Who wants better Raised Planting Beds?

[organic mommy]

So, I have seen a lot of posts on a handful of sites about people complaining about the selection of raised bed options out there today. Either they are too difficult and costly do build yourself, or they cost too much to buy from a store or online. In addition, some people have complained about their permanence and immobility.
I heeded these complaints, and spent the weekend during the hurricane sketching out a few new designs for kits that could be very easy to assemble, portable, scalable, attractive, and very affordable raised beds that I may start to design and build for sale.
But first I would like to know if anyone is really that interested in buying raised beds or not.

Please feel free to respond to the survey and also comment on your thoughts about raised beds - what you like or don't like about current options, and what you would want in a new one.

I appreciate the support!

If I can get a working model going, I may find a way to donate one to the best suggestion that I receive to this thread!:):)

Thanks everyone!

[Chris]

The problem with manufactured and shipped raised beds is that they're big, and shipping is expensive, which makes the product expensive compared to four boards you buy at the lumber yard and screw together. Also I've never heard complaints about being able to move them, because they're easy to move. What is hard to move is yards of soil inside of them, and there is no solution to that.

[GYO Mary]

I have attached a picture of my own home made raised garden beds. I used black plastic on the top and just cut slits in it for planting my tomatoes. It worked really well.

Oh and that's my gardening dog in the pic too. Now if I could just train him to pull weeds.

[Mr Yan]

Nice amount of space GYO Mary.

I have to do everything in either containers or raised beds. The soil here is rather good if amended with a little sand but my problem is either shade or concrete in the way.

I have spent next to nothing out of pocket on my raised veg beds (1 @ 4x7, 3 @ 3x3, 1 @ 4x2). I just use what is either on hand or what neighbors are getting rid of. I walk past the expensive manufactured beds and either laugh or shake my head.

This fall I'll replace a few of my beds with ones where the walls are built of solid concrete blocks my neighbor had to remove from a retaining wall.

[miles.o]

Great idea, Mr. Yan. I've thought about raised beds in my yard, and I do like the ones that just need a little assembling, but they are very pricey. There's a spot in my yard that already was raised by the previous owner. She used bricks, and there some drainage that goes into the lawn, which I like. I would build another one on the other side, but I haven't the time (or money!).

[Mr Yan]

My neighbor down the street had to rip out a retaining wall made of cinder blocks and the wall was caped with solid concrete blocks each 8" x 16" x 4" - nominal. I estimate each to be about 50 pounds. He thought it would be a shame to toss them into a landfill so I took all 100 of them off his hands. The only cost to me was running them down the alley 6 at a time in the wheel barrow.

[nofeargardener]

Yan - cinder blocks are excellent materials for raised beds. Good for you for not letting them go to waste. I made a couple of raised beds this past spring from some inexpensive pine boards. I treated them afterward by rubbing some olive oil into the wood (that was the only "natural" oil I had around at the time). They've held up quite well - even with my little ones playing around them. :)

[Mr Yan]

I've seen some really cool cinder block walled beds. One person posted pics of hers where she did mosaics on the side of many of the blocks.

I don't have common cinder blocks though. I have the cap stones from a cinder block wall. These are half the height of a cinder block and are solid concrete.

I built one 18" deep 4'x7' bed by making a 2x4 frame (3 rails and 2 styles on each side) and using 3/8" plywood in the center. I stained it - mixed all the stains I had on hand to use up the partial cans - and applied a double coat of boiled linseed oil to it. Two seasons later it is not showing any sign of rot.

[Organic Gardener]

So, I have seen a lot of posts on a handful of sites about people complaining about the selection of raised bed options out there today. Either they are too difficult and costly do build yourself, or they cost too much to buy from a store or online. In addition, some people have complained about their permanence and immobility.


After I looked around a bit, the shipping was just too costly on the materials and I doubted the quality of the wood that was being supplied. Good wood is very dense and therefore very expensive to ship. Cheap shipping=cheap materials.
What I ended up doing was buying planks of #3 Cedar (cheapest kind) from a local building supplier and cutting them to the lengths I needed. The planks were buried about one foot deep and then I used concrete pavers from Home Cheapo to hold them in place (pavers installed horizontally) at the stress points. This is perfect for me, because while they look absolutely permanent I can move them or expand them at anytime.