As long as the plant roots are not sitting in water, you should be fine.

EG

I like the frame with the hinge, can you show more? Looks like a good idea there.

Thanks for the compliment, lowraine. I built these planters for my mother, who's getting older and no longer in the best of health. I want her to be able to still garden, but with a minimum of the hard work required for a traditional row garden. Hopefully SFG is going to fit the bill. The cages are a necessity to keep the resident groundhogs/squirrels/rabbits/voles/birds/raccoons/cats/deer at bay.

I hinged the critter guards so that she wouldn't have to lift them off. The frames are just 1x2's. I built the top frame and stapled the poultry netting to the bottom side. That turned out to be a bit flimsy and the sharp ends of the poultry netting were left exposed, so I decided to double up the 1x2's to stiffen the assembly and encapsulate the sharp bits. The two layers are screwed together with 1-1/4" deck screws (be sure to predrill and countersink to keep from splitting).

If I were to do it again, I would use something like maple or oak instead of the pine that I used. The pine is just too soft and fragile in such thin sections. We'll see how well it holds up (it's stained and marine varnished). The hinges are just standard 3" hinges from Lowes ($2.58 per pair).

(Please excuse the mess in the photos. It's still a work in progress. I hope to finish cleaning up and get a nice bed of low-maintenance rubber mulch down between the planters soon - if it ever stops raining, that is. lol)

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Oh my gosh those are the most beautiful sfg beds I've ever seen!!! And the hinged cage tops are awesome.

Now that is what I call a Mother's Day gift!

Great job.

Don't worry about the seedlings. The way your boxes are slightly elevated, the water should be able to drain just fine. As long as the boxes themselves are not sitting in water, there is no concern. If water starts to collect at the base of your boxes, then you have an issue. Because the water won't be able to drain out of the boxes. If that happens, you might want to consider digging a drainage hole for the water to flow into. You can always fill it in after the monsoon season! (I know what you mean about rain. We've had a lot of rain recently in PA too! An inch and a half in the past 2 days, with more on the way!)

Very cool. I love the detail you put into your beds. Your plants look good too.

Steve, good job on the beds!

EG

Steve, you are a great son! The beds look wonderful.

I agree. The boxes are gorgeous! What kind of wood did you use?

Rachel

Here is a link that might be useful: LookMaNoWeeds

Thank you for all the kind words, folks! I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out, but my biggest regret is my choice of material. I had no idea how much effort I would have to put into building these, especially after contracting a serious case of the while-I'm-at-its (Once sanded I figured they would look better stained. Once stained they should be varnished. Boy, wouldn't antiqued brass handles look great. Etc.)

I went the safe/cheap route and chose untreated douglas fir for the boxes and untreated pine for the cage frames. To be on the safe side I left the interior walls of the boxes unstained/unvarnished. Had I known how far I was going to take this, I would have started off with a more suitable wood (cedar? redwood? composite?).

On the bright side, when this rots out after a year or two, I'll get to do it all over again ... but properly. ;-)

Steve - Some trellises that are incorporated into your design will complete your sfg experience. (EG loves trellises!)You built some very nice boxes, and I like the finished look. My wife wants to stain my cedar bed, and I told her "No way!" I like the rustic look.

EG

EG, the trellis issue is something I've been putting off. Past experience has proven that without these cages, there would be nothing green left in the boxes, so they are a necessity for now. We tried to plant all of the tall veggies in one planter to simplify things. I'm going to have to cross that bridge when we get to it. Believe me, I'm watching your work closely and taking notes! LOL

I'll bet we're cut from the same cloth - figuring out how to create/improve this garden is as much fun as actually doing it. I'm certainly looking forward to the delicious veggies, but the journey towards that goal is what I really enjoy. Who knew gardening could be so much fun? :)

Steve - what kind of critters are ya trying to keep out? just sitting here thinking, I have a couple of ideas that would work....

EG

Oh Steve! Those beds are beautiful! What a nice present for your mom!

EG - it's a zoo out there. The groundhogs have done the most damage over the years. They can clean us out in a day. Then there are the rabbits, voles, squirrels, raccoons, and birds. I've seen the occasional coyote, but apparently there aren't enough around to keep the other critters under control. I'm sure the neighborhood cats would be all too pleased to plant something of their own given the chance. So far we haven't had any deer in the backyard yet, but I recently awoke to six of them nibbling at the greenery under my bedroom window at 5am. The only thing keeping them from the backyard is a 3 foot fence.

You wouldn't think New Jersey would be this lively, especially being less than 5 miles outside of NYC!

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BTW, to show how little I really know about gardening.... Today I noticed that the snap peas sprouted, 7 days after planting them.

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In the first post of this thread I posted a photo of what I had assumed was a pea sprout. I wonder what this little bugger really is. The tomato plants are wilting from all this rain, but at least the weeds(?) are good and healthy. ;-)

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ingenious, I am very impressed, and if one of my sons will do that for me when they are grown I will be able to say about me as a mother "job well done"
I have to say it will be great to see another person who is good at not only seeing away to overcome a problem, but can also translate this into a practical simple construction, with good notes on how to make it, I am a fan of Gardenenginer too, Shame I am not "allowed" to use power tools... I would be a danger to all...and myself very dysprasic, if the phone went, I would drill my ear!!!
so my next step is to get hubby to make me stuff, in less than 3 years!!! but I have found that if I walk passed him with an improbable tool such as say a large hammer, he asks what are you going to do? oh! put that shelf back up!, he is quicker than speedie gonzarles, collecting the correct tools and doing the job!!! know the next problem is how to get him to tidy up after??? 4yrs olds and power tools even worse conbination than me!!! found one of them, drilling a piece of wood into a tree yesterday!!! but I'm making a tree house mummy! ahhhhh, that said he had attached the wood to the tree, so maybe a minienginer in the making?

Steve - I've been to NJ a couple of times, and saw deer standing beside the road. They are everywhere....You've got alot of different critters to keep out, but it can still be done. Let me know if I can help.

EG

Sorry, am actually diagnosed dislexic and for some reason always saw your name as gardenengineer stupid, well I am a fan of you, cann't believe I hadn't seen my mistake? stupid stupid! keep up the good work. I even posted to you! I was so impressed, what an idiot I am! slap hand on forehead!

heather - that's ok....granny calls me "poopyhead" Ha!

EG

Yer my kid call me that poopy head too!, or "your not my best friend!"

I know granny is a forum member, I just forget to put the important stuff in!