For The Green Thumbs Out There!!! How To Make The BEST Raised Garden Bed!!! NO COST!!!

[DutchMuch]

Thought I'd post this up here, I took pics just for you all <3

This is a small How To, In making your own Raised Garden bed. It is made for organic growing purposes, making it easier for the plants to grow, and faster. For reasons I will state later on.

How To Make Your Own Raised Garden Bed For Free!
Equipment Needed:
Pitchfork (optional, this item isn't free however lol)
Old Hay (or new)
Pallet(s)
Card Board Boxes
Topsoil

The Texts under the images (like this) are meant for the Above Images!
Cardboard is Commonly thrown out, by basically every store you go to.
Walmart
Lowes
Home Depot
Dollar General
Shoe Stores
You name it, its shipped to them in cardboard.

You can ask the shop(s) owner or manager, for the cardboard and they will be more than happy to give it to you!

When You get the cardboard, use it like you would a pond liner (good example right) and line out where you want your garden bed to be located at.
Flattened is usually better, and I recommend this.

Old Hay is commonly thrown out by farmers (including us) because it collects molds and fungus and is unwanted for feed usually.
You can get Hay at a local farm or hay harvesting, place, this is just harvested by us so we "made it" but we used to get the free old hay back a while before we could harvest it, (and we still usually buy it, this is one from a while ago).

Throw the hay on there!

Once you threw the hay on there, go ahead and smooth it out, OVER LAYERING the grass or dirt outside the cardboard outline by about a foot, no need to be exact.

After you laid the hay on there, if it puffs up, use water from a hose, or however you can, to layer it down flat and wet.
Ok I will admit, I forgot some pics... Like major pics but hey you cant blame me for working in a fun way! lol!

These are the Layers in this order before I explain more (bottom [ground] to top)
1st layer above ground: Cardboard wetted down
2nd Layer: Hay wetted down
3rd layer 1 Pallet or however many you need/want
4th layer: Cardboard wetted down
5th Layer: Hay wetted down
6th Layer: Cardboard wetted down
7th Layer: Topsoil

Pallets are kind of hard to find nowadays, Lowes saves them because it costs them $ if given away, and walmart doesn't give them away either. I find that local garden centers usually give them away, I got mine from a local GC. called Kellys Nursery.
Topsoil is pretty self explanatory.

Pallets create an air pocket within the hay, so when the plants are planted, the roots dangle down and go past (later on) the pallet layer, into the ground. The air Helps the roots for various reasons, but I wont get into the specs unless you want me to.
The cardboard quickly (well imo, takes a few weeks.) deteriorates, and make a good substrate within those layers, also provides various nutrients to the plants.
The pallets create a pocket of air, so when the plants are planted
Hay is a marvelous substitute for thinning and weeding. Instead of pulling unwanted plants out of the ground, and disturbing the roots of others, I bend the weeds flat and pull hay over them. But with hay this thick, you shouldn't even have weed growth, especially with the cardboard assistance.
Also when hay decomposes, it creates (imo) a Fantastic, substrate for plant growth. This however does take time.

Any questions PLEASE ask!

Hope you enjoyed this Garden How To!

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[Lisak1]

Basically you're demonstrating lasagna gardening, except for the pallet layer. I'm not exactly clear on why you want to have a pallet in the garden bed.

 

[DutchMuch]

Basically you're demonstrating lasagna gardening, except for the pallet layer. I'm not exactly clear on why you want to have a pallet in the garden bed.

Aeration for the roots! And also you can (eventually, it takes some good soil and a lot of work) put worms under the pallet, and simply lift the pallet up, worm castings.

 

[Lisak1]

Still very confusing. Are you saying the roots dangle freely in between the slats of the pallet? Where exactly do you plant?

 

[DutchMuch]

Still very confusing. Are you saying the roots dangle freely in between the slats of the pallet? Where exactly do you plant?

Hold on let me do a Paint, really quick (Microsoft paint) might show better !

 

[DutchMuch]

@Lisak1 The roots dangle from the pallet yes, this aerates the roots, free falling, the roots continue to grow, and (the pallet is about 12 inches thick) they hit the hay and cardboard below (by that time it has decomposed mostly) giving it more nutrients.
Ill post later on (in a week or so maybe) when I plant it, what it looks like, and ill get into more specifics as into how the pallet physically works.

Sorry crappy image, only got a mouse!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

This method has been around for years.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Pallets create an air pocket within the hay, so when the plants are planted, the roots dangle down and go past (later on) the pallet layer, into the ground.

I think what you will encounter with this open space it was is termed "Air Pruning" in gardening circles. Roots will have great difficulty going beyond this open barrier.

 

[DutchMuch]

This method has been around for years.

I think what you will encounter with this open space it was is termed "Air Pruning" in gardening circles. Roots will have great difficulty going beyond this open barrier.

Well thanks for lighting up the mood! I guess we will all just have to see how it goes
This is a journal so to speak as well for this little bed, so we will all be watching it!

 

[DutchMuch]

@Meyer Jordan @Lisak1 so far im proving you wrong... Its working!

Update Pics!

Im sure people are freaking out about "there's no fence around it... HOW IS IT NOT GETTING EATEN!?!??!"

Simple: im working on the fence... LOL the rabbits around here are kind to me. I feed them spare carrots I grow!

Plants:
Pumpkins
Some anonymous plants I forgot, prob. Zucchini
Varieties of lettuce
Spinach
Iceberg lettuce
purple iceberg lettuce
cabbage


The first seven days, I left the bed to start decomposing, and it did start successfully.
So now im waiting for everything to begin growing out. So far all seeds have germinated and successfully sprouted, the pumpkins and Zuchinii have melted some leaves but are taking a turn for the better it seems.
So far no problems!


I think I said this already but ill say it again just cause, after you made all the layers, after the 4th day, sprinkle soil on it, (topsoil) then every day keep sprinkling some on it. Then the seventh day, put a thin (2" or 3") layer of topsoil on it as a cap.












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[Lisak1]

I didn't say it wouldn't work. I was just trying to figure out why you needed the pallets.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

@Meyer Jordan @Lisak1 so far im proving you wrong... Its working!

We will see as these seedlings begin growing into mature plants and start to develop a real root structure. A saving action here is the successive additions of top soil which is adding more space for lateral root development (this was not mentioned in your earlier posts). The drawback to this practice is that it does not benefit all plants. Increasing the soil depth around an established plant can, depending on the plant, result in stem rot. Vegetable such as tomatoes and potatoes benefit from this action. Root crops (Carrots, Turnips, etc.) and some other plants (Lettuce, cabbage etc.) will not. As long as the soil surface is no higher than the cotyledons, the plants will be OK.

 

[DutchMuch]

We will see as these seedlings begin growing into mature plants and start to develop a real root structure.

I agree, challenge accepted!

 

[DutchMuch]

top soil which is adding more space for lateral root development (this was not mentioned in your earlier posts).

"These are the Layers in this order before I explain more (bottom [ground] to top)
1st layer above ground: Cardboard wetted down
2nd Layer: Hay wetted down
3rd layer 1 Pallet or however many you need/want
4th layer: Cardboard wetted down
5th Layer: Hay wetted down
6th Layer: Cardboard wetted down
7th Layer: Topsoil"​

That's my original post, just saw it, was mentioned to you all and was on the first post list.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

"These are the Layers in this order before I explain more (bottom [ground] to top)
1st layer above ground: Cardboard wetted down
2nd Layer: Hay wetted down
3rd layer 1 Pallet or however many you need/want
4th layer: Cardboard wetted down
5th Layer: Hay wetted down
6th Layer: Cardboard wetted down
7th Layer: Topsoil"​

That's my original post, just saw it, was mentioned to you all and was on the first post list.

But you did not mention how much nor the successive additions of same or a final application of 2" - 3".

This is not a challenge, just mentioning some gardening facts accumulated over the 50+ years that I have been gardening.
Not going to debate you on this as these facts can be easily verified, plus this is a Pond forum.