M
Mr_Yan
Guest
I just built a new raised garden bed where I had a pallet-bed for the last two years. We all know that basic building trade off (golden triangle) of Good / Cheap / Fast where you can only have two. I think I struck a reasonable balance with this bed.
I had a lot of scrap 2x4 around here - some where an old compost cage - and some random old broom-stick type dowels which I thought I could stack to make the walls then use the dowels to pin the walls together.
After much cutting and random stacking I got this:
After starting to pull out the old pallets I found they were rather rotten and hard to work with so I was lazy and buried them under the new bed walls.
The stacked 2x4s are held together with the dowels which are then pinned through horizontally at the top and bottom 2x4.
I was getting tired so I did spend $2.94 on a stick of rebar that I drove into the corners and into the ground. The rebar was much faster to work with.
I also bored a 3/4" hole several inches deep into the center of the 2x4's in a few places where I can put sticks of 1/2" EMT conduit for trellises and plant staking. You can see one of these holes with a stick of conduit in it in the pic above.
I scavenged some of last season's ornimental grass from a neighbor which I am using as the base layer of fill for this. I've filled all my raised beds with a compost in place style of fill akin to either strawbale gardening or lasagna gardening. I'll still add a few layers of organic matter and top off with compost and living vermi-compost matter. If this is any thing like the previous years it will be 90% composted by the end of the season. I also know there is a bunch of mushroom type fungus growing in the mulch around this so I think that will also feed on and break down the grass stems.
I had a lot of scrap 2x4 around here - some where an old compost cage - and some random old broom-stick type dowels which I thought I could stack to make the walls then use the dowels to pin the walls together.
After much cutting and random stacking I got this:
After starting to pull out the old pallets I found they were rather rotten and hard to work with so I was lazy and buried them under the new bed walls.
The stacked 2x4s are held together with the dowels which are then pinned through horizontally at the top and bottom 2x4.
I was getting tired so I did spend $2.94 on a stick of rebar that I drove into the corners and into the ground. The rebar was much faster to work with.
I also bored a 3/4" hole several inches deep into the center of the 2x4's in a few places where I can put sticks of 1/2" EMT conduit for trellises and plant staking. You can see one of these holes with a stick of conduit in it in the pic above.
I scavenged some of last season's ornimental grass from a neighbor which I am using as the base layer of fill for this. I've filled all my raised beds with a compost in place style of fill akin to either strawbale gardening or lasagna gardening. I'll still add a few layers of organic matter and top off with compost and living vermi-compost matter. If this is any thing like the previous years it will be 90% composted by the end of the season. I also know there is a bunch of mushroom type fungus growing in the mulch around this so I think that will also feed on and break down the grass stems.
Last edited by a moderator:
