Hügelkultur Raised Beds

[akroberts1085]

I live in northern Minnesota. When I say I have to wait out the weather, I'm usually referring to about 6 months of winter ice and snow. Oh well, in the winter "down time" I watch a lot of YouTube videos and take note of things I might want to build come spring.

My waiting out the weather is about the rain we're supposed to be getting tomorrow.

 

[Land of Lincoln]

Finally have all 4 of the raised beds filled and ready for spring. My neighbor did me a huge favor. He saw me out there going back and forth with the wheelbarrow filling the beds and offered up his tractor with a bucket. Saved me so much time and back aches. Only thing is, now I want one, ha ha ha.

Glad to have them finished before winter. I planted a few garlic cloves at one end of one of the beds so we shall see how those do.

Can’t wait to see how things grow in them. So nice to have them up higher. I have them spaced far enough apart to where I can get a wheelbarrow between them all.

 

[akroberts1085]

Finally have all 4 of the raised beds filled and ready for spring. My neighbor did me a huge favor. He saw me out there going back and forth with the wheelbarrow filling the beds and offered up his tractor with a bucket. Saved me so much time and back aches. Only thing is, now I want one, ha ha ha.

Glad to have them finished before winter. I planted a few garlic cloves at one end of one of the beds so we shall see how those do.

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Can’t wait to see how things grow in them. So nice to have them up higher. I have them spaced far enough apart to where I can get a wheelbarrow between them all.

Gorgeous. I'm trying to make more beds so I don't have to buy anymore of them but I most likely will have to get more.

 

[fuzzi]

Finally have all 4 of the raised beds filled and ready for spring. My neighbor did me a huge favor. He saw me out there going back and forth with the wheelbarrow filling the beds and offered up his tractor with a bucket. Saved me so much time and back aches. Only thing is, now I want one, ha ha ha.

Glad to have them finished before winter. I planted a few garlic cloves at one end of one of the beds so we shall see how those do.

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Can’t wait to see how things grow in them. So nice to have them up higher. I have them spaced far enough apart to where I can get a wheelbarrow between them all.

Those look really nice.

 

[Sally PB]

Those are drop dead GORGEOUS!

 

[gtaus]

Finally have all 4 of the raised beds filled and ready for spring.

Those new metal raised beds look fantastic!

Just for everyone's information, I had always assumed that metal raised beds would last longer than wooden raised beds. I think in most places in the US that would be true.

However, I watched a YouTube video of a woman living in coastal Florida and her metal raised beds turned to rust in just one year from the salty air. That, of course, was a big disappoint to her as she had invested a lot of money into those metal beds. She had to buy new metal raised beds with a special coating to prevent rusting. I live in northern Minnesota, about as far as you can get to any salty ocean, so I did not pay too much attention to the exact coating she needed. I just remember that she had to buy a special coated metal for where she lived.

My neighbor did me a huge favor. He saw me out there going back and forth with the wheelbarrow filling the beds and offered up his tractor with a bucket. Saved me so much time and back aches. Only thing is, now I want one, ha ha ha.

Oh, me too. I checked into buying a small tractor a few years ago, but just could not justify the cost to myself for the few times a year I might need one.

I still am thinking about getting a front end loader bucket for my riding mower(s)...

Something like that would be nice for me. Probably all I would need in reality. Nobody sells them where I live, so it's just online research at this time.

 

[Sally PB]

Is that a Cub Cadet? We have one; I call it "the bumble bee," due to the coloring. A front end loader bucket... Oh, my... Be still, my heart!

 

[Molpet]

tractor with a bucket. Saved me so much time and back aches. Only thing is, now I want one, ha ha ha.

I didn't have a bucket list when I retired, so I bought a bucket.

Getting too old for the wheelbarrow up hills.

Yes it wasn't cheap, costed as much as my Ford escape.
But I don't travel,eat out or buy the latest fashions. Only hobbies are gardening and poultry.

 

[akroberts1085]

My husband bought a tractor in 21 to be able to dig out stumps from the pecan trees that we cut down. Now he uses it for pretty much everything. It's not very big but it works.

 

[gtaus]

Is that a Cub Cadet? We have one; I call it "the bumble bee," due to the coloring. A front end loader bucket... Oh, my... Be still, my heart!

I just copied a picture from a Google search. I believe those front end loaders are made to fit on any number of different brand riding mowers. From what I have seen, you can get a front end loader with manual levers the raise/lower the bucket and another for dumping the bucket. That is less expensive than front end loaders that use some kind of cable hoist system. Unfortunately, nobody sells either type of front end loader where I live, so I don't know anything more than the YouTube videos I have watched.

Of course, those front end loaders for a riding lawn mower are not as big as the ones made for a tractor. I don't have the exact specs, but it looks like maybe half the load in the riding mower buckets. Makes sense because a riding mower is much lighter than a tractor. If the bucket was too big and too heavy for a riding mower, it would just do a nose dive and the back wheels would lift up off the ground.

Despite the limitations, I watched a YouTube video of a guy who bought one of those front end loaders for his riding mower to move gravel from a large pile on to his long driveway. Not only did he end up saving money from a tractor rental, but now he has a front end loader on his riding mower for any future projects. Yes, a rental tractor would have done the job faster, but it would have cost more and he was more than happy to put that rental money into something that he would have forever.

In my case, I have mentioned that I turned my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. About twice a year, I go into the run and load up Gorilla carts, many times, full of compost that I take over to my cement mixer compost sifter. It certainly would be easier for me to open up a panel on the run and take a riding mower in there with a front end bucket. But I still do OK with the carts, so I'm not complaining.

As I get older, there may come a day when I can't use the walk behind snow blower to clear our driveway. At that point, I have considered getting something with a plow or shovel to move the snow. Depending on the winter, snow removal service can be a major expense if you have to pay someone else to do the job. That's one job I think a front end loader on the riding machine could do and may justify the investment for me.