Gardening and Greenhouse

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Treated wood and railroad ties are not okay for vegetable gardens. The best wood is cedar, teakwood, or cyprus. These woods are expensive.
If you want to be green, use recycled materials.
I am actually using used tires! I got the idea from a garden forum online. The best thing about tires is that they tolerate the weather year after year much better than wood.

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I use old tanks from an out-of-business seafood store. The drains mean a ready-made drainage system, and I didn’t even bother to clean the insides, since the fish waste makes good fertilizer.

Plus, they’re up on legs, about waist-high, making it easier to work ‘em, especially for my sweetie, who has physical problems and doesn’t bend over so easily.

Eight bucks apiece plus twenty dollars to a fella with a pickup truck to bring them to my house.
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Dig up the soil, add compost & decayed leaf mulch to the soil along with either Gypsum or lime. Gypsum won’t change your soil Ph. Lime makes the soil less acid. Both make the soil less compact & makes it drain better. You can add sand to the soil too, if you have a lot of clay. Lay down a thick layer of newspapers to kill the grass, then lay a thick mulch on top of it. Or you can lay down plastic or some material that suffocates weeds & that you can poke a big enough hole to put in a plant when you’re ready.

I usually dig up an area ahead of time before winter. The freezing & thawing helps kill the weeds, then I add the compost & gypsum or lime. When it’s time to plant, I dig up a big enough area for each plant, remove any huge compacted clumps, & replace it with topsoil or compost. Sometimes I add some peat moss for acid-loving plants. Then I put in my plants & add mulch around them.

Here’s a forum you may enjoy, on how others have made a garden in a raised bed:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/soil/msg0221102423083.html

Good luck! Hope this helps.

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We have thin fence posts around our garden with plastic grocery bags attached (breeze blows them about), coyote urine holders, two fake owls and four (one at each corner) plants called Angel Trumpets. We see deer tracks around the garden, but not through it. After woodchucks, skunks and raccoons the first year with just the fake owls out there I added everything else I noted and have had no visitors. I do believe the coyote urine really helps, however some folks think it attracts predators.

A gun works well, esp for the frustration, but takes much patience while waiting for the critters to appear. I don’t do this as I just can’t kill the durn invaders.

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I would not take the chance. I worked at a place that was required to use the heat treated pallets for shipping to other countries. These pallets were made to kill bugs during shipping.

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Good Evening Laird,

Right now my wife is baking a new “wine cake”. Boy does it smell good. In my opinion, the purpose of a garden is to eat healthier and fresher foods and do this as cheaply as possible.

I have been a gardener for sixty (60) years. I started in the hills of Kentucky at the age of three with my uncle’s (smile) help. I have nine (9) rare fruit trees, a 20×20 ft vegetable garden, and a huge back and front yard with dozens of flowers. I have never used a chemical or pesticide on my gardens. I am not bragging, but I do want you to know that I am serious when it comes to new gardening methods that save time and money. I also love being a gardener and watching things grow.

About ten years ago I made a study/analyzed the benefits of raised gardens. I came to the conclusion that raised gardens are nothing more than television programs aimed at new gardeners. The television programs, sponsored by Home Depot, push raised gardens in order to sell products and materials to make money with a few exceptions. With that said, I will give you the reasons for my conclusions.

1.They claim raised gardens make a clear to walkway. Therefore, the soil is not compacted. False. I only have two walkways in my garden. This would be the same with a raised garden.
2.The soil ph level is constant. False. Because raised garden are enclosed, the ph levels can change quicker. Check out “locked in” on web site below. Ph levels are not easier to regulate in a raised garden.

Http://www.gardenersnet.com/atoz/ph.htm

3.Raised gardens give more comfortable positions to work from and less back problems? I really do not understand that one. I get as comfortable as possible in my garden, and so would a person with a raised garden. Same, same.
4.Better drainage. Give me a break. Good mulch makes good drainage, raised or not raised.
5.Fewer weeds??? Sure at first because you are adding new products. If a regular gardener wishes to have no weeds or start new with his soil. Before planting, spray the area with equal part hot water and vinegar for two days. Cover with a plastic sheet for a week. This method destroys all weeds, their seeds, and their roots. Your soil is new.
6. Raised gardens cannot lengthen the growing season. Plants go by the amount of sunlight. This is how plants know it is summer or winter. Hot and cold have nothing to do with the length of the season.
7.Here lately, there is one other thing I have notices about raises gardens. I have answered a lot of questions about soil viruses, power mildew, and funguses. These questions are from gardeners growing vine plants (watermelon, cucumbers, squash, and cantaloupes). Vine plants catch a lot of soil diseases. I am not sure because I have never had a raised garden. But I believe these soil diseases are locked into the soils of raised gardens. This happens a lot because of not rotating your garden area.

Raised gardens are more cute or beautiful? I have to smile. A good gardener learns how to beautify his garden with each year of experience. Most new gardeners have no idea of the color flower on a pole bean or eggplant? Let them see how beautiful a raised garden will look after a few years and the termites began to work.

Now let me state. Why would I spend approximately $500 for a raised garden (20×20 ft with all purpose potting soil plus materials), when I could spend nothing with homemade compost bin and regular soil?? Laird, I think you should reread some of your answers. They are really not saying much.

Advice: Clean your soil (item#5). Add chicken fertilizer and mulch to soil. Rotor till and cover with plastic again for a week. Rotor till again. Rake and plant your seeds or young plants. Fertilize your plants again in three weeks with chicken manure tea.

You should also check your soil ph level. Home Depot sells a Ph Soil Testing Meter for $7. It is easy to use, and it will last you for years. These conditions will attract earthworms within a year. Earthworms are a gardener little helpers. They carry nutrients deep into the soil in order for the roots to feed.

The only reason a gardener needs a raised garden. If he has very poor soil because the soil was under a driveway or under a tree with a very heavy root system. Otherwise feed ($$$$$$) Home Depot. They do have a great marketing department.

I wish I could write more but you sound like you already know a lot. I hope this confirmed your already acquired knowledge on gardening. Besides that “wine cake” is cooling.

You and your family have a great weekend. Peace, from Los Angeles.

Green Thumb answers:

Put one line of drip irrigation down the middle of each bed before you plant it. Otherwise you are liable to break or knock over your plants if you try to put it down after the plants have sprouted.

You can put your plants right up to the drip pipe.

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Diatomaceous Earth (off white talc-like powder that is the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton). Wear a dust mask when applying. Don’t forget to use earthworm castings in your soil, too.

100% biodegradable – safe around pets and children (bug killer you can eat)

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I think this defeates the purpose. If you put soil on top of the fabric, weeds can grow in the soil.

I’ve used this fabric a lot in landscaping and flower beds, but I never put soil on top, only bark or other mulch. When weeds start to grow, they can easily be pulled out of the mulch as they can’t take root through the fabric. Also, if they have roots below the fabric they can’t grow through.

Put the fabric between the rows of veggies if that will work. You can hold it down with stones or those little u-shaped spikes. No soil needed.