Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[r4eboxer]

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So I see I am going to need your book! I plan on doing all of these things, I just should have started 20 years ago.

 

[Terri O]

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Great link! i looked at LOTS of ways to use pallets! I am going to take a look around town here! Terri O

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

Here are some pictures of how I made the raised beds out of pallets.

This is the base, the two slats on either side (on top) I removed. This is where I will lay the plastic & fill with compost, willl fill in the spaces with extra wood I have, so there will be no gaps.

This it the other pallet that I cut (left side is one side, right side is the other side.) The middle I will cut in the middle & that will become the other two sides.

Here are two sides attached, am using 2 & 3 inch screws I had left over from building the silkie coop, pre-drilled all the holes.

Finished product.

It is not as pretty as using 1x6x8 from Lowes, but the veggies don't care, and the pallets were free. Everything else I had on hand, and I only went out of my way, by a half a block. Dropped daughters off a t school, went to the store to get milk & bread & juice, and where I got the pallets was a half a block from the store.

Am half way done with the second one, if the weather holds tomorrow, I hope to get that one done & hopefully another before I have to pick up my youngest from school. Then maybe I can swing by and get more pallets.

 

[Gypsi]

Not to dim your enthusiasm, but I lost all of the strawberries and swiss chard I had in full sun raised beds around mid-august, where as the plants I had in the ground, and strawberry plants in the ground in partial shade, survived. Everything was watered, but raised beds and pots don't hold water as well. Ordinary year - the raised beds do better because they have fewer weeds and grass hopping up. But if our drought continues, I'd put part of my garden in the ground itself, with soaker hoses going through the beds. Except for the raised bed, I didn't lose my garden last summer.

The pallet idea is great. I just did open bottom, plywood walls a foot high for my asparagus. That lets me get them a bit more depth, a bit better drainage, but still allows them to put down very deep roots.

Gypsi

 

[r4eboxer]

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I think if someone doesn't have the space raised beds are a great option. I agree with you about the moisture. I watched the video and am sort of stumped as to why they would opt for the raised beds. They had lots of room. I do use raised beds for my carrots and some herbs but would never trade my ground gardens vi or all raised beds.

Btw I almost thought I was in the wrong thread for a minute, wonder how it took this turn?

 

[Gypsi]

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You must not have gotten to the coyote / wolf genetics section yet? It wanders around.

On the raised beds, climate as in rainfall is a big big issue. North Texas, raised beds may be NEEDED - My onions drowned 2 winters ago. In a drought, raised beds are just deathly dry. It varies.

 

[Cass]

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I think if someone doesn't have the space raised beds are a great option. I agree with you about the moisture. I watched the video and am sort of stumped as to why they would opt for the raised beds. They had lots of room. I do use raised beds for my carrots and some herbs but would never trade my ground gardens vi or all raised beds.

Btw I almost thought I was in the wrong thread for a minute, wonder how it took this turn?

I use exclusively raised beds. Why? Cuz my soil is sooooo clay I can dig it up and make a pot out of it. Really really bad soil, so with raised beds I can make my own good soil on top of what is already there and let the roots of the plants break up the clay for me. (My beds don't have bottoms to them, they just lay on the ground and are filled with rich compost)

And I agree with both of you about watering raised beds, but I have 4 wells on the property, so irrigation isn't a problem. (My aching back from the hand pump can be tho)

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

Cass - our soil is like your massive clay. When we had to dog the post holes for the fencing. I was using a hand shovel to get the cly off of the post hole digger. All I needed was a pottery wheel & I would have been in business.

Gypsi - Am going to use the soaker hoses, and have hay on top to keep the moisture in. I figure with the 3 mil plastic I will having lining the bottom, that may help to keep some of the moisture in the soil. Since we will be collecting rain water, I will be able to water more often during the hottest part of the summer & not get in trouble with the water restrictions we will have again this summer. Might even get a large bag of pearlight (sp) or vermiculite to add to the compost for some added water storage in the soil. The Topsy Turvey was the worst 2 summers ago, a gallon of water everyday, and the plants were still wilting. And that was in Calif. Yet my raised bed did awesome, and that was the hottest summer we had had there in years.

 

[perchie.girl]

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I think if someone doesn't have the space raised beds are a great option. I agree with you about the moisture. I watched the video and am sort of stumped as to why they would opt for the raised beds. They had lots of room. I do use raised beds for my carrots and some herbs but would never trade my ground gardens vi or all raised beds.

Btw I almost thought I was in the wrong thread for a minute, wonder how it took this turn?

I use exclusively raised beds. Why? Cuz my soil is sooooo clay I can dig it up and make a pot out of it. Really really bad soil, so with raised beds I can make my own good soil on top of what is already there and let the roots of the plants break up the clay for me. (My beds don't have bottoms to them, they just lay on the ground and are filled with rich compost)

And I agree with both of you about watering raised beds, but I have 4 wells on the property, so irrigation isn't a problem. (My aching back from the hand pump can be tho)

The only way to raise a garden here is raised bed with hardware cloth on the bottom to keep the burrowing critters out and hardware cloth around it to keep all the other critters out. My neighbor raises veggies in what looks like a big chicken run. Rabbits three species. Jackrabbit Cottontail and bush bunny. They just go right through chainlink. I cant gaden so its Moot for me. But I am considering Aquaponics. Edited to add Drip irrigation can be used in raised beds too. Just about the only way to water here.

And I dont feel its Off topic at all because When you have livestock Predators, food growth, food preservation, and housing are all very important.

 

[BWKatz]

Gypsy I'm planning on doing the same as u. I have clay and 1 acre of it for my sewage to leach into from lines crisscrossing it. Since I can't plow that field I'm going to make raised gardens with drip lines.I also want to try a rain barrel to see how that will compare.If that works then I can just hook lines to them and not to my well.