How to Fill a Raised Bed and Save 60%+ on Soil Costs
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Date: 2022-07-18
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Comments and reviews: 15
Laurel
I NEED ADVICE PLEASE! I have 2 tall beds about 4' from each other and filled it based on your video. We have red clay soil. We put the beds on top of the grass, put cardboard down first, then 15 of old wood, then the remaining with a really good blend of compost and perlit. I also did not realize that the beds were not level. Our landscaper put in small drip lines on an automatic timer that I can control from a phone app. THE PROBLEM: Unfortunately, the water seems to be going straight down into the bed and comes out at the bottom. The area between the two beds is a grassy/muddy mess. We reduced the watering time to 3 minutes and still having the problem. The omitters are a 2 gallon per hour and we even strung some smaller little sprinklers to get to the corners. Any suggestions on what to do now (besides adding rock between the two beds)? Also come fall, if I need to I can undo the bed and start over. Thank you!
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I NEED ADVICE PLEASE! I have 2 tall beds about 4' from each other and filled it based on your video. We have red clay soil. We put the beds on top of the grass, put cardboard down first, then 15 of old wood, then the remaining with a really good blend of compost and perlit. I also did not realize that the beds were not level. Our landscaper put in small drip lines on an automatic timer that I can control from a phone app. THE PROBLEM: Unfortunately, the water seems to be going straight down into the bed and comes out at the bottom. The area between the two beds is a grassy/muddy mess. We reduced the watering time to 3 minutes and still having the problem. The omitters are a 2 gallon per hour and we even strung some smaller little sprinklers to get to the corners. Any suggestions on what to do now (besides adding rock between the two beds)? Also come fall, if I need to I can undo the bed and start over. Thank you!
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Kathryn
Hi, so glad you sell Birdie's raised beds. I've been looking at them all weekend long (2/8/22 today) and have been ready to buy at the sale price. Even talked to Wendy about the configuration situation of the raised beds which I didn't understand from your website. This put me behind in ordering. Now, I haven't been able to get anyone to call me back yet, but someone named Kris told me by text that I can't get the sale price for the ones I wanted because there is about to be a severe shortage of these beds, but you'll give me 10% off the ones I want which still makes the price prohibitive for me. Will you please honor the sale price of the items that are in my cart right now so I can, as Kris said, keep growing? Thank you. BTW, love your vids!
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Hi, so glad you sell Birdie's raised beds. I've been looking at them all weekend long (2/8/22 today) and have been ready to buy at the sale price. Even talked to Wendy about the configuration situation of the raised beds which I didn't understand from your website. This put me behind in ordering. Now, I haven't been able to get anyone to call me back yet, but someone named Kris told me by text that I can't get the sale price for the ones I wanted because there is about to be a severe shortage of these beds, but you'll give me 10% off the ones I want which still makes the price prohibitive for me. Will you please honor the sale price of the items that are in my cart right now so I can, as Kris said, keep growing? Thank you. BTW, love your vids!
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Chad
I live in Sarnia Ontario Canada in zone 6b. Going to do a 4x16'by 14vita raised bed. I'm a Newby. So. if im filling the bottom with Ruffage, logs etc. How far up. Not as deep as your raised beds.
Secondly the top layer. Do you add any perilite or is that mix all you use?
Thirdly I have some peat, and coco coir. How would that get incorporated? Below your topsoil layer or mixed in?
4th. If using mulch can the colored mulch you buy in bags he used? I use it in my flower beds. Anything bad about using this?
Lastly. should I line the bottom. With geo. I have some. Just to help with any weeping out of soil?
Thanks and I hope I hear back from someone. lol
Chad Vollrath
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I live in Sarnia Ontario Canada in zone 6b. Going to do a 4x16'by 14vita raised bed. I'm a Newby. So. if im filling the bottom with Ruffage, logs etc. How far up. Not as deep as your raised beds.
Secondly the top layer. Do you add any perilite or is that mix all you use?
Thirdly I have some peat, and coco coir. How would that get incorporated? Below your topsoil layer or mixed in?
4th. If using mulch can the colored mulch you buy in bags he used? I use it in my flower beds. Anything bad about using this?
Lastly. should I line the bottom. With geo. I have some. Just to help with any weeping out of soil?
Thanks and I hope I hear back from someone. lol
Chad Vollrath
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Jenny
would you recommend I use my chicken coop manure? Ive been doing deep litter of pine shavings over the winter and need to empty it soon, do you think I could use that to fill the bottom and then top it off with a bagged mix? I live in Colorado and we have pretty terrible soil here. I was going to use it to start off my compost pile, but if I can use it in the garden beds, that would be even better. Also, I have been using straw in my chicken run to keep it from getting too muddy, would you think its ok to use that as mulch even though it has some chicken manure in it, or should I rather use fresh straw and add the chicken manure straw to the compost?
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would you recommend I use my chicken coop manure? Ive been doing deep litter of pine shavings over the winter and need to empty it soon, do you think I could use that to fill the bottom and then top it off with a bagged mix? I live in Colorado and we have pretty terrible soil here. I was going to use it to start off my compost pile, but if I can use it in the garden beds, that would be even better. Also, I have been using straw in my chicken run to keep it from getting too muddy, would you think its ok to use that as mulch even though it has some chicken manure in it, or should I rather use fresh straw and add the chicken manure straw to the compost?
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Violet
I really like Robbie and Gary show thats how I found you someone mentioned you and she does a lot of do it yourself quick cheap routines with plastic totes and all kinds of kitchen scraps garden scapes I really like her savings you might want to check it out she is definitely a little crazy but I like her show.
I am using her methods for my garden I live in a forest in Oregon I was from San Diego and Im overlooking a forest full of animals so I have to do everything on a deck with raised beds which will be totes with holes in them on chairs.
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I really like Robbie and Gary show thats how I found you someone mentioned you and she does a lot of do it yourself quick cheap routines with plastic totes and all kinds of kitchen scraps garden scapes I really like her savings you might want to check it out she is definitely a little crazy but I like her show.
I am using her methods for my garden I live in a forest in Oregon I was from San Diego and Im overlooking a forest full of animals so I have to do everything on a deck with raised beds which will be totes with holes in them on chairs.
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Adrian
Same idea for my 6 meter X 1. 2 meter bed. I used an old pine tree cut into rounds & backfilled with hardwood woodchips delivered for free. Here in Australia it is very hard wood but I found it started breaking down slowly over the next year & needed topping up after each crop with compost. A good thing is that it holds a lot of moisture & reduces how much I need to water. Important here with our high temps in summer. Works really well. After 2 years now when I dig down it is great looking black loamy soil that grows anything.
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Same idea for my 6 meter X 1. 2 meter bed. I used an old pine tree cut into rounds & backfilled with hardwood woodchips delivered for free. Here in Australia it is very hard wood but I found it started breaking down slowly over the next year & needed topping up after each crop with compost. A good thing is that it holds a lot of moisture & reduces how much I need to water. Important here with our high temps in summer. Works really well. After 2 years now when I dig down it is great looking black loamy soil that grows anything.
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netyote
Can you clear up some confusion for me? I've read (and heard you say it too) to watch out for wood chips in your soil because it isn't broken down yet, and the process of breaking down takes nitrogen from plants growing in it. How is putting logs and other organic material at the bottom different? Won't the filler materials start to break down and use up the nitrogen my plants need? Is the difference simply that this is happening low enough it doesn't reach the roots?
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Can you clear up some confusion for me? I've read (and heard you say it too) to watch out for wood chips in your soil because it isn't broken down yet, and the process of breaking down takes nitrogen from plants growing in it. How is putting logs and other organic material at the bottom different? Won't the filler materials start to break down and use up the nitrogen my plants need? Is the difference simply that this is happening low enough it doesn't reach the roots?
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handmade
Is it worth adding a compost accelerant to the bottom (bottled or even something like manure or dirt? Also, is it worth taking the top expensive stuff out late fall and churning the stuff on the bottom and, perhaps, if decomposed enough, adding more yard refuse to the bottom and churning some of the bottom stuff into the top? Or is it just too big of a spring task for any yield it might bring?
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Is it worth adding a compost accelerant to the bottom (bottled or even something like manure or dirt? Also, is it worth taking the top expensive stuff out late fall and churning the stuff on the bottom and, perhaps, if decomposed enough, adding more yard refuse to the bottom and churning some of the bottom stuff into the top? Or is it just too big of a spring task for any yield it might bring?
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Mike
Kevin, The Espoma raised bed mix is 29. 50 for 1. 5 CFT. I can get an Organic Garden mix from a local company which is 38 bucks for a cubic yard, its a 50 50 mix of screened topsoil and screened organic leaf compost. I have 5, 4x8 beds to fill which are 15 inches deep, I am using your method and grabbing branches etc and filling the bottom half, thanks for the info
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Kevin, The Espoma raised bed mix is 29. 50 for 1. 5 CFT. I can get an Organic Garden mix from a local company which is 38 bucks for a cubic yard, its a 50 50 mix of screened topsoil and screened organic leaf compost. I have 5, 4x8 beds to fill which are 15 inches deep, I am using your method and grabbing branches etc and filling the bottom half, thanks for the info
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Victoria
Hi there! I have a lot of pine needles and oak leaves that fell this winter. OF which they take FOREVER to decompose and the needle never will. Can I put them into my 2. 5 deep newly built wood planter? Half way up? Will anything from the OAk and Pine disturb the soil? I am using this 4x3 cypress planter for herbs, carrots, lettuce etc. THANK YOU!
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Hi there! I have a lot of pine needles and oak leaves that fell this winter. OF which they take FOREVER to decompose and the needle never will. Can I put them into my 2. 5 deep newly built wood planter? Half way up? Will anything from the OAk and Pine disturb the soil? I am using this 4x3 cypress planter for herbs, carrots, lettuce etc. THANK YOU!
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Erica
Glad I found this video! Thank you! This will save me $$. I just bought a raised bed and several people suggested filling it up halfway with plastic bottles. What is your take on this advice? I dont have a lot of organic in my yard however I can possibly gather some from elsewhere. I see some people suggested cardboard. I can try that as well.
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Glad I found this video! Thank you! This will save me $$. I just bought a raised bed and several people suggested filling it up halfway with plastic bottles. What is your take on this advice? I dont have a lot of organic in my yard however I can possibly gather some from elsewhere. I see some people suggested cardboard. I can try that as well.
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OMYTGOD
New follower here: I was watching a video by Martha Stewart and her gardener a while ago and they recommend using bubble wrap and weed barrier at the bottom of containers to 1) Help with drainage and 2) Make it easier to move containers around since bubble wrap is lighter than wood and rocks. What are your thoughts on that?
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New follower here: I was watching a video by Martha Stewart and her gardener a while ago and they recommend using bubble wrap and weed barrier at the bottom of containers to 1) Help with drainage and 2) Make it easier to move containers around since bubble wrap is lighter than wood and rocks. What are your thoughts on that?
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Chinatown
At the bottom of every container, or raised bed, I use a few inches of clay pellets. The same type that people use for aquaponics. Allows for better drainage. Sand on top of that. Along with the twigs, branches, leaves, and organic matter, I scoop on worm castings and worms to process it all.
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At the bottom of every container, or raised bed, I use a few inches of clay pellets. The same type that people use for aquaponics. Allows for better drainage. Sand on top of that. Along with the twigs, branches, leaves, and organic matter, I scoop on worm castings and worms to process it all.
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Lee
I do have a couple of 8x2x2 stock tanks I am going to use for vegetables. A couple of questions regarding prepping the tank. I am thinking of drilling holes all over the bottom, putting in a layer of rock then continuing as directed in this video. Am I on target or do you have suggestions?
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I do have a couple of 8x2x2 stock tanks I am going to use for vegetables. A couple of questions regarding prepping the tank. I am thinking of drilling holes all over the bottom, putting in a layer of rock then continuing as directed in this video. Am I on target or do you have suggestions?
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He
The only problem with putting logs, wood products in this bed, if it is close to your home, you are building a buffet for termites. If you use wood products make sure it is well away from any wooden structure, because termites when they finish off the logs, their next step is your home
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The only problem with putting logs, wood products in this bed, if it is close to your home, you are building a buffet for termites. If you use wood products make sure it is well away from any wooden structure, because termites when they finish off the logs, their next step is your home
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