keep moisture in the soil.

A simple solution to avoid bending to working the garden is to have the wife do that part. I do the prep and she does the rest. Except for breaking beans.

 

[tomcatmv]

I built my 4'x8' beds out of 2x10 treated boards with 2x4's in the corners and used deck screws to fasten. filled them with topsoil and steer manure. We planted tomato, peppers, lettuce, pole beans and peas a couple of weeks ago here in central TX and all is looking good so far.

 

[supercorndogs]

Not adding new weed seeds, or stirring the old ones tilling can help with the weeds.

Cow manure is usually lousy with seeds. I used it this year when building my compost piles. I hope I got them hot enough to kill the seeds.

Half of my garden beds haven't been tilled in 8 years, the other half haven't been tilled ever.

My garden has living path ways, I just mow the clover and grass between garden beds, and maintain the edges of the beds, to keep encroaching grasses out.

This year I have been talking about getting some big flat pieces of limestone to use as rock mulch under the trees and vines. Our main weed pressure, non-native bermuda grass will poke right through cardboard, carpet, or weed cloth.

Compost, when we clean out the chicken coops it goes in the compost pile, in the fall the leaves are shredded and used to cover the garden and the remainder are added and I'll add a cubic yard of cow pie to it along with the household food scraps and grass clippings.
We control weeds with cardboard. In a couple weeks I will till the leaves in. Then I will run the soaker lines down each row. They are fed rain water collected in 450 gallon tanks. Then cardboard is used to cover between the rows. (Remove the stickers and tape) It will degrade and add to the dirt. A deep cover of straw will also help with weeds and keep moisture in the soil.

A simple solution to avoid bending to working the garden is to have the wife do that part. I do the prep and she does the rest. Except for breaking beans.

 

[supercorndogs]

I built my 4'x8' beds out of 2x10 treated boards with 2x4's in the corners and used deck screws to fasten. filled them with topsoil and steer manure. We planted tomato, peppers, lettuce, pole beans and peas a couple of weeks ago here in central TX and all is looking good so far.

Lettuce and peas are cool season crops.

Peppers, tomatoes, and beans are warm season crops.

 

[tomcatmv]

Lettuce and peas are cool season crops.

Peppers, tomatoes, and beans are warm season crops.

Yeah, I knew that and thanks for the heads up. Do you think we planted the tomato and peppers too soon? It did get down to 38 here in Belton last night. Hopefully that's going to be the last of those kinds of low temps here.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

Not adding new weed seeds, or stirring the old ones tilling can help with the weeds.

Cow manure is usually lousy with seeds. I used it this year when building my compost piles. I hope I got them hot enough to kill the seeds.

Half of my garden beds haven't been tilled in 8 years, the other half haven't been tilled ever.

My garden has living path ways, I just mow the clover and grass between garden beds, and maintain the edges of the beds, to keep encroaching grasses out.

This year I have been talking about getting some big flat pieces of limestone to use as rock mulch under the trees and vines. Our main weed pressure, non-native bermuda grass will poke right through cardboard, carpet, or weed cloth.

Our compost pile is basically two different ones. One is used every other year so it'll have a year to sit.

 

[supercorndogs]

Yeah, I knew that and thanks for the heads up. Do you think we planted the tomato and peppers too soon? It did get down to 38 here in Belton last night. Hopefully that's going to be the last of those kinds of low temps here.

Depends on your soil temp, but I would guess probably a little. Peppers and tomatoes wont like 38, some people say it will effect the over all yield for the year. Which is usually more than what most people use anyway.

My thoughts on the yield thing. Most people grow indertminite tomatoes, so planting a little early I don't think really effects the yield. A determinate variety on the other hand has X amount of days to make its yield, so planting in subprime conditions can drastically effect yields.

It might be worse for transplants to stay in the small pots too long, then to go out a little early. Root locking them in the pots will slow them down drastically. If your tomatoes sprouts have blossoms on them in the sprouting pots, they wont transplants and establish as well. Putting a healthy vigorous, young plant in the ground in ground is key.

I am not sure what your average temps are like this time of year. I would guess in central TX, you would probably be planting cool season stuff in mid febuary, and warm season stuff in mid April. Are you overnights mostly in the 50s by April?

My tomatoes and peppers usually go in late because I am waiting for Potatoes and pees, or lettuce and spinach beds to bolt.

Sorry I get off on tangents because there is no super simple answer to any gardening questions. You can see just what a wide variety of systems people use with success.

You will probably have more trouble with pees in the heat than your tomatoes and peppers with the cold. It was 10 here last night. I bet it killed some peach and cherry trees. I saw some of the blossoms just starting to swell. If not they will probably reach popcorn stage in time for 22 degrees and snow next weekend. LOL.

I just got through seriously failing at sprouting brassicas again this year. But my test tray of tomatoes and marigolds. Showed my mix this year seems to be spot on for that. I just planted a couple trays of peppers to look at heat mat, vs no heat mat.

The heat mats got here yesterday, so I actually need to go set that all up now.

 

[supercorndogs]

Our compost pile is basically two different ones. One is used every other year so it'll have a year to sit.

I usually have at least a few. Some are just ramial wood chip piles I water or don't. Others I will purpose build with young cut weeds, and summer pruning from trees, and the already composting ramial wood chips. I usually try to avoid manures, just because of the intensive composting process to reduce pathogens and weed seeds. I also brew my compost in compost teas and don't want the pathogens there either.

I am biting my nails after using cow manure in the pile last year. We will see if I killed the seeds when it gets warm. If i did not, I will be weeding some beds that were at nearly zero weed pulling maintenance. I might brew with it. I still have enough of a two year and three year pile to brew with.

When I get a mess of crappie, I will fillet them and put left overs in middle of a static wood chip pile. I got too close to the outer skin of the pile with them a couple years ago, and had to cover the outside of the pile flakes of a hale bale. There was nothing declinable as any sort of fish part or smell by the next spring.

I really wish I could get more leaves. Leaf mold on the surface is really all I need especially if I can add to and replace every year. Any sort of compost disappears fairly quick into our sand. The water holding keeps going up and up though. When others people around here are watering every day in the heat. I am still usually just running sprinklers every three days for an hour. I thought about putting in drip this year. Not tilling it would be one and done, but I haven't. I wonder if it would encourage my living paths to encroach on the beds. I really wanted to get it done for my fruit trees and grape vines this year. I get too much herbicide contamination in my irrigation water for some vegetables, so I had to stop using it. The grapes have not been particularly happy with that choice.

 

[riverside jeep]

I built my 4'x8' beds out of 2x10 treated boards with 2x4's in the corners and used deck screws to fasten. filled them with topsoil and steer manure. We planted tomato, peppers, lettuce, pole beans and peas a couple of weeks ago here in central TX and all is looking good so far.

Wow, you get to plant already ? Memorial weekend here. Lucky guy

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

I usually have at least a few. Some are just ramial wood chip piles I water or don't. Others I will purpose build with young cut weeds, and summer pruning from trees, and the already composting ramial wood chips. I usually try to avoid manures, just because of the intensive composting process to reduce pathogens and weed seeds. I also brew my compost in compost teas and don't want the pathogens there either.

I am biting my nails after using cow manure in the pile last year. We will see if I killed the seeds when it gets warm. If i did not, I will be weeding some beds that were at nearly zero weed pulling maintenance. I might brew with it. I still have enough of a two year and three year pile to brew with.

When I get a mess of crappie, I will fillet them and put left overs in middle of a static wood chip pile. I got too close to the outer skin of the pile with them a couple years ago, and had to cover the outside of the pile flakes of a hale bale. There was nothing declinable as any sort of fish part or smell by the next spring.

I really wish I could get more leaves. Leaf mold on the surface is really all I need especially if I can add to and replace every year. Any sort of compost disappears fairly quick into our sand. The water holding keeps going up and up though. When others people around here are watering every day in the heat. I am still usually just running sprinklers every three days for an hour. I thought about putting in drip this year. Not tilling it would be one and done, but I haven't. I wonder if it would encourage my living paths to encroach on the beds. I really wanted to get it done for my fruit trees and grape vines this year. I get too much herbicide contamination in my irrigation water for some vegetables, so I had to stop using it. The grapes have not been particularly happy with that choice.

The wife started her tomatoes, beans and a few other seeds a couple weeks ago. She has shelving with the heat mats and grow lights. She has three or four of them.

She will be repotting pretty soon. Then they will go to the greenhouse.
We don't plant in the ground until the end of May. Usually a week after dogwood winter.
July is our dry month and the rain water through the soaker lines has worked out best. With the cardboard it takes a while for the soil to dry.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

I tried a compost pile here. problem is the long, cold winters and the compost is just frozen.
My compost pile is my garden... LOL

 

[lariat]

I am using old metal horse troughs. One was given to me and the other I bought for like $50 or something. I'm going to grow 12 tomato plants in them this year. Hopefully I can transplant the plants in a few more days from now.

Generally speaking I will not go back to in the ground growing. The beds eliminate 98% of all weed issues. Plus I can make the soil exactly how I want it. Also I can much more easily control the water with the exception of a big rain or something.

If you go to a tree nursery or something like that you can get pretty good size containers for a lot less than that pipe in the video. For example a 28" wide 20" deep tree container brand new for like $35 bucks. If you hunt around sometimes they will either give them to you or sell used ones cheap. Even if you got two of those sizes that I mentioned it would still be about half price compared to the pipe he cut up.

Another thing is get something with a bottom on it. This gives you the option to move them around if needed. Growing in containers is awesome but you can have too big of a container. To me having a few smaller ones is better than one giant one, but in the end you can get the same growing space.

You don't want them too small or too big. Just right is perfect.

That’s what I use old troughs for. They are almost a perfect solution. Until the pumpkins decide it’s time to really get with the program. Then they look like Medusa.

 

[alamo5000]

That’s what I use old troughs for. They are almost a perfect solution. Until the pumpkins decide it’s time to really get with the program. Then they look like Medusa.

If I can round up a few more it will be excellent. Right now I have two of them and they definitely are awesome. The only downside as far as I can tell is they are extremely heavy once full. You definitely need machinery to move them. For me though I have enough space to not worry about it. I did put a few sheets of old tin down and sat them on top to avoid as much weed eating as possible.

I am also trying something new this year. The way I "stake" my tomatoes will be different. I used some left over cattle panel that I cut to size. Hopefully it will be easier than a more traditional way.

 

[IronSkillet]

I am also trying something new this year. The way I "stake" my tomatoes will be different. I used some left over cattle panel that I cut to size. Hopefully it will be easier than a more traditional way.

Believe you are correct with using the cattle panel, we tried the rolled heavy cage wire sold @ Tractor Supply, once the weight of the vegetables started to grow and mature it caused sagging, it didn't fail but a heavier duty trellis panel is required, have a hog-panel used to grow vines between the boxes, folded over like arch way, plan to repurpose it like you, for this years grow.

 

[jb0311]

Mounds are an option for some. Pile logs on bottom, then limbs/sticks, then leaves and or compost, then whatever "soil" you are using because your soil sucks (assuming this is the reason y'all are doing raised beds).

Look up Hügelkultur. Even if you are doing actual raised beds in planters, it’s a great way to save on top/potting soil costs and breaks down slowly over time.

 

[supercorndogs]

I tried a compost pile here. problem is the long, cold winters and the compost is just frozen.
My compost pile is my garden... LOL

Fungal compost piles for this year, were built in spring of last year. Hot bacterial compost can be made in a month or less for quick use, when the weather is warm. It is possible to compost in the winter time, but you need a hot pile you keep stirring to keep it hot. Otherwise, just like here, the piles freeze for the winter. I think thats why it is generally suggested to apply compost in the fall.

I don't because I want the soil to warm up faster. So, I wait until early spring when the pile starts to thaw, and use the layer of compost to bury my onions and potatoes.

 

[supercorndogs]

IF you are using "top soil" from the store. In my opinion, you might be better off mixing some native soil with 30% or so compost. Unless you have really bad clay soil. If you have pure sand, compost, peat moss, and rock dust or clay. Clay holds water, sand lets the mix breathe, and infiltrate water.

 

[supercorndogs]

The wife started her tomatoes, beans and a few other seeds a couple weeks ago. She has shelving with the heat mats and grow lights. She has three or four of them.
View attachment 8100122
She will be repotting pretty soon. Then they will go to the greenhouse.
We don't plant in the ground until the end of May. Usually a week after dogwood winter.
July is our dry month and the rain water through the soaker lines has worked out best. With the cardboard it takes a while for the soil to dry.

We don't plant tomato and peppers until may, average last frost is May 15, but we got froze out a couple years ago first of June. My totmto sprouts wont get started until April. i prefer them to be 4-6 weeks old. Peppers take little longer to germinate and get going. I will start most of them this week. Hopefully gloving them 6-8 weeks. I don't like to up pot sprouts, or dig big holes to plant big plants in the garden. A big part of it is time. I usually plant dozens of plants all by myself, so smaller hole, less work, less time. With my small cells, I can just stick my garden knife in couple inches, spin it, then plug the plant in.

Those sprouts don't look bad, most of the time when I see people's home sprouts they look like death worked over.

Every month is our dry month. LOL Average around 12" of rain per year, andusally comes down in about 4 storms per year.

 

[338dude]

https://www.americanpartisan.org/2023/03/next-level-raised-bed-gardens-48-culvert-pipe/

If there would be a way to get used or damaged ones it might not be a bad idea.

Buying new ones might be rather expensive. Along those lines, if you wanted a large garden set up like this it would be expensive.

Thoughts?

In Tennessee we get olive barrels without the olives of course for $20 apiece I cut those to make raised bed gardenS

 

[alamo5000]

Believe you are correct with using the cattle panel, we tried the rolled heavy cage wire sold @ Tractor Supply, once the weight of the vegetables started to grow and mature it caused sagging, it didn't fail but a heavier duty trellis panel is required, have a hog-panel used to grow vines between the boxes, folded over like arch way, plan to repurpose it like you, for this years grow.

We had an old cattle chute that eventually we tore down because we don't have cows anymore so those panels were just sitting around for a number of years...so I was working with what I had on hand. That said I saw the idea to put the panels flat and in layers like I did a number of years ago in a magazine. Ever since then I was curious to try it. Now that I have those containers and they work really good I figured now is the time.

The concept is basically to have the plants grow up through the panels, but when they sprawl they are supported to some degree. I am sure it will work just fine but this is the first year I've tried that method.

 

[Moe Ron]

Just built these this weekend. Cedar planks and 4x4s. Less than $100. 6’x2’x1’

 

[packratt]

For tomato, cucumber, squash cages we use concrete reinforcing mesh. Buy a roll cut into 6-8ft lengths, roll into cylinder.

Set a fence post beside plant to keep cage from falling.

We've been using same cages for decades