Have you ever researched the Container Gardening forum. There are many good ideas for enabling gardening there. For a raised bed one needs it to be at an appropriate height for enjoyment and maintainance. It needs good drainage and circulation. A platform at the most convenient height, legnth, and width might be more practical and provide a surface to hold attractive containers appropriate for each plant. We have such a platform, constructed of plywood, with a surface adequate for a tub and a large container. Such a platform could also be a cover for something that might be less attractive, such as a drain pipe. Another thing to consider is the choice of plants desired.. A block wall with the upper layer of blocks placed open side up makes a very attractive planter for sedums and succulents of small to medium size, which are also very durable plants. Think about what will be going on inside your raised bed as the hay and newpaper retain moisture and eventually decay and deminish and the effect the procedure would have on the plywood enclosing it. Good drainage, circulation, and appropriate composition of soil is very essential. The bales of hay alone would provide the height needed to hold any selected containers. We have sometimes used bales of hay or straw as temporary garden seats, but have found it also sometimes harbors insects underneath. The purpose of the plywood would be to contain and conceal the contents when used as a raised container. . Best wishes!!

I buy use 50 gallon plastic barrels and cut them in half and I have platforms made with 4x4 post in the ground and use 2x6,s and have them about 16" off the ground so it will be just right to work in them. I have over 50 of them and do all my gardening in them. You name it and I got it even corn. When you pick your crop it is clean and easy. For spider mites I use a garden hose and spray the mites of the ground and what lands in the pots I mixed the top soil and bury them. The water kills almost all the mites.Make sure the drums was not use for chemicals their are a lot of drums used for fruit juices and do not used the clear drums they make a lot of mold.

Orangeking -- WHERE do you buy your barrels?

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and tips!

Several years ago when I was living in Central TX I used several blue food grade (used, cheap) 50 gallon barrels to grow several crops in. They were great for beans, peas, vining tomatoes, etc. They took up very little space compared to row growing and were quite easy for me to tend and harvest. I used a 2" hole-saw to cut growing holes into the barrels, staggered, about every 6 inches and drilled several 1/4' drain holes in the bottom. We set them on wooden pallets and screwed bamboo around the pallets and had them meet in a teepee fashion above. Between the bamboo poles I wove jute string which supported the climbing of the plants. Down the center of the barrels I placed 2" diameter lengths of PVC pipe that were capped on the bottom and I had drilled lots of 1/4" holes in along the length. We filled the PVC with small gravel and this is how I watered and fed the plants (using a fish emulsion solution as well as some foliar feeding with the same emulsion). We put the PVC into the barrel then filled with good, tested soil and stuffed a bit of spragum moss into each hole to help retain the soil mix when watered. (A friend of ours also used this method with an umbrella shaped piece fitted over the PVC pipe and a big bigger than the barrel to grow in a climate where he had too much rain to otherwise grow things well). These guys looked a bit funny sitting there when first planted, but man did they look great and gorgeous when the plants were up and covering them.

We saved the circles we had left from cutting the holes into the plastic barrels to use in creating our raised beds. We found a bunch of used corrugated tin roofing free and tore down an old building for most of our wood, though you could buy new lumber. using 2"X6"'s for the corners and 2"X4"'s for the sides and ends, we built frames (screwed together for strength) These frames were simply a top rail set flush to the top of the 'legs' and a bottom rail that was set about an inch from the bottom of the 'legs', these rails went on the inside of the 'legs' forming a rectangle the size we wanted. The height we used was 18". The old corrugated was 26" wide so we bent 8" of it at right angle for the entire length (side length plus length of one end plus 6-8 inches) and cut up 8" where the 2 corner turns would be. I hope this is clear enough to understand. Each piece would start at one corner of the inside of the frame (flush with the top rail), run the length of the bed, turn the corner and go the shorter length of the end and turn again to be overlapped by the other piece of corrugated that formed the other side and end of the bed. Using the plastic 'washers' we had left from the barrel holes we screwed the corrugated to the frame in several places on both the top and bottom rails. Some of the beds were fairly long and we added 2 or more additional 'legs' to the outside of the frame for support. We painted the outside both for looks and to protect the wood from water etc. They looked nice, worked amazingly well and lasted for many years. The area inside the bottom of the rectangle that the corrugated did not cover acted as a great drain though I did have to seal a place or two in a couple of corners where I experienced loss of soil from the water running out a corner at the bottom and carrying soil with it. We grew everything in these, best aspearagus beds I ever had. (I will send some better drawn up type plans to those who may need it by email if requested to.)

These beds and barrels had very little insect problems and when we did get some aphids or such they were easy to deal with.

I hope someone out there gets some help from all this, it certainly has been a pleasure to write it up and remember all the wonderful days we had with that garden. We did this on about a half acre and man did we produce the veges! My son use to tease us and say that you had to be careful around our house because if something did not run fast enough Mom and Don (my brother) would can it up! None of those veges (and a few deer I can remember) did not "run fast enough". LOL I am going to post this as a seperate thread on the container forum as 'enchantedplace' suggested above. Thank you for this opportunity to share some past fun times. I had better stop here or I will start into the days when my brother and I had a modified french raised bed BIG garden, back in the days before I started using a wheelchair! ENJOY!! DD

Wow, DD, I'd love some plans. Mybe entice my hubby to get intersted in building when it's on paper and not abstract. I'll try it. Great post. I'd love to try to grow some asperagus. I'm in east TX but it might be too humid, too hot for that, even right now. Haveta pull out my Houston Garden Book (my plants Bible) and see.

Where'n central TX did you live, around Wacko? Austin, Somerville, Kerrville? "Central" covers alot! It ain't east, it ain't west, hahaha.

Thanks!

We bought our water barrels from a man who bought them from Pepsi and Coca Cola bottling..they hold syrup. They also wash out easily.
Rose

The soil on top of hay bales sounds like a great idea to me. Containers are fine but I find the watering of them problematic, and I can't make as rich and organic a soil in them as I can in a garden bed. The kind of set up baybrat describes would hold moisture better than containers and allow for a richer soil mix and the drainage would be excellent.

I am not terribly limited in mobility; my problem is more an issue of fatigue and pain. A raised bed really helps, but it never seemed I could get it high enough to help as much as I wanted. And trucking in all that soil is hard work. Hay bales are easier and reduce the need for soil.

Thanks so much for posting, baybrat, and all the rest of you for your great ideas.

Vicki

It's tax season and that's what I eek a living out doing, so I've not had much chance to check in here.

Vickie -- yes, what I was thinking, too!

Thanks for everyone's input since I have been here last.

Spring will hopefully be here before too long, then summer and I can finally spend infinite hours in the backyard (solar) heated pool! To beat the heat? Not hardly. To ease the old aches and pains and cheat gravity, LIKELY! Take care, everyone ---

CHEAT GRAVITY. (I like that. Only us arthritics understand.)

I am glad to have a suggestion. This website is so fun!

I have made raised beds, kinda wheelchair accessible, out of old, holed, skiffs. Old skiffs are easy to come by here in Sitka, a sea port. They turn up derelict at the harbormaster's. They wash up on the beach. Fiberglass punts that are holed are no good for anything else and who knows how to get rid of them! They are good beds because folks can sit on the gunwales and work the garden. One year I planted a skiff with pretty lines that wouldn't float to carrots. The fluffy carrot tops in the skiff were elegant in the front parking area.

DD would you please send a copy of the plans to me?
Thanks!

Just joined new member - thanks for having me!
My daughter has special needs and we are interested in building a square foot garden that is 4X4. We want the garden to be waist level as she has depth perceptions issues and timbers won't work ground level.

I am dreaming of a raised garden with shelves underneath to store supplies, etc. I was thinking of sloping drainage built out of carport roofing material that would drain into an old fashioned bucket. It would have to be attractive and so we thought to use pieces of picket fencing with one smaller opening of fence on hinges to access her tools.It would need to be built on a pre-existing granite gravel surface under the deck of our home. The good news is Mellie could see it from her bedroom window!

Where we live there are deer a plenty. Our 6 foot wrought iron fence doesn't keep them out of our backyard!Any protection ideas?

Ever see any building plans for this one? Any suggestions?

Let me just say that it is sunny AND snowing outside right now! What am I thinking? :-)

Many thanks,

Jeannie
Mom to Mellie
With a fairly light colored green thumb!