Raised bed height - Page 2

Cole_Robbie · November 3, 2016

My greenhouse product supplier, Hummert, sells a product that is a "raised bed mix." If you can find a wholesaler near you, they might also sell a similar product, mixed especially for raised beds. Often they will truck-ship a large order for much cheaper than paying normal shipping rates.

If you are making your own mix, rice hulls are the cheapest bulk media I have found.

I don't trust bagged compost any more, after a bad experience with it. I would only buy compost from a supplier selling it in bulk. Mushroom compost has a good reputation. It would be smart to test any compost for herbicide residue by planting a bean in a cup of it before you fill the beds.

schill93 · November 4, 2016

Such great information. Thank you so much. There is a landscaping supply place here that carries various mixes for raised beds at different costs. I need to find out what's in them of course. I know one of them has bio solids in it, which I'm not real comfortable with.

I will make my beds at least 18" or more. I'm sure it will be helpful with this heat and soil conditions..

whoose: I can't find your post "Going to the Dark side". I did a search. I will try again.

imp · November 4, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by schill93

Such great information. Thank you so much. There is a landscaping supply place here that carries various mixes for raised beds at different costs. I need to find out what's in them of course. I know one of them has bio solids in it, which I'm not real comfortable with.

I will make my beds at least 18" or more. I'm sure it will be helpful with this heat and soil conditions..

whoose: I can't find your post "Going to the Dark side". I did a search. I will try again.

Here the thread is:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=42770

Under the forum, Growing In Containers.

MarianneW · November 5, 2016

Good luck! Here's an old pic of one of my beds in progress. The production I get out of it is a vast improvement out of anything I could get from caliche, no matter how much compost and amendments I dumped in.

Worth1 · November 5, 2016

I'll never put in another raised bed unless it is on a reinforced concrete slab.
Anything from 12 to 18 inches is fine.
Another thing to consider is what you are or might grow in the beds.
Root crops like carrots and potatoes would need deeper soil.

Then what is the sub layer of soil like?
Contrary to popular belief sand holds moisture or keeps moisture from evaporating from more clay like soil below it.
The plants can get nutrients from the raised bed soil and moisture from the sand below it

With the caliche mentioned above it can leach calcium carbonate into the moist raised bed soil by way of capillary action.

MarianneW · November 5, 2016

Yeah, the minerals can leach around. So far I haven't had a problem with salts. The main problem with the caliche I was having is that it's basically concrete and heavily infested with wilt fungus and so far, the raised beds have solved those problems.

Worth1 · November 5, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarianneW

Yeah, the minerals can leach around. So far I haven't had a problem with salts. The main problem with the caliche I was having is that it's basically concrete and heavily infested with wilt fungus and so far, the raised beds have solved those problems.

We have it here in many places too.
Where I live we have a tin layer of it and the reason everyone's mail box leans.

They dig down a foot and give up.
My address post goes down about 2 1/2 feet and is sunk in a 10 inch column of concrete that sticks up about 12 inches above the soil.
Pity the teenage fool that runs over it.

Worth

Cole_Robbie · November 5, 2016

Poor Man's Raised Beds:

AlittleSalt · November 5, 2016

They look great Cole.

Worth

. When we built brick or stone mailboxes, we would fill them with stacked brick. When someone would run into one - the car looked just as messed up.

When I built our raised beds - the one thing I had to remember was to leave room for mulch. It's easy to forget when you're drawing up plans.

Gardeneer · November 6, 2016

I would only do raised beds if :
1) the native ground/soil has poor drainage.
2) you get a lot of flooding.
3 ) Run off water enters the garden.

I think planting in raised bed in hot climate with drought condition has no advantage.

MarianneW · November 7, 2016

I see you're unfamiliar with alkali caliche.

Your list doesn't take into account the soil conditions of the southwest. The soil here will corrode your house foundation in 5 years and it literally takes a jackhammer to dig a hole deeper than an inch. Even the local extension recommends raised beds for home gardeners if you're not using mechanized equipment. Sure, there's a lot of farm area around here, but it's all old river beds that have been farmed for millennia so the caliche is broken, but even then, it still has alkali problems. When you consider buying a pick axe to peel the salt crust off your garden bed, it's time for a raised bed. I do have fruit trees in the ground, but it took a crew of 5 men to amend the soil initially and now after years of amending with compost & wood chips every 4 months, you'd never know because the soil looks the same a few inches down, including around my trees several decades old.

Trust me, you want raised beds in the hot, drought conditions of the southwest because you get to have live plants.

slugworth · November 7, 2016

I've seen them at convalescent homes 4 feet tall so the people don't have to bend,but you would go bankrupt trying to fill them with soil.

whoose · November 7, 2016

Correct title in container section Sorry Guys I am Going to the Dark Side

PaulF · November 7, 2016

Reading this thread all the way through for the first time, I was thinking exactly what Slugworth just wrote. Only it was with me in mind in the not too distant future. My mind began racing as to the logistics of tall raised beds at a relatively low cost.

Like fill the bed with compostable material, leaves, grass clippings, etc. during the year and put a screen down and fill with 18 inches of dirt, soilless mix, finished compost, or whatever. Then at the end of the year remove the screen and compost more.

Or better yet, begin now with shorter raised beds and add a layer a year until it is at wheelchair height when it comes to that.

greenthumbomaha · November 9, 2016

I thought about you today, schill93. I pulled my tomatoes out of a frame it all raised garden bed, only 11 inches high. They were extras I hated to go to waste. The roots were amazing, over two and a half feet long and thick as a pencil. The growing medium was fresh, new Miracle Grow with cardboard underneath. The roots went outward and not downward, as would be spread when trenched.

Of course MG will compact way down next year. I grew carrots in the the other new MG bed and had my first real satisfactory crop of a root vegetable. I'll be rotating several twos of carrots into the tomato bed and planting tomatoes only in ground in this garden.

The tomatoes in my taller bed with a sandy soil /compost mixture did not fare nearly as well. Perhaps it was a moisture issue as the mg mulched with plastic kept moisture better than the sandy soil with wood chips.

- Lisa

November 6, 2016	#25
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,915	I would only do raised beds if : 1) the native ground/soil has poor drainage. 2) you get a lot of flooding. 3 ) Run off water enters the garden. I think planting in raised bed in hot climate with drought condition has no advantage. __________________ Gardeneer Happy Gardening !

November 7, 2016	#28
whoose Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Bozeman, Montana Zone 6b Posts: 333	Sorry Guys I am Going to the Dark Side Correct title in container section Sorry Guys I am Going to the Dark Side

November 7, 2016	#29
PaulF Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Brownville, Ne Posts: 3,289	Reading this thread all the way through for the first time, I was thinking exactly what Slugworth just wrote. Only it was with me in mind in the not too distant future. My mind began racing as to the logistics of tall raised beds at a relatively low cost. Like fill the bed with compostable material, leaves, grass clippings, etc. during the year and put a screen down and fill with 18 inches of dirt, soilless mix, finished compost, or whatever. Then at the end of the year remove the screen and compost more. Or better yet, begin now with shorter raised beds and add a layer a year until it is at wheelchair height when it comes to that. __________________ there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.

November 3, 2016	#16
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	My greenhouse product supplier, Hummert, sells a product that is a "raised bed mix." If you can find a wholesaler near you, they might also sell a similar product, mixed especially for raised beds. Often they will truck-ship a large order for much cheaper than paying normal shipping rates. If you are making your own mix, rice hulls are the cheapest bulk media I have found. I don't trust bagged compost any more, after a bad experience with it. I would only buy compost from a supplier selling it in bulk. Mushroom compost has a good reputation. It would be smart to test any compost for herbicide residue by planting a bean in a cup of it before you fill the beds.

November 4, 2016	#17
schill93 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Nevada Posts: 275	Such great information. Thank you so much. There is a landscaping supply place here that carries various mixes for raised beds at different costs. I need to find out what's in them of course. I know one of them has bio solids in it, which I'm not real comfortable with. I will make my beds at least 18" or more. I'm sure it will be helpful with this heat and soil conditions.. whoose: I can't find your post "Going to the Dark side". I did a search. I will try again.

November 5, 2016	#19
MarianneW Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Arizona Posts: 153	Good luck! Here's an old pic of one of my beds in progress. The production I get out of it is a vast improvement out of anything I could get from caliche, no matter how much compost and amendments I dumped in.

November 5, 2016	#20
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	I'll never put in another raised bed unless it is on a reinforced concrete slab. Anything from 12 to 18 inches is fine. Another thing to consider is what you are or might grow in the beds. Root crops like carrots and potatoes would need deeper soil. Then what is the sub layer of soil like? Contrary to popular belief sand holds moisture or keeps moisture from evaporating from more clay like soil below it. The plants can get nutrients from the raised bed soil and moisture from the sand below it With the caliche mentioned above it can leach calcium carbonate into the moist raised bed soil by way of capillary action.

November 5, 2016	#24
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	They look great Cole. Worth . When we built brick or stone mailboxes, we would fill them with stacked brick. When someone would run into one - the car looked just as messed up. When I built our raised beds - the one thing I had to remember was to leave room for mulch. It's easy to forget when you're drawing up plans.

November 7, 2016	#27
slugworth Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: connecticut,usa Posts: 1,150	I've seen them at convalescent homes 4 feet tall so the people don't have to bend,but you would go bankrupt trying to fill them with soil.

November 9, 2016	#30
greenthumbomaha Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Omaha Zone 5 Posts: 2,514	I thought about you today, schill93. I pulled my tomatoes out of a frame it all raised garden bed, only 11 inches high. They were extras I hated to go to waste. The roots were amazing, over two and a half feet long and thick as a pencil. The growing medium was fresh, new Miracle Grow with cardboard underneath. The roots went outward and not downward, as would be spread when trenched. Of course MG will compact way down next year. I grew carrots in the the other new MG bed and had my first real satisfactory crop of a root vegetable. I'll be rotating several twos of carrots into the tomato bed and planting tomatoes only in ground in this garden. The tomatoes in my taller bed with a sandy soil /compost mixture did not fare nearly as well. Perhaps it was a moisture issue as the mg mulched with plastic kept moisture better than the sandy soil with wood chips. - Lisa