Raised bed garden built from cardboard?
July 2, 2015 12:44 PM Subscribe
My sister and I are trying to figure out how to do raised bed gardening on the extremely cheap. I have proposed building the beds out of the cardboard boxes left over from our recent move. What are the likely consequences of this plan, and do you have a better and/or cheaper option?
We want to build at least two garden beds for next year. We are basically looking for the best improvement over "just pile up some dirt and plant things in it" that we can manage. Our main enemies in the current environment are weeds - we have spotted some rabbits, but they haven't eaten anything that's managed to survive the dandelion invasion.
The beds would either be 4' x 8' rectangles or 6' keyholes (that debate will be part of a future Ask, I suspect.) We want them to be between 24" and 40" high.
Our budget is extremely limited because all "gardening" money is coming from our food budget - the upper limit for everything (dirt and fertilizer and tomato cages and seeds and etc.) is probably around $200. This more or less rules out using concrete blocks, based on the prices I'm seeing (my guess is that it'd take at least 80 16"x 8"x 8" blocks to build two beds, and I haven't found blocks for less than $1.50.)
The only objects we have on hand that seem like potential construction materials are a gazillion cardboard boxes: banker's boxes, copy paper boxes, produce boxes from Sam's Club and GFS, and pretty much every kind of package that Amazon has ever shipped a thing in. We also have a lot of IKEA furniture that's being used to hold things like food and TVs off the floor, and a lot of books that I refuse to turn into worm food. Oh, and on average we obtain about a pound of compostable paper (newsprint, etc.) every three or four days because I literally cannot get them to stop bringing us this crap in the mail.
I see at least three ways we could use the extraordinary amount of cardboard we have:
We also have the option of "shoring up" the outside perimeter with rabbit fencing or rebar or something, and we have quite a few trashbags that could in theory be used to line the exterior as well. Heck, if we get to spend $0 on the walls, I'm even willing to consider investing in some twine to hold it all in. If it's easy and it's incredibly cheap, our minds are open.
Other considerations:
Using the cardboard boxes like bricks also means we don't have to spend time flattening them, and if we use all the cardboard up we get to skip making about nine trips to the local recycling center to get rid of all these freaking boxes.
We want to build at least two garden beds for next year. We are basically looking for the best improvement over "just pile up some dirt and plant things in it" that we can manage. Our main enemies in the current environment are weeds - we have spotted some rabbits, but they haven't eaten anything that's managed to survive the dandelion invasion.
The beds would either be 4' x 8' rectangles or 6' keyholes (that debate will be part of a future Ask, I suspect.) We want them to be between 24" and 40" high.
Our budget is extremely limited because all "gardening" money is coming from our food budget - the upper limit for everything (dirt and fertilizer and tomato cages and seeds and etc.) is probably around $200. This more or less rules out using concrete blocks, based on the prices I'm seeing (my guess is that it'd take at least 80 16"x 8"x 8" blocks to build two beds, and I haven't found blocks for less than $1.50.)
The only objects we have on hand that seem like potential construction materials are a gazillion cardboard boxes: banker's boxes, copy paper boxes, produce boxes from Sam's Club and GFS, and pretty much every kind of package that Amazon has ever shipped a thing in. We also have a lot of IKEA furniture that's being used to hold things like food and TVs off the floor, and a lot of books that I refuse to turn into worm food. Oh, and on average we obtain about a pound of compostable paper (newsprint, etc.) every three or four days because I literally cannot get them to stop bringing us this crap in the mail.
I see at least three ways we could use the extraordinary amount of cardboard we have:
- Flatten the boxes and use them to create external walls for great big beds of dirt
- Fill the boxes with dirt and stack them up on one another like bricks or sandbags - making essentially the entire bed out of boxes of dirt
- Flatten the boxes and pile them up tall, and then cover it all with dirt, ala hugelkutur (or alternatively, alternating cardboard and dirt in some fashion.)
We also have the option of "shoring up" the outside perimeter with rabbit fencing or rebar or something, and we have quite a few trashbags that could in theory be used to line the exterior as well. Heck, if we get to spend $0 on the walls, I'm even willing to consider investing in some twine to hold it all in. If it's easy and it's incredibly cheap, our minds are open.
Other considerations:
- We are OK with having to rebuild it all in two years' time; we are not OK with having to rebuild it halfway through the first growing season.
- We are moderately concerned about "purity" and the avoidance of chemicals - that is, we're not "organic" and we lack the self-discipline and endurance necessary to compost properly, but we do plan on removing packing tape from the boxes before using them.
- My health and my sister's time constraints mean that more complicated construction techniques are a no-go.
Using the cardboard boxes like bricks also means we don't have to spend time flattening them, and if we use all the cardboard up we get to skip making about nine trips to the local recycling center to get rid of all these freaking boxes.
Response by poster: The only reason for the height is to make it easy to reach for a human and hard to reach for a rabbit. If we had a bunch of tables we'd consider just building the beds on top of those.
posted by SMPA at 12:56 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by SMPA at 12:56 PM on July 2, 2015
Forget the cardboard boxes. You have absolutely no chance with those. They might survive contact with dry soil for a while in a desert climate, but the moment you add water, you have mush. And presumably you want to water your plants.
When I built my first lot of raised beds, I used old scaffolding boards. I just phoned around a few local scaffolding companies asking if they'd be willing to sell me some boards that were no longer fit for their use. This turned out to be a fairly cheap option (at least compared with new timber). The wood lasted around two years in a temperate climate.
Things like old tyres/tires might also be an option. If you want to go down the 'sandbag' route, you'll need something to contain the soil that will resist moisture and sunlight. Again, cardboard is not that thing.
posted by pipeski at 12:56 PM on July 2, 2015 [7 favorites]
When I built my first lot of raised beds, I used old scaffolding boards. I just phoned around a few local scaffolding companies asking if they'd be willing to sell me some boards that were no longer fit for their use. This turned out to be a fairly cheap option (at least compared with new timber). The wood lasted around two years in a temperate climate.
Things like old tyres/tires might also be an option. If you want to go down the 'sandbag' route, you'll need something to contain the soil that will resist moisture and sunlight. Again, cardboard is not that thing.
posted by pipeski at 12:56 PM on July 2, 2015 [7 favorites]
We used 1x6" cedar fence pickets (stacked 3 high with 2x2 stakes in the corners) for ours, and they've held up well for 2 years so far. The pickets were much cheaper than regular lumber, but if new wood is out of your price range, look on craigslist and/or freecycle for people throwing away old fences.
posted by bradf at 1:00 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by bradf at 1:00 PM on July 2, 2015
I built my raised beds out of 5/8" x 5 1/2" x 6 ' cedar fence pickets with 4x4s in the corners. They are 4'x8' and are two fence picket widths high.
I cut the pickets into 2' and 4' lengths when needed for the sides, and in the interior cut some 1' pieces to securely connect the stacked sides.
Obviously, not the 24" height you'd prefer, but they cost less than $25 to build. After 3 years, they're mostly holding up, with some sides bulging.
posted by ShooBoo at 1:01 PM on July 2, 2015
I cut the pickets into 2' and 4' lengths when needed for the sides, and in the interior cut some 1' pieces to securely connect the stacked sides.
Obviously, not the 24" height you'd prefer, but they cost less than $25 to build. After 3 years, they're mostly holding up, with some sides bulging.
posted by ShooBoo at 1:01 PM on July 2, 2015
Cardboard is going to lose all structural integrity as soon as it gets wet, so as soon as you start watering (or it rains) your beds will collapse, especially at 2' to 4' high. Instead, I think you should look elsewhere for construction materials and flatten the boxes for use as mulch. This is absolutely your best cardboard bang for the buck in terms of weed prevention. If you don't like the look of cardboard box mulch you can cover it with straw, grass clippings, or pretty much any other finely divided organic material.
Honestly, I'm a big fan of the "pile up the dirt" method, but I understand that if you're reclaiming land that was previously planted with grass, this can be an uphill battle for the first few years. So, another thing you can do with cardboard: flatten out the boxes and cover up the spot where you want next year's plot to be. Double up anywhere two sheets meet, wet it down with the hose (or a thunderstorm) and weight it down with whatever organic material you have on hand: leaves, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, teabags, grass clippings, weeds (if you catch them before they go to seed) etc. If you have mulch which you suspect of containing weed seeds you may be better off adding it to a more conventional hot/aerobic compost pile.
posted by pullayup at 1:01 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Honestly, I'm a big fan of the "pile up the dirt" method, but I understand that if you're reclaiming land that was previously planted with grass, this can be an uphill battle for the first few years. So, another thing you can do with cardboard: flatten out the boxes and cover up the spot where you want next year's plot to be. Double up anywhere two sheets meet, wet it down with the hose (or a thunderstorm) and weight it down with whatever organic material you have on hand: leaves, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, teabags, grass clippings, weeds (if you catch them before they go to seed) etc. If you have mulch which you suspect of containing weed seeds you may be better off adding it to a more conventional hot/aerobic compost pile.
posted by pullayup at 1:01 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I agree, cardboard will never last a couple of years, if even a season. If you live somewhere where it will snow in the winter, in the spring thaw you will have a mess.
What about going to the local dump and perusing their hard materials section? Ours has a section where people throw old furniture, appliances, metal, etc. If you are not concerned with aesthetics, you can probably haul away for free someone else's trash to build raised beds.
Wooden pallets -- where I live, if you drive around businesses long enough, you can always find someone getting rid of wooden pallets.
posted by archimago at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
What about going to the local dump and perusing their hard materials section? Ours has a section where people throw old furniture, appliances, metal, etc. If you are not concerned with aesthetics, you can probably haul away for free someone else's trash to build raised beds.
Wooden pallets -- where I live, if you drive around businesses long enough, you can always find someone getting rid of wooden pallets.
posted by archimago at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Our budget is extremely limited because all "gardening" money is coming from our food budget
This is a bad idea, you won't quite get the returns as if you just purchase the items from a store; farming is an economy of scale. Its a great hobby, but you're most likely not going to be saving a ton of money on it. You might want to rethink your plan if its to be a cost saving mechanism.
As for raised beds: you don't need walls to make raised beds, especially this late in the season; just make dirt piles, that are roughly square and mound the dirt up into the desired growing area. With warmer summers expected over most of the country, they're really unnecessary; their main advantage is that you can plant a little earlier, as the soil in your raised bed is a bit warmer than the rest of your ambient earth. Its so late in the gardening season already that you're probably fine just planting things on the regular leveled earth; no need for more topsoil unless yours is just clay or garbage or rocks or something, even then I'd just cut the existing soil with some good nursery bought fertilizer. If you feel the need to contain the piles, I would scout the neighborhood for some rocks (craigslist is great for this).
Raised beds are actually harder to weed effectively too; the border between whatever your wall is and the dirt makes for a rather good hiding spot for weeds to live and grow. If your main concern is rabbits…those guys are not going to be deterred by a couple of feet of raised bed. And you're going to blow much more than $200 bucks filling up that area with quality dirt. You'd be better off spending that cash on making little wire fences just to keep the rabbits out. Chicken wire and stakes are both very cheap.
Cardboard really isn't a good idea; it decomposes and rots very, very quickly. One solid rain, and you're going to lose your walls. I mean, they suggest the use of use cardboard in home composting. A garden-building material it is not.
We typically just grow everything in tilled earth, surrounded by burlap bags (typically found in great quantity for free at your local coffee roastery) on every edge. This keeps anything from encroaching on the bed, and is super low maintenance and construction.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2015 [12 favorites]
This is a bad idea, you won't quite get the returns as if you just purchase the items from a store; farming is an economy of scale. Its a great hobby, but you're most likely not going to be saving a ton of money on it. You might want to rethink your plan if its to be a cost saving mechanism.
As for raised beds: you don't need walls to make raised beds, especially this late in the season; just make dirt piles, that are roughly square and mound the dirt up into the desired growing area. With warmer summers expected over most of the country, they're really unnecessary; their main advantage is that you can plant a little earlier, as the soil in your raised bed is a bit warmer than the rest of your ambient earth. Its so late in the gardening season already that you're probably fine just planting things on the regular leveled earth; no need for more topsoil unless yours is just clay or garbage or rocks or something, even then I'd just cut the existing soil with some good nursery bought fertilizer. If you feel the need to contain the piles, I would scout the neighborhood for some rocks (craigslist is great for this).
Raised beds are actually harder to weed effectively too; the border between whatever your wall is and the dirt makes for a rather good hiding spot for weeds to live and grow. If your main concern is rabbits…those guys are not going to be deterred by a couple of feet of raised bed. And you're going to blow much more than $200 bucks filling up that area with quality dirt. You'd be better off spending that cash on making little wire fences just to keep the rabbits out. Chicken wire and stakes are both very cheap.
Cardboard really isn't a good idea; it decomposes and rots very, very quickly. One solid rain, and you're going to lose your walls. I mean, they suggest the use of use cardboard in home composting. A garden-building material it is not.
We typically just grow everything in tilled earth, surrounded by burlap bags (typically found in great quantity for free at your local coffee roastery) on every edge. This keeps anything from encroaching on the bed, and is super low maintenance and construction.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2015 [12 favorites]
Probably too late in the season for this year, but plan now to make Potato Towers next spring. (No cardboard!)
posted by anastasiav at 1:05 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by anastasiav at 1:05 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Stop it with the cardboard. Seriously? Have you seen what happens when you water paper? Two or three watering cycles + moist soil = mounds of soil with falling-apart cardboard on the outside. Lined with a garbage bag? You're trying to re-invent the wheel with ridiculous scenarios here.
Several places where you can look for free or cheap materials including lumber, concrete blocks, bricks, stones, soil, and even planters.
1. Craigslist
2. Depending on where you are, sign up for NextDoor if you're in the US - it's a social network app for neighborhoods and has quite a good following in my area. People post wish-lists there all the time and I'm shocked at what people have and are willing to offload onto desiring neighbors.
3. Freecycle - they have a format for posting wishlist items, and make sure you follow that or your message will not be approved.
4. Facebook - your own profile, and local groups.
5. Walk by construction sites and see if they have any materials to give away. Ask if you can speak with the supervisor on site and they sometimes have GOBS of material to give away. You will want to make sure it's not super contaminated wood, but if it's plain lumber or stones, you should be fine.
posted by barnone at 1:07 PM on July 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Several places where you can look for free or cheap materials including lumber, concrete blocks, bricks, stones, soil, and even planters.
1. Craigslist
2. Depending on where you are, sign up for NextDoor if you're in the US - it's a social network app for neighborhoods and has quite a good following in my area. People post wish-lists there all the time and I'm shocked at what people have and are willing to offload onto desiring neighbors.
3. Freecycle - they have a format for posting wishlist items, and make sure you follow that or your message will not be approved.
4. Facebook - your own profile, and local groups.
5. Walk by construction sites and see if they have any materials to give away. Ask if you can speak with the supervisor on site and they sometimes have GOBS of material to give away. You will want to make sure it's not super contaminated wood, but if it's plain lumber or stones, you should be fine.
posted by barnone at 1:07 PM on July 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
We just built 10 raised beds in our backyard made entirely of pallets. They are free. We found unstained ones and sanded them down to just plain wood. Just find some stacked somewhere at a store or business and ask to make sure you can take a few.
We also just made two gorgeous Adirondack chairs using free lumber (nice cedar!) from the cast off and waiting to be chipped up pile at our local lumber yard. Just go inside and ask nicely if you can have some wood to make a raised garden bed.
posted by the webmistress at 1:26 PM on July 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
We also just made two gorgeous Adirondack chairs using free lumber (nice cedar!) from the cast off and waiting to be chipped up pile at our local lumber yard. Just go inside and ask nicely if you can have some wood to make a raised garden bed.
posted by the webmistress at 1:26 PM on July 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Wooden pallets -- where I live, if you drive around businesses long enough, you can always find someone getting rid of wooden pallets.
I am an avid pallet reuser, but certain pallets can have some scary shit on them. I wouldn't suggest that you use pallets, unless you're absolutely sure they're free of nasties. There are various guides online on how to do this; one of the better ones. If the OP is concerned about tape on boxes, most pallets are going to be far more contaminated than packing tape. Just telling people to use pallets to grow food in is a little closer to irresponsible than not.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:26 PM on July 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
I am an avid pallet reuser, but certain pallets can have some scary shit on them. I wouldn't suggest that you use pallets, unless you're absolutely sure they're free of nasties. There are various guides online on how to do this; one of the better ones. If the OP is concerned about tape on boxes, most pallets are going to be far more contaminated than packing tape. Just telling people to use pallets to grow food in is a little closer to irresponsible than not.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:26 PM on July 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: For what it's worth, I actually did look for free materials before posting this question. We're in a very rural area with almost no new construction, unless you count the demolition of the movie theater that got burned out in 1993 and no one's touched since. I can in fact currently picture both of the active construction sites within a six-mile radius of my house, and they are both house-sized.
However the consensus seems to be that a mound of cardboard is functionally equivalent to a dirt pile, so I think it's time to revisit our stance on dirt piles.
(Our existing garden has saved more money than it cost, by the way - the lettuce alone paid for itself, the tomatoes, and the strawberries, and the tomatoes haven't actually started yet. This may be because fresh foods are really expensive here or because we seriously spent next to nothing beyond the seeds.)
posted by SMPA at 1:26 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
However the consensus seems to be that a mound of cardboard is functionally equivalent to a dirt pile, so I think it's time to revisit our stance on dirt piles.
(Our existing garden has saved more money than it cost, by the way - the lettuce alone paid for itself, the tomatoes, and the strawberries, and the tomatoes haven't actually started yet. This may be because fresh foods are really expensive here or because we seriously spent next to nothing beyond the seeds.)
posted by SMPA at 1:26 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Check if there's a community garden near you. I joined mine for $50 and got an already raised bed full of dirt and the whole place already fenced in, with hoses to share. I had to buy seeds (but many gardeners shared their extras), and stakes.
posted by xo at 1:27 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by xo at 1:27 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Other unconventional, cheap-ish raised or semi-raised bed materials I have used (I used to work for a community gardening nonprofit):
1. Bales of straw, either as the edge of the bed or to plant in directly; will probably only last a season but provide lots of great mulch once they begin to break down. Can be inexpensive if you find a farmer to purchase from directly, check Craigslist. If you live in an area where most straw is sold to people who have livestock, you may be able to get moldy straw, which is fine for beds and mulch, for a song.
2. Cement/cinder block reclaimed from a demolition site
3. Wood from pallets too broken up for their intended use
4. Other scrap lumber in general; watch out for paint, which may contain lead if it's older than you are
5. Nothing: seriously, just make dirt piles with troughs in between to walk in; mulch the piles heavily to keep down weeds, and step on anything that tries to grow in the troughs
6. Large, straight tree trunks, if you know someone handy with a chainsaw
7. Used food-grade 55 gallon plastic drums with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage. May be expensive depending on the local market for this kind of thing. I generally can't recommend plastics for extended outdoor use as UV light degrades them and they fall apart after a few years, but these seem like they hold up ok.
8. Galvanized tubs/bins/garbage cans discarded because of holes or other damage; make sure they'll drain water and add holes if they won't.
Free bed building materials I avoid:
1. Plywood and chipboard of all kinds, for two reasons: also tends to sag or fall apart when it's wet, may be made with unsavory binders
2. Limbs, branches, small trees, etc: tend to actually create a weed problem because the irregular shape creates nooks and crannies that are actually harder to mulch around and weed; you have to clean up around them by hand or with a string trimmer/weed whacker
3. Rocks and irregular rubble ("urbanite"): creates a weeding problem similar to tree branches
posted by pullayup at 1:27 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
1. Bales of straw, either as the edge of the bed or to plant in directly; will probably only last a season but provide lots of great mulch once they begin to break down. Can be inexpensive if you find a farmer to purchase from directly, check Craigslist. If you live in an area where most straw is sold to people who have livestock, you may be able to get moldy straw, which is fine for beds and mulch, for a song.
2. Cement/cinder block reclaimed from a demolition site
3. Wood from pallets too broken up for their intended use
4. Other scrap lumber in general; watch out for paint, which may contain lead if it's older than you are
5. Nothing: seriously, just make dirt piles with troughs in between to walk in; mulch the piles heavily to keep down weeds, and step on anything that tries to grow in the troughs
6. Large, straight tree trunks, if you know someone handy with a chainsaw
7. Used food-grade 55 gallon plastic drums with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage. May be expensive depending on the local market for this kind of thing. I generally can't recommend plastics for extended outdoor use as UV light degrades them and they fall apart after a few years, but these seem like they hold up ok.
8. Galvanized tubs/bins/garbage cans discarded because of holes or other damage; make sure they'll drain water and add holes if they won't.
Free bed building materials I avoid:
1. Plywood and chipboard of all kinds, for two reasons: also tends to sag or fall apart when it's wet, may be made with unsavory binders
2. Limbs, branches, small trees, etc: tend to actually create a weed problem because the irregular shape creates nooks and crannies that are actually harder to mulch around and weed; you have to clean up around them by hand or with a string trimmer/weed whacker
3. Rocks and irregular rubble ("urbanite"): creates a weeding problem similar to tree branches
posted by pullayup at 1:27 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
So have you considered the cost of the dirt for these raised beds, which may well be another expense, if you are having them off the ground they are basically giant pots so you can't just shovel garden dirt in?
Unless they need to be raised because of physical restrictions would really be better off putting in sweat equity and planting straight into the ground. Specially as you have a restricted budget. You can use the cardboard then to smother the weeds by putting it around the plants. It will breakdown & improve your soil, though you will have to water at the base of your plant for a while until it starts to break down. You could also put cardboard boxes around or over plants at night if rabbits are a concern.
If you have access to compost, making your own is possible though it's a little more work than people thing but it works out cheap then, you can simply do garden piles for the want of a better word, but that really only needs to be done if you need to improve drainage.
posted by wwax at 1:34 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Unless they need to be raised because of physical restrictions would really be better off putting in sweat equity and planting straight into the ground. Specially as you have a restricted budget. You can use the cardboard then to smother the weeds by putting it around the plants. It will breakdown & improve your soil, though you will have to water at the base of your plant for a while until it starts to break down. You could also put cardboard boxes around or over plants at night if rabbits are a concern.
If you have access to compost, making your own is possible though it's a little more work than people thing but it works out cheap then, you can simply do garden piles for the want of a better word, but that really only needs to be done if you need to improve drainage.
posted by wwax at 1:34 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
I should add that furnace.heart's pallet identification link is required reading if you're using discarded pallets. If I recall correctly we got ours from a trusted source, and I forgot about the (very legitimate!) concerns about treated pallets.
posted by pullayup at 1:40 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by pullayup at 1:40 PM on July 2, 2015
Your local Craigslist has plenty of bricks, concrete blocks and lumber for free periodically. I just checked. See also: your local freecycle.
PS: You want shallower beds, raised off the ground if necessary, because the depth of soil you are imagining will eat your budget.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:44 PM on July 2, 2015
PS: You want shallower beds, raised off the ground if necessary, because the depth of soil you are imagining will eat your budget.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:44 PM on July 2, 2015
All of this is good. We've also used discarded rubber-maids (with holes drilled for drainage) with great results especially for tomatoes.
posted by stormygrey at 1:51 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by stormygrey at 1:51 PM on July 2, 2015
Are you filling the beds with local soil from your yard, or purchasing soil? If local, unless you have a problem with poor drainage I would just plant in the ground. Save money, time, water. I know you are concerned about rabbits, but any bunny worthy of the name can get into a 40" tall bed. Get a small stool to sit on while working and you're all set. If you must have raised beds, you will need a huge amount of soil to fill them- we have 24 inch high beds (lead in soil reasons), but the bottom third is filled with lava rock because we didn't want to purchase or shift as many bags of soil. It means watering a bit more often as there is not as much room for roots to go deep (there is landscaping fabric between the layers, as we may move the beds in the future and would like to keep the media mostly separate at this point), so maybe some day that will change.
At any rate, cardboard in gardening is iffy, because it's decomposition takes a huge amount of nitrogen out of the soil matrix. However I actually think that you could flatten the boxes and shore them up with cord and perhaps a post at the corners and they would be fine for a season- cardboard doesn't actually decompose that fast if it's flat and exposed on one side. You may find yourself having to reinforce it with more layers of cardboard, but that doesn't seem difficult. However in a rural area you may be able to get straw bales for 5-10 bucks each, and they make a fine raised bed that you can sit on and eventually grow mushrooms in or compost.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:07 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
At any rate, cardboard in gardening is iffy, because it's decomposition takes a huge amount of nitrogen out of the soil matrix. However I actually think that you could flatten the boxes and shore them up with cord and perhaps a post at the corners and they would be fine for a season- cardboard doesn't actually decompose that fast if it's flat and exposed on one side. You may find yourself having to reinforce it with more layers of cardboard, but that doesn't seem difficult. However in a rural area you may be able to get straw bales for 5-10 bucks each, and they make a fine raised bed that you can sit on and eventually grow mushrooms in or compost.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:07 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was going to say: why do you have to have raised beds? Every garden I've ever grown in was dirt level and it's worked out fine. (I know raised beds are fashionable, but they certainly aren't going to deter rabbits or any other critter that wants to eat your food.)
You'll need to loosen all the soil and for that I recommend a sturdy pitchfork. Other than that, spend your money on seeds, seedlings, a good hose, sprayer and a sprinkler so you don't have to stand outside the entire time you're watering.
posted by purple_bird at 2:18 PM on July 2, 2015
You'll need to loosen all the soil and for that I recommend a sturdy pitchfork. Other than that, spend your money on seeds, seedlings, a good hose, sprayer and a sprinkler so you don't have to stand outside the entire time you're watering.
posted by purple_bird at 2:18 PM on July 2, 2015
Have you heard about lasagna gardening?
We just moved into a new place and I was planning to till and plant our old, overgrown garden. Someone clued me in about lasagna gardening instead, so I decided to give it a try. I bought a few bags of dirt (cheap), got seedings from the supermarket (also cheap, though you might be a bit late in the season for that), and used old leaves found elsewhere in my yard for mulch. I laid down cardboard over the weeds and soaked it with a hose, then tore holes in the cardboard and plopped the seedlings inside. Piled dirt around it and laid leaves overtop.
I watered the garden twice but have otherwise left it alone. My rows are too close, and the half of the garden that I didn't cover in cardboard is a weedy mess, but I haven't had to weed the plants themselves once and I already have gotten a great pepper crop and have a ton of tomatoes that are just about ripe. I have never successfully grown either before, despite tons of work weeding and tilling. This method is also known as "no-work gardening" (google "Ruth Stout") and it seems pretty true for me. Never going to garden any other way.
Oh, and for borders, the previous owners has staked chicken wire with various sticks that I assume they found around the yard. The only time our resident bunnies and deer have gotten in were when I forgot to close our wire "gate."
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:32 PM on July 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
We just moved into a new place and I was planning to till and plant our old, overgrown garden. Someone clued me in about lasagna gardening instead, so I decided to give it a try. I bought a few bags of dirt (cheap), got seedings from the supermarket (also cheap, though you might be a bit late in the season for that), and used old leaves found elsewhere in my yard for mulch. I laid down cardboard over the weeds and soaked it with a hose, then tore holes in the cardboard and plopped the seedlings inside. Piled dirt around it and laid leaves overtop.
I watered the garden twice but have otherwise left it alone. My rows are too close, and the half of the garden that I didn't cover in cardboard is a weedy mess, but I haven't had to weed the plants themselves once and I already have gotten a great pepper crop and have a ton of tomatoes that are just about ripe. I have never successfully grown either before, despite tons of work weeding and tilling. This method is also known as "no-work gardening" (google "Ruth Stout") and it seems pretty true for me. Never going to garden any other way.
Oh, and for borders, the previous owners has staked chicken wire with various sticks that I assume they found around the yard. The only time our resident bunnies and deer have gotten in were when I forgot to close our wire "gate."
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:32 PM on July 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
I cannot say enough good things about these planters.
Each one holds about 2cf of garden soil, I don't use the covers because they're too fiddly but it's completely off the ground so there's almost no pests, weeds come out like nothing, you don't lose dirt out of them, you can move them if you have dramatically different spring/summer/fall light.
I've had mine for 3 years in the California sun and aside from bowing slightly they're still completely intact and show no sign of giving up. I have some cheap Dollar Store "garden fence" around a couple of mine that the dogs seemed determine to bother, but other than them my only real pest is the birds who sit on my tomato cage and shit.
You can more or less treat them like 2 square feet, from a Square Foot Gardening perspective, though my one caveat is that you can really only put one very-large plant in each one, accompanied by smaller companions, or they just compete too hard for resources. So one big tomato plant and then herbs, or one cucumber and beans, or two mini eggplants.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:46 PM on July 2, 2015
Each one holds about 2cf of garden soil, I don't use the covers because they're too fiddly but it's completely off the ground so there's almost no pests, weeds come out like nothing, you don't lose dirt out of them, you can move them if you have dramatically different spring/summer/fall light.
I've had mine for 3 years in the California sun and aside from bowing slightly they're still completely intact and show no sign of giving up. I have some cheap Dollar Store "garden fence" around a couple of mine that the dogs seemed determine to bother, but other than them my only real pest is the birds who sit on my tomato cage and shit.
You can more or less treat them like 2 square feet, from a Square Foot Gardening perspective, though my one caveat is that you can really only put one very-large plant in each one, accompanied by smaller companions, or they just compete too hard for resources. So one big tomato plant and then herbs, or one cucumber and beans, or two mini eggplants.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:46 PM on July 2, 2015
A friend of mine used dresser drawers she found in the alley. Look around garage sales or on garbage day?
posted by jeweled accumulation at 2:55 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by jeweled accumulation at 2:55 PM on July 2, 2015
Visit your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore for low-cost building supplies of all kinds.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:02 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:02 PM on July 2, 2015
Are you set on having actual confined garden boxes? Or are you just looking to have a deeper bed of better soil? You might take a look at hugelkultur.
Oh dammit. Never mind. I should really read all the way through the question before answering.
posted by Beti at 3:06 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh dammit. Never mind. I should really read all the way through the question before answering.
posted by Beti at 3:06 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
See if Chip Drop has reached your neck of the woods yet. If not, contact your local arborist and see if they have any wood chips they'd like to get rid of.
posted by aniola at 3:54 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by aniola at 3:54 PM on July 2, 2015
If your existing soil is good, so you wouldn't really _need_ raised beds, and if you're willing to control the weeds by weeding regularly, then you might want to consider spending your soil budget on some kind of rabbit fencing.
posted by amtho at 3:54 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by amtho at 3:54 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
As a raised bed gardener, I'm developing skepticism about raised bed gardening when surrounded by a frame. I think it sucks moisture out of the garden and makes it difficult to maintain consistent moisture levels, and it's a pain because the weeds grow up along the sides of it and you have to weed whack it. I think 'just piling it up' is probably preferable. (On preview: yes! lasagna gardening).
With the rabbits, get some blood meal and scatter it around the perimeter of the bed, or human hair (from the salon) or dog/cat fur.
So I think your plan is totally solid and one I'm planning on using when I add a third raised bed in a few weeks. Add at least one bag of aged manure to each bed, a couple of bags of compost, top soil. You can buy a few plants for the quick hit (lettuce is nice for this.) You can totally do it for under $200.
I might use unfinished compost underneath the cardboard at my place; the ground is fairly infertile and it can use the encouragement. I wouldn't lean too hard on hugelkutur though--they start with partially rotted wood or not rotted wood to build the mound, which is kind of a nitrogen suck and might be better for a long term plan than a short term plan. I think you want two big piles of really nice, nutritious, fluffy soil.
If you have acid soil (you'll notice a lot of rhododendrons in your town) I would recommend having at least one nice bonfire some night and mixing in the resulting ash. It took me a couple of seasons to realize lots of plants aren't nuts about really acid soil, and a few fistfuls of bone meal seemed to make the flowering plants happier (tomatoes etc).
Also! Don't miss out on the cheap stuff. Throwing a few eggshells in with tomatoes adds calcium, and with the raised ph you get from throwing in some ashes, helps prevent blossom end rot.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:13 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
With the rabbits, get some blood meal and scatter it around the perimeter of the bed, or human hair (from the salon) or dog/cat fur.
So I think your plan is totally solid and one I'm planning on using when I add a third raised bed in a few weeks. Add at least one bag of aged manure to each bed, a couple of bags of compost, top soil. You can buy a few plants for the quick hit (lettuce is nice for this.) You can totally do it for under $200.
I might use unfinished compost underneath the cardboard at my place; the ground is fairly infertile and it can use the encouragement. I wouldn't lean too hard on hugelkutur though--they start with partially rotted wood or not rotted wood to build the mound, which is kind of a nitrogen suck and might be better for a long term plan than a short term plan. I think you want two big piles of really nice, nutritious, fluffy soil.
If you have acid soil (you'll notice a lot of rhododendrons in your town) I would recommend having at least one nice bonfire some night and mixing in the resulting ash. It took me a couple of seasons to realize lots of plants aren't nuts about really acid soil, and a few fistfuls of bone meal seemed to make the flowering plants happier (tomatoes etc).
Also! Don't miss out on the cheap stuff. Throwing a few eggshells in with tomatoes adds calcium, and with the raised ph you get from throwing in some ashes, helps prevent blossom end rot.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:13 PM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
I was just thinking the other day about the sand box my father made circa 1950 from a WW II balsa life raft. It would be a perfect idea, but 65 years too late.
However, on the topic of mi!itary solutions, you could easily make a bed about a foot high using sandbags for the "walls." Cheap but a lot of work. They don't have to be filled with sand. Whatever soil and rocks you have at hand will do.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:43 PM on July 2, 2015
However, on the topic of mi!itary solutions, you could easily make a bed about a foot high using sandbags for the "walls." Cheap but a lot of work. They don't have to be filled with sand. Whatever soil and rocks you have at hand will do.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:43 PM on July 2, 2015
As an idea for cost, over the past few years I've built a couple of 4' x 12' frames out of new 2x10 lumber. They cost about $60 each I think including galvanized brackets to hold the ends together. Also why not call round local builders to see if they have any salvage lumber in the dimensions that you want that they could let you have cheap or for free.
posted by carter at 6:26 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by carter at 6:26 PM on July 2, 2015
I agree that structurally cardboard is a non-starter. That cardboard will be good as a weed barrier if laid on top of your old soil. make the barrier wider and longer than the area you're using for cultivation. If you're willing to set aside an area for next year, why not stack all that cardboard up and do a hugel mound, about twice or three times as high as you think it should be. Throw some compost and dirt here and there between the layers, and some manure if you have any, ending up with six inches of soil on the top, which you can seed with clover or some other legume seeds dusted with Azos. This year, let the cardboard rot, attract earthworms, the clover won't mind a nitrogen depleted soil, as they make their own. Chop the clover or vetch or whatever you sowed and "chop and drop": let it lay on the surface for the winter. Plant beans the next year, again returning the waste to the ground after harvest. That should get the nitrogen working. While it's true that initially the nitrogen is taken up by the cardboard rotting it will give up that nitrogen later on if you're patient.
The pile will sink quite a lot in the first year, and you will eventually have some prime soil to work with.
posted by halhurst at 6:50 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
The pile will sink quite a lot in the first year, and you will eventually have some prime soil to work with.
posted by halhurst at 6:50 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
What I do is I use pots that trees came in, trees that I planted but maybe you can get some from a nursery for cheap? or use Home Depot 5 gallon buckets - I think those are three dollars. The beauty of this plan is you put holes in the bottom of course then screen so the dirt won't fall out then I put some gravel for drainage - then you can put things in the pot that take up space so the pot will be lighter and you don't have to have so much soil. Then, because they are ugly, I made a box out of scrap wood I had around. I can buy scrap wood from my local Habitat for Humanity Restore (I don't know if you have one).
Here is a picture and notice I had to put up chicken wire for the cucumbers to grow up. I do this on my deck which is fenced in so the deer can't get to it. Otherwise I can't really have a garden anywhere else because I would need to buy a deer fence. Notice I am growing tomatoes upside down. I do this so I don't have to fiddle with propping them up. They seem to love it.
The tomatoes are growing in wire window boxes with coconut fiber lining.
Looking back I should have made the pots self-watering which I just learned how to do. (so I can go away for the weekend) I have to water the pots every day. But we are having unseasonable hot weather here.
Also, to back up, the first step in gardening is to compost! My partner likes to compost more than he likes gardening. But the reason you want to compost is because garden soil is expensive, a hassle to haul and you don't really know what you are getting for sure. So start composting! And if I wasn't sure where I would be living I would go ahead and just compost in those 30 gallon plastic clothes storage things you can buy. These make great gardens too. I would fill the bottom with something to take up some space. Most plants don't need to go as deep as some pots and you just waste garden soil by filling the whole tub with it.
Here is a woman who grows in sacks.
posted by cda at 9:13 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Here is a picture and notice I had to put up chicken wire for the cucumbers to grow up. I do this on my deck which is fenced in so the deer can't get to it. Otherwise I can't really have a garden anywhere else because I would need to buy a deer fence. Notice I am growing tomatoes upside down. I do this so I don't have to fiddle with propping them up. They seem to love it.
The tomatoes are growing in wire window boxes with coconut fiber lining.
Looking back I should have made the pots self-watering which I just learned how to do. (so I can go away for the weekend) I have to water the pots every day. But we are having unseasonable hot weather here.
Also, to back up, the first step in gardening is to compost! My partner likes to compost more than he likes gardening. But the reason you want to compost is because garden soil is expensive, a hassle to haul and you don't really know what you are getting for sure. So start composting! And if I wasn't sure where I would be living I would go ahead and just compost in those 30 gallon plastic clothes storage things you can buy. These make great gardens too. I would fill the bottom with something to take up some space. Most plants don't need to go as deep as some pots and you just waste garden soil by filling the whole tub with it.
Here is a woman who grows in sacks.
posted by cda at 9:13 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by Think_Long at 12:50 PM on July 2, 2015