| Project by Napaman | posted 494 days ago | 606 views | 2 times favorited | 11 comments |  |
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We completed this raised garden bed in the Spring and as you can see it is growing up nicely! I never posted it because I had a couple “fixes” to take care of which I finally completed a couple weeks ago…
Yhis project is part of a larger back yard make over that we are trying to do on our own…last summer was about taking apart what was here and starting in the spring we started building back up…
The bed i
The bed is made out of 1×6 Composite Redwood Decking…and measures 10’ x 15’. And the decking is screwed into 4×4 Cedar posts that we sunk in the ground without any cement…we dug them deep and then packed them hard with several inches of rock around the bottom and sides…then shored them up with packing in dirt…they feel very sturdy and since they only come out of the ground about a foot I think they will be ok over time. We did not seal the posts with anything…did not think of anything so eventually they will have to be replaced…but I am hoping the hold up for a few years…
We are already harvesting salad, zuchini, yellow squash nightly…there are about 8 pumpkings growing and the string beans have climbed their “trellis” and starting to produce but they are tiny…we have about six different tomato varieties and the same with pepers…pickling cucumbers and dill will fill many jars I hope…and we have onions and carots coming…
The “fix” i had to take care of…the decking sections were very long and with the heat they flexed more then I thought they wood…so the third photo shows a piece of redwood that I screwed into (each section) the decking to pull them together and now it looks much nicer…I may still go back and do something fancier with the posts—they are all different lengths but we will wait until the fall when everything dies back before we make any more modifications…
Thanks for looking…its a lot of fun to go out each day and see what is new or grown over night…I really think the girls will get excited as the pumpkins grow…and we get closer to Halloween (but may that day not come toooo quickly—-at least the time from now to August 15th—-after that it can go REALLY FAST to Halloween…)
Matt
-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...
11 comments so far
lew
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posted 494 days ago
Sweet! Can’t wait to taste those tomatoes!!!!
Lew
thetimberkid
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posted 494 days ago
Great job!
Thanks for the post
Callum
-- For wood working podcasts with a twist check out http://thetimberkid.com/
Llarian
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75 posts in 503 days
posted 494 days ago
Your raised beds are doing much better than mine. We had a cold wet spring and everything seems stunted.
Oh well, maybe next year. =) I like the idea of using composite. I just used big box 2×12 and 4×4 for mine, but they seem sturdy enough to last several years.
-- Dylan Vanderhoof - General hobbiest and reluctant penmaker. http://llarian.etsy.com
Beginningwoodworker
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posted 494 days ago
Thats a nice looking raise bed.
-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker
Larry
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posted 494 days ago
Great job – I want to do that also. My garden is totally flat. But I would need some really long planks – over 20’ and about 14 of them. That is a lot of money. My youngest son tore down an old chicken coop – over 75 years old. He had 4 – 12” x 12” x 16’very good planks. He was going to have them hauled off. I advised against it and spread around the word that they were available. They sold for $75 each. Should of kept my mouth shut and told him I would haul them off. Would of worked great in my garden. Anyhow your garden looks great.
-- "Have you hugged your pet today?" ---------- Larry
jockmike2
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7322 posts in 1142 days
posted 494 days ago
Nice garden Man, it’ll taste even better coming out of your own garden. I promise.
-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com
RAH
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posted 494 days ago
Nice garden, now you need to sign up at “Garden Tenders”. I did not see any grape vines how are you going to make wine?
-- Ron Central, CA
Napaman
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3488 posts in 973 days
posted 493 days ago
hahaha…no wine grapes Ron…but on another section of the yard I am going to build a trellis…for screening…then grow something up it…but grape vines die back in the winter…so we would lose our screening…not sure what we will grow…but that project is far off for now…
Mike—-your soooo right how good the fresh vegis taste…last year we ripped out an old garden bed as we began this sloooooow back yard make over…and it is so nice to have a garden again…
Larrry—-holy cow! I wonder how much that wood cost 75 years ago…amazing…I am sure that planks that big would cost hundreds if bought today…if you can get them…crazy…
-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...
motthunter
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posted 493 days ago
now you made me hungry. looks great
-- making sawdust....
Mark Shymanski
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posted 493 days ago
Great garden. I like the idea of a raised bed, but we went with a flat bed here. The kids love going out to check on the garden here too. Our radishes are done already (we bought what was supposed to be a mild variety…sure mild if you’re a firebreathing dragon :-), now we are waiting for the peas cucumbers and corn to come in.
I hate to bring it up but when does term start up? I’m going on holidays next week for my meagre two weeks (sometime I really miss the education world) where I hope to get a new project started.
Garden looks great, it really looks like your backyard reno is coming along well this summer, congratulations.
-- ...it's rennovation time!!!
Napaman
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3488 posts in 973 days
posted 493 days ago
we start going back to work “officially” around the 15th…I think the semester (day one with students is around the 18th or 21st??? of august)....
Thanks for all the comments…
-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...