Southern Spirit Hunters
Gardening => Gardeners Chat => Topic started by: Patty S on Jun 17, 2007, 12:56:02 AM
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My daughter-in-law, Amy, has been telling me about her "raised garden", & I assumed that she was talking about raised beds ...until today, when I went over there. It turns out that we were both right in our terminology, cuz she raised the whole garden, AND put raised beds in!
(https://www.southernspirithunters.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi75.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi309%2Fgottahavegraphics%2FMisc%2FAmysRaisedGarden07.jpg&hash=ccc09913c25730c5d856473be303fad43007459c)
It was Dave's idea to move her garden from the edge of their field, cuz he didn't like mowing around it. :rolleyes1: Amy didn't like the idea at first, cuz in the new location there is a tree that shades it in the morning. It still gets more than 6 hours of direct sun, so I think it'll do well.
He terraced the slope where the new garden sits, using 4 X 12 planks that he found at a local used building material outlet, & they covered the whole thing with a heavy gauge weed fabric. (They both work full time & never have time to fiddle with weeds.) Before moving here, Dave worked for a polyethylene corrugated HDPE pipe manufacturer & would take home some of the rejects that didn't pass QC. I couldn't believe it when he included that stuff in their move! :nutz: He made good use of it by building playground equipment with it, for the kids (although it looked pretty weird), but I thought the best idea he came up with was planters.
(https://www.southernspirithunters.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi75.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi309%2Fgottahavegraphics%2FMisc%2FAmy07Garden.jpg&hash=b7a02c3a2a837035b6865442d2c8cd0179dae09e)
Since the timbers aren't pressure treated, the planters will outlast the raised garden (by a couple hundred years), but they're only renting anyway. When they get around to buying their own property, they'll enclose their raised garden in concrete.
Amy uses coir (Coconut-husk fiber) & compost for her planters, & even though she got a late start getting her plants in this year, the black planters pull heat into the soil & everything appears to be happy! She'll be adding more planters this year if she gets the time. She wants to add steps between the four levels, & says that one of the nice things about this setup is that she does very little bending... she can stand on one level & tend to many of the plants that are within reach.
If that's not a gardener-friendly garden, I don't know what is! (https://www.southernspirithunters.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi75.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi309%2Fgottahavegraphics%2FYahoo.gif&hash=11ee556e0be66563b3fec3544c60abd34df4bbba)
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Geesh, this looks like a neat idea, but it seems like a lot of work for a place you're renting. Of course, if it makes your gardening easier I'm sure it's worth the effort. ;)