Hügelkultur Raised Beds

[fuzzi]

It was sunny today, about 50°F, but with a chilly breeze. I decided to work on adding wood to the new raised beds.

I was snitching branches from the burn pile, but many of them still had a trace of green under the bark, so I had to go looking for truly dead scraps from the edge of the woods.

I ran out of energy and decided to call it a day after a couple hours. Maybe I can scrounge up more branches next weekend, then I can start adding the composting leaves.

Wisp had to supervise!

 

[gtaus]

I think this might be of interest to anyone who is following this thread. This was initially posted to the thread Show Me Your Pallet Projects, but it works equally well here...

Easiest Raised Garden Bed Using Only One Pallet!?

Just came across this YouTube video on how to make a raised garden bed using one free pallet. She cuts a pallet into 4 pieces and screws them together to get a basic 4X4 foot raised bed which I am guessing is probably 10-12 inches high. I think this is a project just about anybody could do with minimum skills, minimum tools and minimum cost.

So, check out the video first...

A few of my thoughts...

Instead of buying weed block material to line the sides of the pallet to keep the dirt in, you could probably make good use of those chicken feed bags you have laying around. Especially if the bags were made out of some kind of plastic material. I would not put down a waterproof material on the ground because you still want good drainage in this design. But those chicken bags would be great for the sides to hold in the dirt.

You could call the project done at that point and be totally happy with the build. Minimal effort with maximum payback. Her goal was to make an inexpensive garden bed that would last at least a few years. I think she met that goal.

If you are like me, you might be thinking what else could I do to this build?

As to the outside of the pallet raised beds, if you wanted to add a little extra to the project, you could put a board underneath that top open gap and put small planters around the outside of the pallet raised bed. Something like this...

Or maybe just put the board underneath that top gap and just fill it with dirt to grow some shallow root plants.

Another option would be to add some trim boards to the top, making it comfortable to sit on the wall/edge. I don't do that on my raised beds, but I know some people like the looks of the trim boards and/or need a place to sit down and relax while they tend their garden bed. The trim boards on top of the raised bed would look something like this...

If you don't like the looks of the open boards in the pallet raised bed walls, you could use a simple board on board method to cover the open gaps. Like this...

I built that for a storage rack top just to keep most of the rain and snow off the wood stored inside the rack. But that same board on board method could be used to fill the open gaps on the side walls of a pallet raised bed if you don't like the open look of the pallet.

None of my modifications would have any effect on the plants growing inside the pallet raised bed, but I know aesthetics can be a big issue for some people. So, I thought I would offer some thoughts that you might want to consider.

 

[gtaus]

I decided to work on adding wood to the new raised beds.

Very nice. Love the looks of your garden. Thanks for sharing those pictures.

Apologies for not responding sooner, but for some reason I never got any notifications that anyone had posted comments to this thread. So, I was very happy, and surprised to see a number of posts since my last visit. Thanks guys.

 

[akroberts1085]

I have a pallet bench. I will have to sand it down to remove the paint from it but it just might be worth trying. I also have some bed frames that might be of use just have to sand them down as well but it may very well work and at the same time give me a really cute garden.

 

[akroberts1085]

As soon as the weather is good I will try to get all of the materials pulled out and place them so that everyone can see what I have to work with and then maybe make some sort of drawing or something and help me figure out the best way to make a good choice for the garden area.

 

[gtaus]

I have a pallet bench. I will have to sand it down to remove the paint from it but it just might be worth trying.

What kind of pallet bench do you have? I built a couple different pallet workbenches for the garage, and I also built a salvaged wood bench for sitting around the campfire ring out in the backyard.

 

[gtaus]

As soon as the weather is good...

I hear you! Living in northern Minnesota, I don't get much done from November to March. Too cold for my old bones to work outside.

However, now that I have some heat in my garage, I have been working on a few smaller projects and actually getting some good work done. I got the electric slab heat fixed in the garage and use a little 60,000 BTU propane heater to heat up the garage to about 55F, which is plenty good for me to work with my sweatshirt or light jacket. I have not had any heat in the garage for about 7 years, so it's nice to be able to work on some projects in the dead of our winter.

 

[akroberts1085]

What kind of pallet bench do you have? I built a couple different pallet workbenches for the garage, and I also built a salvaged wood bench for sitting around the campfire ring out in the backyard.

It's sort of a sitting bench but I don't really care for it because seriously who puts paint on wood. No I don't like painted wood. I'm just trying to get some ideas together so that I can get started on the garden ASAP. I'm really ready to get rid of the yucky weather and there's more rain coming in.

 

[akroberts1085]

I hear you! Living in northern Minnesota, I don't get much done from November to March. Too cold for my old bones to work outside.

However, now that I have some heat in my garage, I have been working on a few smaller projects and actually getting some good work done. I got the electric slab heat fixed in the garage and use a little 60,000 BTU propane heater to heat up the garage to about 55F, which is plenty good for me to work with my sweatshirt or light jacket. I have not had any heat in the garage for about 7 years, so it's nice to be able to work on some projects in the dead of our winter.

I have a 8 ×10 garden shed that I won't go in until the weather gets better. The electric bills in California are ridiculous. The so called garage we have is so about to fall apart. No window but a huge hole where there should be one. Holes in the roof bc they used metal roofing that has holes in it. It's crazy.

 

[gtaus]

It's sort of a sitting bench but I don't really care for it because seriously who puts paint on wood. No I don't like painted wood. I'm just trying to get some ideas together so that I can get started on the garden ASAP. I'm really ready to get rid of the yucky weather and there's more rain coming in.

I prefer wood to be natural, as well. My pallet wood hügelkultur beds are all natural wood color, aged by nature. The sitting bench I made out of salvaged wood is just natural color. I did not even bother to sand it down. But the used wood was in pretty good condition as it was.

However, I have seen some people who paint everything out in their garden with painted raised beds included. Not my cup of tea, but it has its own aesthetics that look nice if you know what you are doing. The only thing I painted outside was the chicken coop. That had to be painted to protect the OSB board I used in the build.