The Gardening Chronicles, part 1: The Construction of the Raised Beds

Good morning, dear readers!  It's a lovely Monday morning here in North San Diego county and should actually get up into the 70s today!  Woot!  However, I am still reeling from the time change yesterday.  Seriously, can we just ditch Daylight Saving Time already and be done with it?  If you agree, you should go sign this petition to the White House to abolish DST:  https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/eliminate-bi-annual-time-change-caused-daylight-savings-time/ShChxpKh

So far the only benefit to the time change is that the boy slept until 7 instead of getting up at 6 like he has been.  Never mind the fact that new 7 was old 6 and I'm still an exhausted zombie, but, damn it, he slept until 7.

BREAKING NEWS:  While I was typing the above paragraph, we had an earthquake.  A tiny one, to be sure, but still a nice little jolt.  I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Anyway, despite all of this, we had a good weekend.  Our big project was getting the materials for at least one of my new raised garden beds and attempting to assemble the sucker.  To be fair, most of the construction work would be done by Hubby.  He's pretty damn great.

After weeks of research and multiple postings on multiple gardening message boards, I finally decided on what we needed for the beds.  This was no easy task, as there are a lot of options and lots of pros and cons to each option.  For the record, my beds are going to be 4ft wide, 6ft long, and 1 foot deep.

Option 1:  Pressure treated lumber.  This is a matter of some controversy in the gardening world.  Until fairly recently (within the last 10 years), treated lumber was treated with a variety of chemicals including arsenic.  Some people claimed that if you used PTL (pressure treated lumber) for garden beds, the chemicals would leach into the soil and into your veggies/fruits.  No good, right?  Well, they no longer use arsenic in treating PTL, but it's still chemically saturated, and there is still some debate if those chemicals will leach into the soil and if they are safe.  The common consensus is they are safe, but it's up to you to make that decision.  For me, the idea of using chemically treated wood in my garden gave me the heebie jeebies.  However, PTL is more pest and rot resistant and more widely available and fairly cost effective.  Do your own research and decide what would work best for you.

Option 2:  Non-treated lumber.  No icky chemicals, fairly cost efficient and accessible, etc.  However, more susceptible to rot and pests and will probably need to be replaced in a few years, depending on where you live.

Option 3:  Cedar or Redwood.  Both are highly recommended (cedar more so than redwood) for garden beds as they are rot resistant and pest resistant hardwoods.  However, they can be pricey.  Redwood boards were nearly twice the cost of untreated pine, and I couldn't even find cedar lumber at Home Depot or Lowes to price it out.  For cedar boards, I would have had to go to a lumber yard and it would have been expensive.  However, cedar beds will last a hell of a long time (decades, even) and you don't have to worry about chemicals.  I would LOVE to use cedar, but, well, we're broke.

Option 4:  DIY Kits.  You can find raised bed kits on-line or at garden centers.  They're expensive, but give you everything you need.  However, for the cost, just build them yourself.  Save yourself some money, people.

Option 5:  Everything else.  People make raised beds out of concrete blocks, old tractor tires, railroad ties, bales of straw, etc, etc.

So, on Sunday, we loaded the kids into the car and headed off to Home Depot.  I had decided to use untreated Douglas Fir boards, 2 inches x 12 inches x 12 feet, and have the boards cut down to build the 4ft x 6ft bed.  So, I would need 3 boards at a cost of approximately $15 a board.  Plus, we would need corner posts and deck screws.

Then, while wandering around the lumber department, I stumbled across a solution that seemed so simple that I figured I must be missing something.  Seriously, how is this not being shouted about from every gardening blog imaginable?

Get this:  Untreated, CEDAR boards, measuring 1 inch x 6 inches x 6 feet, for $2 EACH!  Wait, what?  That can't be right, can it?  How is this even possible?

Okay, here's the secret.....

Wait for it.....

It's......

FENCING SLATS!

Yeah, you read that right.  Seriously.  Damned fencing slats.  How is this not the go-to option when you're trying to save money?  Okay, so they're only 1 inch thick.  I don't see why that's going to be a problem, and if for some reason the sides start to buckle under pressure from the soil (which I don't think will happen), then it's no big deal to run to Home Depot, but some more boards and double them up.  No harm, no foul.  And, yeah, okay, the ends of the slats are angled.  Whatever, just have Home Depot square them up.  You'll be an inch or so short of 6 feet, but let's not get picky here, folks.

So, for a 4 x 6 x 1 bed, we needed 8 fencing slats.  Adam was able to find an untreated cedar 4 inch x 4 inch x 8 foot post for the corners.  And a pack of deck screws.  Home Depot was kind enough to cut the wood down for FREE, so Hubby didn't even have to break out the table saw.  Four of the boards he had cut down to 4 foot lengths.  The other 4, he had them square off the ends.  The corner post, he had cut into 18 inch lengths (so we got 5, plus a bit left over).  Total cost for the materials, plus tax:  $32.35!

Then, once Hubby got home with the stuff, he got to work.  It took him all of about 45 minutes to put the first bed together, and that included a break to get a drink and also stopping to take pictures (He didn't get all the pictures I wanted, but I'll fill in the gaps when we make the other bed this weekend.)  Now, this doesn't include actually installing it or filling it or anything, just the construction.  It's still sitting on my patio.

This is what Hubby did:

1.  To make the ends of the beds, he attached two of the 4-foot pieces to 2 of the posts, leaving 6 inches of post below as he's going to sink those into the ground for stability.  Obviously, we used 2 pieces of fencing since we want the beds to be 1 foot deep and the fencing was only 6 inches.  He left a small gap in between the pieces of fencing to allow space for the wood to expand.  He used 2 screws per end of fencing.

2.  Next, he attached the long sides of the bed.  Same deal, 2 screws per piece at each end, leaving a gap in between the boards.

3.  Flip the thing over and repeat on the other side.

Ta da!  It is finished!

Don't forget that when this is installed, the bottom 6 inches of the posts will be sunk into the ground, so the bottom of the slats will actually be at ground level.  Make sense?

So, that's it for now.  Stay tuned next week for the installation and prepping process.  I still have to prep the plot of land, get and install some wire mesh to keep the gophers from coming up under neath, and then I'm planning on lining the bottom of the bed with cardboard and old palm fronds.  I don't know if we'll get the dirt this weekend or not, but once we get the soil in, we'll be ready to plant the strawberries.  The tomato and cucumber seedlings probably need another couple of weeks of nursery care first!

Yay!  I'm so excited!