Building raised vegetable gardens

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Building raised vegetable gardens - need tips & advice

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#2576314 30-Sep-2020 08:57

Apologies @dafman for hijacking your post

I am about to put in the soil for my raised bed and notice that there is a 4 mm gap on all sides where the
top and bottom planks meet . The wood was left to dry for about 4 weeks and has caused this shrinkage.

Should I bother with sealing the gap with a jute rope or caulking agent so that water and soil will not ooze out from the side.
I am mindful of not using any sealer as this is a vege bed and dont want other chemicals to leech.

OR do nothing, assuming that the moisture from the soil and watering will cause the wood to swell closing the gap?

cheers

jm3

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#2577033 1-Oct-2020 10:08

I recently went through the process of Shou Sugi Ban on some Macrocarpa which I had milled for a tunnel house frame and garden bed.

The idea being that the char layer is sacrificial. The burning also removes nutrients that insects, bacteria and fungi eat. Unsure how much extra life it will give the wood. Macrocarpa is pretty naturally resistant to start with. Regardless it was a fun process and very satisfying.

Cheers
Josh

tdgeek

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#2577053 1-Oct-2020 10:54

dt:

pro tip, plant your veges strategically, make sure anything that grows tall (tomato plants etc) is planted furthest away from any low laying plants so they don't get blocked from the early morning sun !

Another tip(s)!

Go fallow over winter, mulch with grass clippings to suppress weeds, leaches NPK in, keeps soil temp and moisture stable. Let worms amd micro oragnism work for you

Most veges you need to not plant in the same place next season due to disease spread

Most veges have beneficial plants that encourage good bugs that eat bad bugs, or deter bad bugs, and/or other benefits

dafman

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#2577157 1-Oct-2020 11:34

qwertee:

Apologies @dafman for hijacking your post

Feel free to discuss all things raised gardens - I'm after all the advice/learned experience anyone has to offer.

qwertee

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#2577160 1-Oct-2020 11:36

dafman:

qwertee:

Apologies @dafman for hijacking your post

Feel free to discuss all things raised gardens - I'm after all the advice/learned experience anyone has to offer.

Thanks Me too.

jonathan18

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#2577173 1-Oct-2020 11:41

tdgeek:

Another tip(s)!

Go fallow over winter, mulch with grass clippings to suppress weeds, leaches NPK in, keeps soil temp and moisture stable. Let worms amd micro oragnism work for you

Or even go one step further and plant a winter crop of lupins or other similar plant to replenish the soil. Just a matter of digging it in at the end of the season...

https://www.palmers.co.nz/planting-winter-green-crop/

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qwertee

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#2577176 1-Oct-2020 11:46

Second coat of Kowhai stain.

Plan to have tomatoes on one side of the L and beans on the other (fence side). Do a crop rotation next season.
Soil goes in tomorrow and will wait a week for it to settle . Think of laying down some safety netting on the soil before I plant so that cats do not do their business.
Maybe plant within the gaps with the netting in-situ, provided I get the grey or black coloured ones.

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/cosio-sr1-safety-fence-w-1m-l-optional-orange/p/165959

Other smaller veges like lettuces, broccolli at the front

neb

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#2577263 1-Oct-2020 13:43

Friend of mine use macrocarpa sleepers for the same reason most others here have, just got off-the-shelf ones at Bunnings and ran galvanised coach screws into them (pre-drill so they don't split!). Weed mat across the bottom and soil infill, you may want to run weed mat up the sides as well to lessen direct soil contact with the sleepers but I don't know if that matters much. Just make them high enough that you can weed/harvest without getting a sore back.

MikeAqua

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#2577284 1-Oct-2020 13:52

+1 for untreated timber for food production. Macrocarpa is a good choice. Hardwood sleepers (e.g. Jarrah) tend to be durable too.

I put weed matt under raised beds and out about 1 inch of gravel on top of it. When I'm digging over the garden, if I hit gravel, I've gone to deep. This prevents me from snagging the weed-matting.

I like a 500mm bed. That allows planting of deeper crops like potatoes or daikon, and allows other plants to develop deep roots.

I also like to add plenty of organic matter and some water crystals to raised beds. Both increase the water holding capacity of the soil, which is useful in a raised bed, as they tend to lose more water. Deeper beds hold water better.

Mike

neb

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#2577286 1-Oct-2020 13:56

MikeAqua:
I also like to add plenty of organic matter and some water crystals to raised beds. Both increase the water holding capacity of the soil, which is useful in a raised bed, as they tend to lose more water. Deeper beds hold water better.

Ah, which leads to another thing: Get the largest water tank you can find room for. We're at near-summertime water levels now at the end of winter, you won't be able to water your vege garden unless you've got your own water supply.

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#2577406 1-Oct-2020 18:34

I'm thinking of putting down weed matt, then about 10 - 20cm of river rocks before adding soil. Reason being to maximise discouragement of weeds growing up, plus enhance drainage. Finally, the rocks will rexuce the amount of soil I need to buy in.

Good idea or not?

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tdgeek

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#2577419 1-Oct-2020 19:18

dafman:

I'm thinking of putting down weed matt, then about 10 - 20cm of river rocks before adding soil. Reason being to maximise discouragement of weeds growing up, plus enhance drainage. Finally, the rocks will rexuce the amount of soil I need to buy in.

Good idea or not?

Open to all question, why weed mat??? I have 4 raised gardens I removed the weed mat, when I rebuilt them. Weeds are wind blown, bird poo, or are there from these reasons and decide to strike at random. Do weeds really kickstart from 150mm or 400mm down? In any case Roundup them, then cover with grass clippings over Winter or as mentioned here, plant Lupins etc to dig in. Weedmatitng your shrub/flower gardens, nor can you do that in the lawn which also gets weeds. Weedmat is useful when laying metal, or bark

jm3

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#2577458 1-Oct-2020 20:39

Maybe a ground barrier is necessary if you have kikuyu, we had some californian thistle pop up in a raised bed once. Generally not need though.

Instead of rocks to fill the volume you could use old tree branches/logs even firewood, they are a good moisture trap. Google 'hugelkultur bed' which is sort of the theory behind it.

Cheers

dafman

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#2577737 2-Oct-2020 08:34

jm3: Maybe a ground barrier is necessary if you have kikuyu, we had some californian thistle pop up in a raised bed once. Generally not need though.

Instead of rocks to fill the volume you could use old tree branches/logs even firewood, they are a good moisture trap. Google 'hugelkultur bed' which is sort of the theory behind it.

Cheers

Thanks very much. We are in Kapiti beach area and have kikuyu, plus the raised beds are going on top of old level vege beds that have a history of weed issues, so keen to separate the new beds from the old. We have a lot of logs, so will look at hugelkultur.

MikeAqua

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#2577797 2-Oct-2020 09:06

neb: Ah, which leads to another thing: Get the largest water tank you can find room for. We're at near-summertime water levels now at the end of winter, you won't be able to water your vege garden unless you've got your own water supply.

I'm still on unlimited free water in Blenheim.

Mike

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