Thursday, January 23, 2014

Repurpose Stairs - Raised Garden Beds

While the Moose and boys were busy finishing the ramp to move the container into place this past Saturday, I worked near the chicken house removing nails from our old stair boards.  (The girls came over on occasion to see what I was doing and kept me company)

We did some remodeling in our home this past year, and in the process replaced the wood on the stairway.  We saved the wood and stacked it up at The Compound awaiting a project or two.

I decided to take this wood and make some raised beds.  But first I had to remove the 4" long nails.  Now, I'm a girl and this project took me waaaay longer than the Moose would have had to spend, but in the end I did get all the nails out, and the first of what will be 2-3 raised beds.

the wood on the bottom will be used to make another bed or two, but for now it'll kill the grass and weeds.
 
In the second picture below it shows a crate.  What do you think about me inverting it and using the bottom of it as the top, adding some sides and making a raised, raised bed?  I might give it a whirl.  I know it won't last forever, but a coat of wood sealer should help.





10 comments:

  1. Good luck with your endeavours!

    Thank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

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  2. Nice, nice work. I need to order seeds.

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    Replies
    1. I needed to get my seeds started last month, I'm behind again as usual.

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  3. looks good to me and three of em should be just right.

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    1. three should give me a pretty good start this season, and I won't have to spend any extra funds either!

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  4. Izzy,

    Have you decide what you'll be growing in your raised boxes?

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    1. Likely lettuce varieties, cucumbers, peppers, and I want to try tomatoes. Tomatoes seem to do OK in our soil, but I'm wondering if I'd get a better return trying the raised beds. Jury's still out..

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  5. I made raised beds last year after 3 frustrating years of gardening in the the sandy soil in our garden. I was just tired of fighting with it and the weeds. I don't have all of them in yet but I do have about 8 of them and LOVE them. They are 8 to 12 feet long and 4 feet across so that I can reach the center of the beds without walking on the soil. Not only is it easier to keep the soil healthy and fertile but the weeds are about 95% less. Instead of spending hours and days weeding and turning and raking soil I spent about 4 hours out there yesterday picking a few weeds and cleaning up a little. Most of that 4 hours was spent weeding and mulching the walkways that I didn't get done in the fall. The walkways I did get done last season were virtually weed free. Last summer and fall my harvest was at least twice what it had been and prepping the garden for this spring is going to be a breeze. I do not have bottoms in my beds nor are they "raised" raised beds or table beds. This is because some of the stuff I grow needs the extra space to send down roots into the sub soil and although raised beds warm up faster in the spring they also dry out faster so contact with the subsoil helps hold in moisture. When I installed the 8 to 10 inch high beds I filled each box with about 4 or 5 inches of good soil and tilled it into the native soil with my mini tiller.(much like a mantis only from sears) This helps the soil to blend together aiding in drainage and helping roots that need a little more room. Not mixing the two soils seems to create a situation like planting in a pot. Go figure. Good luck with your beds.

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    1. Thanks for the input. I think we'll LOVE them too! The weeds here are such a hassle, and since we don't live on the property I only have Saturdays to weed, along with all the other responsibilities.

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