new concrete blocks question

My DH made a raised bed for vegetables using new concrete blocks. A neighbor is telling me I will have a problem with lime leaching from the blocks, and that vegetables won't grow. Can anyone tell me if this is true? I've filled it lasagna style. Thanks!

I looked up concrete block ingredients and I don't see no lime no where. Lime leaching would only be a issue if you were planting acid loving plants next to the block. And I can't imagine it would much of an issue. Just keep building the bed, it will be wonderful. Nice healthy plants.

Hey Cathy,
How did he build the beds? Did he just stack the blocks or did he morter them together?
I am wanting to use natural stone to make my raised beds, but the size is making it way to expensive.
How tall are they?

-James

James, he says the most important step is leveling the ground. Then he stacked them two layers high, staggering the joints. No mortar, and they don't budge even when I sit on them. They are 8" tall, about 15 long, forgot to measure thickness, sorry. He stacked them with the holes facing up so I can plant herbs in some of the holes (where I won't be sitting.) My bed measures about 4x10 feet in the inside. It still cost about $80 and it isn't pretty, not for the front yard for sure. I've thought about painting it or putting some trellis around it because a neighbor calls it the Grave. Personally, I think once veggies are growing in it, she will be quiet, and I expect it to pay for itself in produce the first year.

We have other beds with large rocks around the edges that my husband dug out of a friend's land, and are gradually getting rid of them, I don't know with what yet, but I can't get around like I used to and sitting on rough pointy rocks hurts my you know what. If I could find barrels or really large pots cheap, I would switch to those. I need to be able to sit when I garden.

My veggie garden is made of concrete block and I have had no problems. About 20x20. If you layed them the way I layed them with the holes in the blocks up then you can plant Ice plant and creeping phlox or other trailing things and that will hang down helping to hide the block. I even put some marigolds in the holes and they grew wonderful.

chris

Chris, thank you for your post, we did build it with the holes up. C4

if it isn't too much work for you,cobbles can be cemented to the outside to give a rustic look. the trailing plants sound nice too

digger, what do you mean by cobbles? I'm not familiar with that term. tks

Cathy,
Thanks for such a detailed answer. I have been thinking about stacking the cinderblock like you mentioned, but I will probably end up mortaring them,. because I was also thinking about adding the cobblestones. They come in such amazing colors that I think it would look really nice.
I love the idea of planting in the holes of the cinderblocks.

Here's a pic of some of the natural cobblestones that I like.

Would the neighbor calling it the grave happen to be the same on telling the blocks would leach lime? Sound like a real charmer. The other's are right, planting trailing vines in the holes will cover a lot of the concrete. Why would you're neighbor care anyway?

cathy,jmcdowell sent a good picture of cobbles,just smooth rocks not much more than 5 or 6 ins across.if your blocks are'nt cemented together,it wouldn't work,but you can paint them a brown that pleases you.after the paint dries,paint your horizonal line between them a lighter shade ,yellow looks good,and then it will look like 2 boards all around the planter. doccat5 has it right, mention to your neighbor it suits your purpose,with seating and all and youall pay the bills over there.it's strong but that usually works meowwww.sorry about my attitude,just don't like snide remarks coming from anyone except me. you can laugh now

Actually, this neighbor is a nice person, and it isn't like her to say things, so maybe it is way uglier than it looks to me, haha. My son and husband are calling it the grave now, too, probably because they can tell it bugs me. 2 against 1, I never win here, lol. Painting it wood color is a great idea, thanks!

digger9083, I can see you and I have a lot in common, concerning the care and feeding of nosy neighbors......grin Cathy4, if you choose to paint block, do be careful about the type of paint you use. That will leech. No win...LOL Maybe just slap a fake tombstone on one end and call it early Halloween 2008! LOL

hey doccat5 ,that is a great idea! really!.people put a twin bedframe in the yard and call it flower bed .plant all kinds of beautiful stuff in there.very attractive! cathy could put a head and footboard on it.metal of course. use the headstone until she finds a bed then lay the footboard down,add the headstone on the inside of the headboard for halloween,each or both,trade them off .iv'e seen some pretty impressive gardens with different garden art tastefully added to them cathy, send us a picture if you can. oh,if you paint,(i would) get oop's paint from h.d.in latex enamel .cost 5.00 gal 3.00 quart .might take a coupla trips to find brown.have fun,and enjoy,that's what it's its all about

good grief doccat5,looking over you'r posts the last few days,when do you sleep?

What your neighbor was reffering to was the blocks are make from cement and cement contains lime.

I used blocks for my compost bin and haven't had a problem.

When making hyper tufa containers we always soak them in water for 4-5 days so that the lime will leach out.

Paul

Not much digger9083. I got shingles in my eye and scalp in March and I'm still fighting the after effects. It's the creepiest sensation, not real painful pain, but enough to get my attention. So I get up and piddle on the computer or find something to do to distract myself. Sometimes I sneak in a cat nap in the afternoon. sigh...

I won't worry about the blocks then, they will have been out in the weather all winter, and since I filled them lasagna style, they've had numerous soakings. I didn't know about oops paint, I'll have to watch for it in the spring. Sure not painting it now, haha. I love the bed idea, I could paint the blocks like a scalloped dust ruffle, haha, that will show all of them, or maybe find a real dust ruffle at a garage sale, woo hoo. I've never like "normal" anyway, crazies are always attracted to me. Thanks for the laughs this morning, I'm grinning ear to ear.

now your getting the idea,your not looking at it like a bunch of concrete blocks,your thinking of yard art,and alternitives .if you try it and don't like it,change it.let us know. all i can say about you doccat is, poor baby,hope all that passes and doesn,t come back

WTG, Cathy4, you could be starting a trend in new yard art, gurl friend. And thanks digger, this stuff is truely the pits......sigh

LOL!

Most veg are delighted with a touch of lime in the soil, it sweetens it too, so even IF the blocks are made with some lime, it will be to your advantage, People over here in UK who have a very clay soil, scatter some lime on the top of the soil in winter to help break it up into a more manageable crumblier state, you just leave it on the top soil over the winter months when the veg plots are bare, let the frost/rain break this down and in spring, the soil is not so sticky to work with, dont plant into your limed soil for about six to eight weeks till the lime has had time to work or you might burn the roots of your tender plants, but using blocks is different from adding fresh garden lime, so go ahead and enjoy your new veg beds, your neighbour will soon be over trying to get some of your produce for her own family, by the way, talking about your tombstone, for now, just stick a board into it and call it the dead center of the garden, OOOOOOH sorry. WeeNel.

WeeNel, that is so funny! hahaha! I'm going to do it, too.

WeeNel, LOL!! You my kinda people!

You should have said "that was dead funny"" he he he Weenel.

Hi Cathy and all!
I saw this thread and thought I would jump in and share a photo. We have cement block beds that we are covering with split pieces of quartzite rock. The rocks had been dry stack walls at our old house and the buyers didn't want them, so we hauled everything to our new house (only a mile, not that bad). The new beds were too big to make out of solid rock so we built with blocks and now we are gluing the rock to the face.

You can see the blocks are mortared (mortar is a big pain the you-know-what!), though it is starting to crack a little. The blocks on the bottom are set in a trench to level them. The rocks are partially finished on the wall on the left. We saved the biggest blocks to cover the holes on top, but left gaps because frogs like to hide inside the holes.

It took 8 yards of dirt to fill the beds and it has settled enough to add more now. It's hard to see in the photos, but watering the veggies caused most of the lime and natural salts in the soil to leach out into the walkways. We plan to lay sandstone slabs in the walkways when the other rocks are all finished.

It's definitely a lot more work than painting the blocks. Living with a perfectionist, I've learned to just let him do things his way, but only when he does the work himself.

If you decide on a more whimsical way to decorate you blocks, please post a photo.

Janel

Wow, that is going to be really great looking. What are you using for glue? Thanks for the picture. c4

Liquid Nails constuction adhesive. It's a lot easier to use than the mortar and we will fill in the small gaps with mortar when it's done.

Janel,
That looks really nice. I would love to have that set up!

That is just stunning! Thanks for sharing!