# Raised Bed and Garden under construction



## Danny O

We still have some work to do: stabilize the sides, add growers mix, get more sunlight, plant some veggies, irrigation, dog proof it, etc.

It's 225 sqft (15x15) made with 30 cedar pickets and 1 cedar 4x4. $85 of wood plus screws. It's on a slant, but I have it fairly level. Only took 4 hours. I had grand plans of 18 foot long cedar 2x6's, but it was a little pricey. 

Hope this works for us.


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## Gator gar

Too bad you didn't compost all those fish remains last year. Would have added some good growing medium to that raised bed. Looking good so far though.


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## w_r_ranch

Are you going to irrigate it??? If so, now is the time to do it.

Looks great so far!!!


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## coxhaus

It looks great. Do you think you are going to get 6 hours of sunlight for the garden? It looks a little shady for a vegatable garden.


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## Danny O

Thanks Mark

Ranch, we are probably going to use a poor man's irrigation (i.e. soaker hoses) on the surface near the base of the plants. Any other suggestions?

Cox, that is still on my to-do list. I've been watching the sun, and trying to figure out which tree or two to remove. We've removed a bunch already, and grass was starting to grow in certain areas. I'm not going to get early sun, but I could get high-noon and late sun. It's just the cards that I've been dealt.


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## w_r_ranch

Danny O said:


> Thanks Mark
> 
> Ranch, we are probably going to use a poor man's irrigation (i.e. soaker hoses) on the surface near the base of the plants. Any other suggestions?


Nothing wrong with soaker hoses, as long as you don't have hard water (like we do). I installed PVC pipe/risers/sprinkler heads when we were building due ours to well having hard water... It didn't cost much at the time & has been a real time/money saver. Given the size of your of your garden, I imagine the cost differential would be minimal (although I must admit that I no longer know what a soaker hose costs nowadays). Just something to consider because I know it sucks adding them after-the-fact.

That only downside of a system with risers is that you're at the mercy of the wind. We normally just irrigate after supper since the wind is laying down by then & the leaves still have plenty of time to dry...

Just my 2 cents.


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## Meadowlark

Looks like a great use of 4 hours work, Danny. You will just have to try various veggies to see which ones work out ok in the limited sunlight. Plants like okra probably will have trouble, but others may not. For example, I always plant my tomatoes where they will get late afternoon shade and they produce much longer as a result. 

Should make an excellent winter gardening spot when the trees drop their leaves.


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## Blue.dog

Too much shade from the picture.
That was the first thing that I thought.
However, you will figure it out.

The plants have to have the sunlight to grow. pure and simple.
Great for the winter garden, if you have a bunch of hardwood trees.
If pines are your shade, they keep their needles year round.

Good luck,
B.D


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## Danny O

4-1 UPDATE: 
Found a better spot with more sun, unscrewed a few screws, moved the bed, took down one small tree, and prepped 2 rows so far. Bought some veggies, which will go in tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestions!


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## wish2fish

It seems a little too big to be able to reach across. I guess you plan to just walk inside it to pick your crop. I just started my own but only 4'x4' so I could reach into the middle. I am doing the square foot gardening and will probably do more plots so I would end up with something as large as yours. 

It may be too late for tomatoes unless you can find some pretty big ones that already have flowers/fruit. Last year I got one tomato before it got too hot  and it seems like it is getting hot earlier this year than last. Please post some pics when it gets going, I bet it is going to turn out real nice.


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## Danny O

4-6-12 UPDATE:

Here is our rookie garden with tomatoes, peppers, green beans, corn, cucumbers and squash. There is extra space on every other row, so we can get the produce. In fact, we already expanded the garden (pic 2). There is never enough room. We also bought onions at the feed store, but realized it was too late to plant them. Nonetheless, we planted some in the expansion space to see what happens. Still need to add water system to the whole garden. Lastly, one of the panels will drop to the ground to access the garden.


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## Danny O

4-15-12 UPDATE

Garden seems to be doing well. It's a little shady today due to the approaching storm, but sunlight seems to be sufficient in this spot. I'm glad we moved it from the initial location. We added 4 spray heads from a zone on our exisiting sprinkler system, which means we couldn't use soaker hoses. The garden gets 10 minutes 3 times a week, plus rain or hand watering as needed. The second pic is Blue Lake bush beans per the recommendation of Meadowlark. We planted the seeds 9 days ago, and they are doing well. Thanks


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## Meadowlark

Looking good, very good. 

Now comes the hardest part of gardening....watching as Mother Nature throws her storms and other tricks at us. Speaking of which...we have one on its way now.

Keep us posted.


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## FISHROADIE

Very nice garden.


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## Danny O

4-28-12

2nd pic - corn at the bottom, green beans on the right, cucumber on the left.


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## txdougman

NICE JOB! LOOKING GOOD.:clover:


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## RAYSOR

If u see me in your garden DannyO, don't shoot. Lol


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## Danny O

RAYSOR said:


> If u see me in your garden DannyO, don't shoot. Lol


Beware of dogs, they probably won't bite!! Just kidding, we'll have more than enough for the neighbors. When are you cooking crab legs again???

We have some 2-year old jalepeno and bells pepper plants that are exploding. They are located near our house. We haven't harvested them enough, and we had 100 bells and 200 japs. The bells started to look like green pumpkins because they were starving for nutrients, and the japs were turning red too soon. We just cut off 50% of the bell peppers, so the rest will grow better. Culled a bunch of jalepenos as well.


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## Meadowlark

I hope you like peppers!! Good work!


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## Danny O

Coming up on 3 weeks since the last update, so here is the latest....

cherry tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, cucumbers, squash, corn with silk, and patio tomatoes in a trough near our house.


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## Danny O

Ignore yesterday's squash picture. I found this bad boy hiding in there.


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## RAYSOR

Looks like you are going to give Randy Lemmon a run for his money


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## wish2fish

We have the same granite counters :tongue:


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## Danny O

I need to do a little research on making pickles.

Raysor,
Let me know if you want some goodies. Tomatoes may take a little longer to get some good quantities. I see lots of green ones now.


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## Meadowlark

Remind me and I'll give you a jar of "bread and butter" pickles. Very easy to make and very tasty.


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## Danny O

My family and visitors ate all of the squash while I was at the local auction last night. Got home at 9ish and none left  

Here's a pic of today's harvest. We probably let one cucumber go too long (9.5" by 2"). It was hiding in the jungle. Picked the first banana pepper, and 2 more mammoth jalepenos. The other smaller japs and bells are from our 2-old plants in our cattle troughs.

Now that our garden is prospering, I'm starting to think of ways to re-arrange these plants next year. I thought our rows were fairly wide, but the Squash and Cucumber plants are attacking my corn and green beans. Definitely going to have to cut back the number of Squash/Cucumber, and add more corn and green beans. Probably have too many tomato plants too.


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## Danny O

Today's harvest pic. Cucumbers are blowing up all over the place. We have a ton of green tomatoes that hopefully ripen up soon.


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## jamesvaughan

*heres my garden*

8x16


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## peckerwood

Danny O,I've been gardening all my life(59 yrs.),and as a kid,that's where probably 80 percent of our food came from,so I've seen lots of big and beautiful gardens.I'd like to say your really on to something.That raised bed garden of yours is wonderful.You done a great job,and the way you took the advise and moved it to a place with more sun is admirable.I'm thinking raised bed is the only way to go.


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## mas360

Danny O said:


> 4-15-12 UPDATE
> 
> Garden seems to be doing well. It's a little shady today due to the approaching storm, but sunlight seems to be sufficient in this spot. I'm glad we moved it from the initial location. We added 4 spray heads from a zone on our exisiting sprinkler system, which means we couldn't use soaker hoses. The garden gets 10 minutes 3 times a week, plus rain or hand watering as needed. The second pic is Blue Lake bush beans per the recommendation of Meadowlark. We planted the seeds 9 days ago, and they are doing well. Thanks


I am wondering what is the purpose of the wooden walls in this picture. It does not seem to provide any service to the plant/soil.


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## Blue.dog

Feels good to go out there and look and harvest
the fruits of your labor, doesn't it


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