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| One of the first raised beds built |
I love raised beds. They are so easy to work in. Every year, before I had them I had to have my husband plow up the garden area. We don't use a rototiller because we don't like the gasoline fumes on our dirt or garden area. Plus, he doesn't like breathing it either. First he built the ones that were out of wood. And I loved them too. Of course, they were the first ones I had.
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| This raised bed, I built carrying rock from the paddock myself. |
I can use our wheel hoe to plow it up. Then they are ready. Sometimes we add more compost to them. We have a huge pile of compost, but that is another post. I started building this rock raised bed in 2002. What I did wrong was to make it too wide. If it is too wide you can't plant, harvest or weed the center very easily. You really don't want to walk in them and pack the dirt down. This bed has produced very well whatever is grown in it. Just can't get to the center easily, so I don't fill it up there.
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| Some more beds made of rock. |
The Jurassic Bed named by my friend, Jamie
This bed, the Jurassic bed is so named because the plants that grow in it become HUGE! I am not kidding. I have been growing summer squash, zucchini and pumpkin in it. The plants have room to roam because it is in the back yard but further back than our house and lawn area. This bed is half rock and half cinder block. It is an awesome bed and I love it.
The snake bed
This bed stretches out pretty far. It is slender enough that it is easy to reach across the whole bed to pick something or to weed. I have found this bed to be fun to work in. It is near the forest and we have some huge trees in the yard too. So it is shaded but gets plenty of sun too.
Food growing everywhere!
This coming year, I hope to really increase my gardens. I plan on producing a lot of food. I feel that this is the best thing I can do for us. Especially with the prices of food in the stores. I will be doubly busy this year. What about you? You could easily build a raised bed out of something to raise some food in. Gardening is fun and if you have children, you need to teach them how to do it. They usually love it! And you are preparing them for the future. When they are grown and on their own, you never know what will happen and they might have to grow a garden to survive. Shouldn't that come from you?
Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
5 comments:
Awesome pictures. I plan to do this someday, as the rock holds that much needed warmth. Thanks for the visual ideas. What beautiful rock. We have lots of rock too, but it's river rock. Round, and harder to stack.
I love the look of the stone raised beds. I made one for flowers long ago. I would convert it to food, but it is in the shade most of the day. My wooden raised bed is falling apart.
My raised beds made of wood had to be rebuilt as they rotted and fell apart too. Some people use treated wood, but we don't want treated wood in our garden. The rock is much better and one of the best things is that if you move, you can take them with you! Thanks for stopping by my blog! Happy New Year!
I love this idea. My great grandfather, who was a landscaper, and built the house I live in, used broken concrete (he was a very *frugal* man, and used everything second hand or free), in TONS of raised flower beds. We have them littering our yard. My goal is to rip out all of the little shrubs he planted (to reduce having to plant and replant every year) and to use them as vegetable beds. I love your blog-- it has the gears of my mind just turning...
Thank you, McNutt! It is easy to come up with a million ideas to repurpose different items around a homestead.
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