What did you do in the garden today?

[pennyJo1960]

Watered the garden after I cleaned the coop. My gourds are still giving me lots of veggies.
We did decide to use the entire land the old coop was on to next year.
for all the gourds next year.

 

[gtaus]

Last night when I couldn't sleep, I was thinking that if I had a pile of pallets like @gtaus has... I would make a bunch of contained raised beds to take the place of the mounded beds I have now.

Hardware cloth over the bottom would keep out the voles. They ran riot in some of my beds this year.

I have never had a problem with voles, at least, not to my knowledge. What signs indicate a vole problem and what damage do they do to your plants?

FWIW, I don't put hardware cloth over the bottom of my raised beds, but I have heard a number of people say that it stops voles, etc... from getting into the raised bed. I use the hügelkultur method, so the bottom 8-10 inches is filled with logs, branches, and twigs. I don't think that would stop voles, but like I said, I have never noticed any vole problems.

 

[jerryse]

I have never had a problem with voles, at least, not to my knowledge. What signs indicate a vole problem and what damage do they do to your plants?

FWIW, I don't put hardware cloth over the bottom of my raised beds, but I have heard a number of people say that it stops voles, etc... from getting into the raised bed. I use the hügelkultur method, so the bottom 8-10 inches is filled with logs, branches, and twigs. I don't think that would stop voles, but like I said, I have never noticed any vole problems.

In my area voles tunnel on top of the ground and under the snow. Easily seen when snow melts. They are rough on Iris rhizomes. They are not picky eaters.

 

[Smokerbill]

I've seen some vole tunnels in my raised beds. I even caught one in a mousetrap in the shop last year. Little sucker.

 

[gtaus]

Two of my raised beds are about 16" tall, and that's become too low for me and my back. I'm thinking about adding another 8" or more height to each bed, and turning them into Hugelkultur beds so I don't have to add any more dirt.

This spring, I met an older couple that was picking up free pallets at one of the places I have gotten lots of pallets from for my gardens. I asked them if they make raised beds, and if so, how high they make them.

Turns out that the wife just had hip surgery and could not bend over without pain. They intended to use the full pallets to make raised beds. That would be a full 43 inches high. It was the only way she could continue to enjoy gardening given her health.

Evidently, I must have had a surprised look on my face because the husband quickly added that he had a tractor with a large bucket to fill the pallet high raised beds. He was just going to dig up a bunch of topsoil from elsewhere on the farm and put it into the new raised beds.

I asked him if he was going to use the hügelkultur method to fill the bottom of the 43-inch-high raised beds. He said he was familiar with the hügelkultur method but was not going to use it because it was just easier for him to dig up topsoil with his tractor bucket and dump the topsoil into the bed.

It would take a lot of shoveling to bury all the wood, but in the long run I think it would be worth the effort. Guess I need to start looking for some free wood to bury. LOL

I was wondering what you were talking about "bury all the wood" but then I remembered that some people dig out a hole to put the hügelkultur wood in, and then top fill it with the soil.

I don't dig a hole in the ground to bury the wood in.

My raised beds are 16-inches high. I simply put my logs, branches, and twigs directly on the ground, without digging, and layer it on for the first 8-10 inches in the raised bed. Then I add an organic green layer of leaves, grass clippings, etc... Finally, the top 6-8 inches is a mix of high-quality topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1.

I live on a lake, and my topsoil is full of sand. Nothing good really grows in that sand. When I say that I use a high-quality topsoil, I mean topsoil that I have to buy at our local nursery for about $50 a trailer load. Although it runs against my principles to pay for "dirt," the reality is that topsoil is worth it. Mixed with my chicken run compost 1:1, the cost per 4X4 foot raised bed is about $12.50 for the topsoil. Since I make my raised beds out of free pallet wood, my total cost, per raised bed, is still less than $15.00 completely assembled and filled with topsoil/compost, ready to plant.

And I need to start checking out Home Depot more often to find a bunch of 2x8", 2x10" or 2x12" cull lumber. I'll need about 90 feet of the dimensional lumber to increase the height of my pair of 15'x5'6" raised beds.

You can certainly get some good deals on cull lumber from Home Depot. I would think, if you want that type of raised bed, then you could probably make a number of trips to Home Depot over the winter and get enough cull wood for your project.

Having said that, I make my 16-inch-high 4X4 foot raised garden beds from free pallet wood. Here is a picture of my most recent pallet wood raised bed, on the far left, before I filled it. It cost me less than $2.00 for the screws and nails used on that project.

And a closeup of that same raised bed after I filled it....

 

[Smokerbill]

I was wondering what you were talking about "bury all the wood" but then I remembered that some people dig out a hole to put the hügelkultur wood in, and then top fill it with the soil.

By burying the wood, I meant moving all the existing dirt in part of the bed out of the way, putting the wood in that section of the bed, then moving all the dirt back to cover the wood. Probably dig out and move 1/4 of the bed at a time.

I'd be shoveling and moving all the dirt in each bed... twice. Like I said, a lot of digging. LOL

 

[gtaus]

By burying the wood, I meant moving all the existing dirt in part of the bed out of the way, putting the wood in that section of the bed, then moving all the dirt back to cover the wood. Probably dig out and move 1/4 of the bed at a time.

I'd be shoveling and moving all the dirt in each bed... twice. Like I said, a lot of digging. LOL

Yeah, I understood what you are doing. What I am saying is that I just put my wood on top of the grass/dirt and don't dig into the ground at all. I can do that because I buy my topsoil and fill that top final 6-8 inches. My native soil is too sandy and nothing good grows in it. So, I would be wasting all my time and effort to dig it out and then use it to top fill the garden bed.

If you plan on using your native topsoil, then I guess digging it out would make good sense. A lot of work, but makes sense if you have good soil.

When I do have to remove native topsoil, I like to till it up first with a mini tiller or cultivator. That makes the soil much easier to shovel out.

 

[Smokerbill]

Yeah, I understood what you are doing. What I am saying is that I just put my wood on top of the grass/dirt and don't dig into the ground at all. I can do that because I buy my topsoil and fill that top final 6-8 inches. My native soil is too sandy and nothing good grows in it. So, I would be wasting all my time and effort to dig it out and then use it to top fill the garden bed.

If you plan on using your native topsoil, then I guess digging it out would make good sense. A lot of work, but makes sense if you have good soil.

When I do have to remove native topsoil, I like to till it up first with a mini tiller or cultivator. That makes the soil much easier to shovel out.

The native soil in my yard is worthless. LOL

 

[CedarLane]

Just curious... What would be the problem with canned meats? Would this include our own home-canned meats or is the concern with the store-bought processed canned meats? I use my canned chicken and canned beef often.

I was hoping someone would have an answer to this. My brother has issues with gout. Should I make sure I don't make anything using canned meats when he is here? or for family gatherings?

 

[gtaus]

The native soil in my yard is worthless. LOL

So is mine. That is why I went to raised beds. I can upgrade the soil in the raised bed much cheaper than fighting with poor soil in the ground.

It can take years to improve poor soil. I reached a point where it made more sense for me to buy quality topsoil and actually have good producing plants now, immediately, in my lifetime.

With my raised beds, I fill the top 6-8 inches with topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1. That is a great medium for the plants to grow in. Additionally, the hügelkultur wood in the bottom breaks down into new soil, feeding the plants from the bottom. As the level of soil drops in the raised bed each year, I top it off with chicken run compost before planting. Those plants are getting feed from the top and bottom in my raised beds. That's a pretty good system.