Starting Over

I have been forced to neglect my vegetable garden for to long.But no more!Now that I have the time I plan to start over again.I am going to start building my raised beds as soon as it stops raining and the soil drys out a little.I am building 30 4x16 beds.Any suggestions about or experiances in raised bed gardening in the south would be welcome.Here is a picture of what it looked liked when I started.

And here is another picture.

And another.

Yesterday I started burning the garden.It only took 15 minutes to burn.Here is a picture.

This message was edited Jan 29, 2010 9:34 AM

Boy dry crabgrass burns fast!

Even with high humidity and calm winds the fire moved fast.

It was a perfect day to burn.

Goodbye dead weeds and grass!

All done.

Cowpea, you're a braver man than I am. I would have been afraid the fire would jump the fire break and take off. I have two brush piles on my place in Liberty County that I need to burn. I have hesitated because I could see catching those piney woods on fire. Come to think of it, today would be a good day to do it since it is sort of damp and rainy.

Don

A day with misty rain would be a great time to burn.I have been burning my garden spots for years and have been lucky.I am also very carefull and cut six foot burn lanes.The only time I had a fire to get out of control was in 1988 when I was 11 years old and burning trash for my grandfather.He had put a paint can in the burn pile and it exploded and shot of like rocket into a overgrown field a burned of 25 acres of pine trees and pasture and a old house.It was not my fault and I did not get into trouble.The land owner was glad the old house was gone.

Keep us posted of your progression!

Will do.I plowed it after I burned it trying to beat the rain.And I did but forgot to take pictures.It was way after dark when I finished.I have a heavy breaking disc that I went over it with first and I went over it with a light tandam disc to breakup the clods.I then used a drag to level it and break more clods.Plowing is great therapy with the steady hum of the engine and the smell and sight of freshly plowed earth you just lose yourself thinking of the planting and harvesting to come.I love to plow!But I wont be plowing this plot again because it is going to be raised beds now.

cowpea, I have had some really good luck with my 3x6' raised beds, though this year I'm going back to the more traditional method for various reasons. I didn't do the burn thing (too risky in a neighborhood!) but I put a layer of shredded newspaper at the bottom of each bed, compost and dirt on top of that -- the lasagna gardening thing. Last year the drought took its toll horribly, but the year before I had a bumper crop of tomatoes -- the fewest I picked in a day was 7, the most 23 from one bed of indeterminates (Early Girl). Please post progress pictures!

It rained last night and is still raining.The pictures are not the best.Heres #1.

Ain't it the truth. Better than puppy breath.

Thanks alot now I'm all misty eyed!Some of my earliest memories are about tractores.When I was very young, about two my grandfather would ride me on his 1975 Ford Model 2000 tractor nearly every day.It's the same tractor that I use now- full of memories and just a little bit worn.Here is picture # 2.

Way cool to have your grandfather's old tractor. I'd give anything to have that old Allis Chalmers.

Here is a picture of what my poor back yard looks like after tearing it up good and proper with the tractor. I'm going to get a load of dirt to spread as soon as it dries up, so I can get the garden going and some grass planted. You just can see part of my box blade sitting there. It serves pretty well as a pipe and lumber rack much of the time. LOL

Don

Nice koi pond!It rains to much or not enough.The best grass I think is centipede.It spreads fast and doesn't have the same problems that st augustine does and it's not invasive like bermuda.I am building my vegetable beds out 2x6 lumber I got from the cull pile at work.Some will be 4x8 and others will be 4x10 and 4x16.The soil is not bad but has little organic matter.It is a clay loam.I will add two inchs of rabbit manure to each bed and work into the top of the soil.Here is a picture of Cali one of my French Lops.

We built 20 4x8 raised beds last year. It was the first time I used them and felt they drained a bit too well. Had to water them alot. I think also that the mix I made was too little soil consistency. But I did finally get to grow carrots cause the ground gardens here are too heavy for carrots. We are moving to Massachusetts in July and I plan on taking the beds with us cause they were so expensive to build and I do like them.

Why are you putting in raised beds? Is your drainage poor in this area?

Somewhat but the soil is not that great.Raised beds are a great for growing vegetables in.I have had great luck with raised beds in the past.You can ammend the soil and avoid compaction which vegetables hate.My beds will only be six inches high or so.I will be adding two inches of composted rabbit manure to each bed and working it into the top four inches of soil.Then I will lay down soaker hose and plant and mulch.The only down side to raised beds in my area is fire ants love them.To kill them I pour boiling water on them after I stir them up.Sometimes it takes two or three kettles of water to get them all.I like it because it is pesticide free.Other than that raised beds are great.

Here are the pictures of my garden after being plowed and rained on.Heres #1

Here is # 2

And here is #3.

And here is the lumber I will build them with.

Cowpea, if you want to kill fire ants w/o using pesticides is to sprinkle plain old corn meal on them. I tried it and it worked. Of course, the rest of the bed will just move somewhere else, but in time, you can get them all. Give it a try. Not sure what it does to them. I suspect they can't digest it and die.

I am thinking I am gong to make a couple of 4x8 raised beds for some okra, cukes and beans. Then, I'm going to try something I learned about in the hydroponics forum for some radishes, tomatoes and peppers. I'm going to get a couple of those little kiddie pools (not the blow up kind, but the hard plastic ones), and cut them down to about four inches deep and set pots in them with a couple of inches of water sitting in them. Supposedly, the plants only send roots down as far as they need to go to get the amount of water they need. Of course, you have to to water for a few weeks until the roots get down far enough to get the water. I plan to use water from the fish pond, since it has a lot of nutrients in it,sort of like fertilizer.

I am going to order out a load of 60/40 to fill some low spots in my yard. I'll use that in my raised beds too along with some compost.

brigidlily, what's the deal with the newspaper? I might do that too if I know what it's for. I've never done raised beds before.

Don

Don

I use raised beds and pots almost exclusively. I love the raised beds. My are from plastic type board from Burpee's. Be careful when you buy wood - be sure it is not treated wood. I could only get treated wood around here when I made mine. It is treated with arsenic (or it used to be - I hope they have found something else to use). That will leach into the soil. My son made a planter with treated wood and his roses died. They thought it was the arsenic (he tested the dirt and it did contain arsenic). I have planted a little bit of everything in my boxes. I read to not use regular dirt in them - I forget why. I use a soil less mixture and add compost (mushroom, usually, though I am thinking of trying Black Cow this year). My yard is very small (I am so envious of your having enough space to use a tractor!!!) and I have two 4 x 8 boxes, two 3 x 3 boxes, 10 half wine casks, one bean box, two chimney pieces (can't think what they are called), and a bunch of pots and 5 gallon buckets. It isn't a beautiful assortment but it works. Actually, I say I "play" at gardening because I am constantly learning what not to do. I have been playing for about eight or nine years (since my husband died) and learning more each year. I have had excellent crops and terrible ones. My deep boxes are taller than my watering system an reach so I am hoping to fix that this year. I also waste a lot of water on my patio with the containers so I am trying to fix that too. There is one plot of dirt (8 x8 ?) that we have been putting leaves into for a couple of years. This year it gets planted too. Squash plants take up too much room in the boxes and hang over the containers. I have not found the vineing kinds. I use the boxes for going up - cucumbers, peppers, okra, potatoes (last year only). The wine casks have usually been used for the potatoes, onions, carrots (failed miserably). Tomatoes, peppers, okra (short bushes), cucumbers, and flowers go in the deep containers, with lettuce and herbs in the more shallow ones. The weather here is always a problem and it affects me too. One day a week I have a great helper in the yard - I could not do without him. I cannot be out in the 95 degrees stuff too long so my watering ways need to be improved. I cause a lot of my problems - too little watering, not picking quickly enough, etc. But I have fun and get to give a lot of it away. That I enjoy most - sharing something that I have grown. Obviously, I do not come from a farming background but I am giving it a good try. I hope this helps you Cowpea, even though you are much more professional than I am. Marilyn in SC

Pressure treated lumber is no longer made with Arsnic!

Here are a couple sites with FAQ's about pressure treatedlumber. New Alkaline Copper Quat (ACQ-C, ACQ-D, ACQ-D Carbonate) lumber is the newer processes.

ProWood ACQ: http://www.ufpi.com/product/ptlumber/ptfaq.htm

Georgia Pacific FAQ http://www.gp.com/build/pageviewer.aspx?repository=bp&elementid=4510
Specific PDF Document: http://www.gp.com/build/DocumentViewer.aspx?repository=BP&elementid=4505

Pressure-Treated Wood FAQs: http://www.strongtie.com/productuse/PTWoodFAQs.html

Environmental Protection Agency information
Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA): http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/
ACQ - An Alternative to CCA: http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/acq.htm

Hello Skywatch!You are right about all that you say.If you use containers you should use a soilless mix and not dirt.My beds are not true containers because they have no bottoms.Have you tried ten gallon and up nursery pots? They are cheap and last a while.Speaking of squash did you know you could stake them and make them look like little palm trees?The wood I am using is treated but it does not contain arsenic.The swimming pool idea works great Don!Last summer I had some shrubs in three gallon pots that kept drying out all the time so I bought a kiddie pool and set them in it and put four inches of water in it.Problem solved!I My other hobby is collecting fossil plants.Here are some fossil beeech leaves Green River,Wyoming.

Qinx you are right.

The newspaper is to suppress any weeds under what you plant; the worms adore it and incorporate it into the soil.

I use some newspaper but not as much as I used to. It makes the soil acidic. If you use newspaper, be sure to add lime.

Hello everyone!After work today I started building my raised bed frames.Here are the pictures.

Here is picture #2.I used two 14' 2x8's treated for the frame which is 4x10.I just put it in place.I got three built today.

Here is picture #3.My garden is a mudhole.

These are the screws that I used to put the beds togather with.They are expensive but worth it.

Good start, Cowpea. Wish I could come and help you. I use those screws for just about everything, except they're Phillips head. I hear you on the mudhole. I'm about to grow webs between my toes.

Don