A "How To" for Building Raised Beds

[hornstrider]

Worth1.......I read your posts, and I was wondering where you do your gardening. Your profile says "Alaska/Bastrop Texas"..........That's a long walk from the house to the garden.

Worth,

I don't know if you see many of those wild hippos when your in the Prudhoe Bay area, but we sure have a lot of them here in Texas. I guess if Arkansas can use a razorback hog as a mascot, Hutto can use a razorback hippo as a mascot. They sure taste good after they have spent some quality time on my big smoker.

Ted

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by hornstrider

Worth1.......I read your posts, and I was wondering where you do your gardening. Your profile says "Alaska/Bastrop Texas"..........That's a long walk from the house to the garden.

Yes I must use more Jet fuel than anybody on the planet to get to my Garden in Texas.

Worth

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by tedln

Worth,

I don't know if you see many of those wild hippos when your in the Prudhoe Bay area, but we sure have a lot of them here in Texas. I guess if Arkansas can use a razorback hog as a mascot, Hutto can use a razorback hippo as a mascot. They sure taste good after they have spent some quality time on my big smoker.

Ted

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...nkGtMv8WwGqrcg

Worth

Worth,

Hippo's are out of season right now in Texas. I think the season for hunting them runs in con★★★★★★★★ with squirrel season. I'll just have to wait awhile to try that recipe you provided, but I sure do thank you.

If you happen to be in Alaska during the holidays and can't locate a good hippo rump roast up there, you might want to try this.

Oogruk Flippers
From The Eskimo Cookbook

Recipe By : Raymond Seetomana
Serving Size : 2 Preparation Time : Two Weeks
Categories : Eskimo

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 small oogruk (seal)
fresh blubber

Cut the flippers off from the oogruk. Put the flippers in fresh blubber. Let them stay there for about two weeks. Take the loose fur off the flipper. Cut flipper into small pieces and eat the meat.

Yum!

You can serve the flipper with some tomato slices from your Alaska garden.

Ted

[Too Tall Toms]

Originally Posted by hornstrider

I live in Central Texas, and my soil is very rich black gumbo. Three years ago I decided to raise all of my beds in my"back" garden. It was a all winter project. I added alfalfa pellets, green sand, aged horse manure, and lots of compost. It was the best gardening decision I have ever made. The beds are so easy to work now. Two weeks ago I decided to raise my "front" garden bed. This bed was my original garden when we built our house 7 years ago. I use 3' t-posts to secure the stacked boards using deck screws to hold the boards upright in a vertical position. It has worked well for me in the "back" garden over the years so I decided to do the same to the front garden. I used treated pine 4X4's in the back, and 2X6 cedar in the front garden. See pictures below.

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/newbed1.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed2.jpg

Hey....how deep are those beds?? They look really cool

[hornstrider]

Too Tall Toms..................Thanks.........The beds are one foot tall. The new bed is made w/ two ea. 2" X 6" X 10' cedar boards. The back garden pictured are also one foot tall, and made w/ 3 ea. 4" X 4" X 8' treated pine. I have many raised beds in the back garden garden. The beds pictured w/ strawberries are made from 2" X 6" composite decking material, also one foot tall. Also pictured is a before picture of my new bed. It would take several hours to till the old new bed, and have it prepared for planting. See pictures below:

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed6.jpg


http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed5.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed7.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed4.jpg

hornstrider,

I was wondering why you have such substantial fencing around your garden as I do.

Your last photo answers the question. My brown lab also loves tomatoes and cucumbers straight from the vine. Charlie doesn't mind pulling the plant to get the fruit. If I accidentally leave the gate open, he can grab a plant and be gone in about two seconds. I've thought about letting him have the run of the garden and sample some of my jalapeno peppers.

Ted

[Skaggydog]

Worth

May I barrow your steam shovel ?

[hornstrider]

Ted.........I have two labs, the chocolate lab, and her daughter the black lab pictured in one of the other pictures. Both love to dig, and eat tomato's and, cuks. I have to cover my flower beds, and the beds around my trees w/ hog wire laid on top of the mulch to keep them from digging....... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Originally Posted by hornstrider

Ted.........I have two labs, the chocolate lab, and her daughter the black lab pictured in one of the other pictures. Both love to dig, and eat tomato's and, cuks. I have to cover my flower beds, and the beds around my trees w/ hog wire laid on top of the mulch to keep them from digging....... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

My dog loves the stalks of Swiss chard, but not the leaves. I thought I had fooled him when I planted some chard in a large flower bed unprotected. He didn't bother the chard all summer long other than using the large plants as fire hydrants. When he finally figured out what he had been watering, they were all gone in one week. He would usually leave the large root ball laying on the lawn with the leaves scattered around.

Ted

[Too Tall Toms]

Originally Posted by hornstrider

Too Tall Toms..................Thanks.........The beds are one foot tall. The new bed is made w/ two ea. 2" X 6" X 10' cedar boards. The back garden pictured are also one foot tall, and made w/ 3 ea. 4" X 4" X 8' treated pine. I have many raised beds in the back garden garden. The beds pictured w/ strawberries are made from 2" X 6" composite decking material, also one foot tall. Also pictured is a before picture of my new bed. It would take several hours to till the old new bed, and have it prepared for planting. See pictures below:

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed6.jpg


http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed5.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed7.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed4.jpg

So those cedar beds are 12 inches high? That's deep enough? I was thinking that maybe I should go with 16 inch deep beds

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Too Tall Toms

So those cedar beds are 12 inches high? That's deep enough? I was thinking that maybe I should go with 16 inch deep beds

With the right soil you can get monster hippo sized plants from 12 inch beds.

Worth

[Too Tall Toms]

Originally Posted by Worth1

With the right soil you can get monster hippo sized plants from 12 inch beds.

Worth

I got the compost down pat.....in addition to the usual fruit/veggie scraps, it's got alpaca, rabbit, and horse manures, plus a LOT of fish scraps I got from a local trout hatchery, and several bags of shredded leaves.
Getting all of the other ingredients to fill beds that are more than 12 inches tall might kill me.

[Too Tall Toms]

Originally Posted by hornstrider

Too Tall Toms..................Thanks.........The beds are one foot tall. The new bed is made w/ two ea. 2" X 6" X 10' cedar boards. The back garden pictured are also one foot tall, and made w/ 3 ea. 4" X 4" X 8' treated pine. I have many raised beds in the back garden garden. The beds pictured w/ strawberries are made from 2" X 6" composite decking material, also one foot tall. Also pictured is a before picture of my new bed. It would take several hours to till the old new bed, and have it prepared for planting. See pictures below:

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed6.jpg


http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed5.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed7.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...22/Newbed4.jpg

I forgot to ask....what are the dimensions of those beds?