Raised Bed Gardens

[Richard Myers]

Sounds like fun, cp!   Love that new fertile soil!  The shocking truth that I learned after filling by beds, was that the soil I bought, disappeared after a few years. I can't afford to keep buying compost, so I am building up the soil I have. It is a long term project with wood chips and worms and some rice hulls thrown in.  It will take a few years to see the results. In the meantime, my raised beds are in need of more soil. 

[colporteur]

Sounds like fun, cp!   Love that new fertile soil!  The shocking truth that I learned after filling by beds, was that the soil I bought, disappeared after a few years. I can't afford to keep buying compost, so I am building up the soil I have. It is a long term project with wood chips and worms and some rice hulls thrown in.  It will take a few years to see the results. In the meantime, my raised beds are in need of more soil. 

  Is that because the compost tends to be fluffy and when it settles and becomes more sense it drops ? Kind of reminds me of taking a rolling pin to a bag of potato chips. We have a lot of leaves and brush here that I will add to the beds. I am amazed with all of our meals at home how our scraps add up. We have half of a 30 gal. garbage can full and we have only been here 3 mo.. A nice addition will be if I can find a farmer with some semi rotten hay bales that have been out in the rain. They tend to build soil quickly and are usually free. Unfortunately we had to remove four oak trees  (two of them nice trees) to bring in enough sunlight. Now I have enough wood for perhaps two winters, however. Am looking for a small saw mill to cut and dry the trunks so I can have some nice boards. I talked to a saw mill owner last night and I can buy from him rough sawn white oak for the beds at .50 a board ft. That's only $2.00 a board for a 1x6x8.5 ft.. If I go with that I will go 2 boards high. I may be able to purchase 1.5 or 2 " thick lumber 7 or 8 " wide for the same price per board ft.  and again go  2 boards high. That would cut my cost per bed down by up to 30%.