Don't use window screen. Instead, use nursery ground cover or the weed fabric you put under stones or gravel.

Jerry

Why? please, Jerry.

How much were those panels? please.

Veronica

They were about $35 each - actually a little cheaper than the same amount of boards I would have to put together myself (somehow - I can barely figure out which end of the hammer you're supposed to hit the nail with, so any amount of already-put-togetherness is priceless to me)
I'm thinking, if I could somehow just attach some sort of end panels well enough to make them hold the whole shebang together, I could even paint these contraptions to match my house.
Anyway, any advice you guys could give me about this idea, or ideas you've tried in the past for cheap and easy raised beds, would be great!

To put them together maybe you could use some 4 x 4 cut down to the height you want. It seems to me that would be the easiest....of course I know absolutely nothing about building things so I could be completely off base.

My husband built me a raised bed a few years ago out of 2x12 boards leftover from a building project. I piled it 3 feet high with horse manure, let it rot for about 6 months. It made beautiful black compost that looked like fine potting soil, but didn't hold moisture well. My dad said I needed to add garden soil, so I did and that helped. The combination of too porous soil/compost, the added drainage from being a raised bed, the hot Florida sun, I just couldn't keep enough water in it. I gave up on raised beds. They probably work great in heavy clay soils, but not in Florida sand.

Window screens will allow the soil to leak through plus it is not too strong. The ground cover or weed mat won't rot and is stronger.

Jerry

Susan,

Very interesting about your experience. FYI, the Florida Rosarian, John A Starnes recommends that one adds a bag of plain cat litter to a 10 X 10 bed to help keep the soil moist. I found some at WM this last year for about $2.

Jerry, that is interesting, too. I have plans to build large containers for several of my roses. (I garden in a VERY shady lot that is built on limestone rock landfill and toxic rubble landfill. Hence, very little decent soil that also has sun.) I thought I would try making the first one out of pressure treated, about 4 X 6 X 2, with 4x4s for the corners and with two of those being about 8 feet high for trellising. And, to save labor and materials and because I know that roots are amazing things, I thought I would leave the bottoms open. Maybe just a little anchoring at the tall posts. So, I had been thinking of a way to keep the soil in rather then seeping through all the cracks and I had thought of stapling fiberglass window screen to the inside sides only, not the bottom. (Those roots again, don't ya know.)

I am also probably going to extend a low wall that goes over our ditch culvert with several pieces of concrete chunks and natural stones. This is so that I will have sort of an in ground planter for another rose. I had planned to lay a piece of the same screen over the inside of the wall before I back fill with soil.

I don't think that either of these plans will be a permanent solution, but if I get 3-5 years out of each, I will be happy. Maybe by then I will have hit the lottery and I will be able to buy some real dirt. Lol...

Karen,
Maybe you could take one more panel, cut it in half and use that for the ends. I know that you would need SOME form of corner bracing. That is why I will probably use 4x4s in the corners of my "box". I see you are in 9. May I ask where? I am in Thonotosassa.

Now, I thinking that a thick layer of that cat litter first might help the water stay a little longer.

Been working really hard and haven't been able to check in much. Also, still awaiting that fall rose flush. There are buds all over the place, though.

Veronica

my pops gave me some canvas and i have to warn you ....it stinks.....he says when its new you can smell the formaldehyde but the used stuff he gave me was enough to make me sick just driving it home. needless to say i wont use it for food production. the landscaping material sounds good but watering will be tricky.water.water.water. tar paper might work but then again i would want to study the MSDS first. but you know i was in home depot the othet day and say some thin sheet metal that caught my eye due to the price..it looks like the stuff used fore shed roofs, i think you could paint that as well. and you could zip through it easy.

Hi
I used 4x4's just stacked up to make an above ground pool . lined it with a fiber glass tarp. Has been up since 82. In Feb I relined it and was surprised to find the naterial still holding up!!. It had become overgrown with
marshmallow and brazilian pepper.
The smaller one I've used for a Canna bed for several years. Just cut some holes in the bottom . Still gets way to dry. I used 4x4 's rather than landscape timber as I had always intended to cover the outside with tile . Another 20 years or so I'll probably get that done lol. Whole 5x10 x 3 foot pool cost around 300 bucks. I made it 18 inches above ground so you could sit on the edge.
One tip be sure to get the first layer level and square .
the stacking error mounts up quickly lol gary

The old adage, "Don't guess, soil test!" has true meaning.
Before you plant anything , make sure you get a soil test done .
This will help you improve your yield - in plants and happiness .

Treated lumber, which resists decay, may be used with vegetables, although many organic gardeners refrain from using it due to a concern that the preservative may be harmful to health. There have been no conclusive studies to show that treated lumber poses any real danger.

Thanks for the post . I learned some interesting stuff here .

Thanks for all the great suggestions, you guys! I never would have thought about cat litter for water retention, and I didn't know about fiberglass tarp either. I'm a little chicken about the sheet metal; I've never tried to work with metal before. (Well, for that matter, I've never tried to work with wood either - first time for everything!)
For the end panels, I'm wondering if I could just use hinges, like they make for doors? I don't really know how much "pushing out" force all my little connections there would have to withstand. Dry dirt would just hang out all day without complaint, but one good thunderstorm could have heavy muddy compost busting out all over, I know.
I think I'm gonna just buy all the stuff to make one box and see how it goes. If it's awful; well, I've lost more money than that in one night of bingo!
Thanks for the feedback all!
Karen

PS - Thonotorose, I'm in Deland; it's west/southwest of Daytona, near Orlando.

What about corner pieces of molding? They look like they have the perfect shape to hold things together.

Molding - neat idea! I'm gonna ask the guys at (are we allowed to say "the box store that starts with an L?" I know we aren't supposed to mention any names! :) what they recommend and scour the aisles for more ideas.

I've tried red cedar treated with linseed (it rotted), concrete blocks (dried out too quickly) and various other things. Now I don't bother with siding. I just spade lots of compost into the planting area (I use mushroom compost, truckloads of it), level it, and smooth the sides of the bed to make them look neat and regular. The bed is about a foot or so higher than the surrounding paths, and the sides slope down at about a 45 degree angle. So it's truly a raised bed, just "sideless." It looks natural and costs nothing. It doesn't give snails and other bad things a place to hide. No assembly required.

Some vegetable gardener here on the Florida Forum gave me this idea a year or two ago. Maybe she'll post.

See Peter Chan's awesome book "Growing Vegetables the Chinese Way" for photos of this technique. The book's out of print, but still pretty easy to find on line.

Bill

Mounding, leveling and planting sounds like it would be right up my very lazy alley; but I'm hoping to trade work now for laziness later: if my plan works out, these beds will be nearly waist-high, and that would be so nice for weeding and tending that I've decided the present aggravation would be worth the hoped-for payoff. We'll see!

Karen

PS - And yes, I'm right there with you on the mushroom compost! I love, love, love that stuff! Everything I have right now (tomatoes, peppers, arugula, Swiss chard, spinach, romaine & Bibb lettuces, and some herbs) has been growing since October in mushroom compost just cut a little bit with plain sand and bark chips; and so far, these are the happiest plants I've ever managed to grow. I tell all the girls at work to get some mushroom compost, plant a seed in it, and JUMP BACK - because the plants will shoot up so fast and big! :)

Hi Karen . Welcome to another DeLandite ! Castorp and I - among others posting here are your DeLand neighbors .
I can vouch for Castorp's veggie beds . They are amazing !!! He has the perfect set-up . He is the King of tomatoes and for that matter - all that grows . Good luck with your raised beds . Mary