I’ve been moving a lot of dirt lately because it’s been so damn nice out here! And I figure it’s better to build the garden boxes now verses waiting until spring when I’ll be scrambling.
This is what our raised bed used to look like:
I mean when we got back from out year away they were overgrown with weeds. I called it my Rainbow Garden and had built it out of the ruined Pergo flooring from the basement that I pulled up after the 2014 Boulder Flood. It lasted pretty long if you ask me. And I personally liked it. But Rob really dispised it’s shotty craftsmanship. The posts weren’t dug in and only rested on top of the ground and I used nails not screws… So we tore it out this fall…
I spent ages scouring Pinterest for the best way to do some raised beds. I looked into redwood and cedar but it’s hard to find that at my salavage yard. It woulda taken ages for me to source enough material. I tried to get creative… maybe stones, or old metal garage door panels… but stones seemed like a lot of work and the garage door panels were still gonna be fairly expensive.
Then one day my boss, Clemente, told us that he needed to clean out the Trex section. And I asked him how much I could take 700 linear feet for. He thought about it for a second and said … “If you can keep that much out of our garbage dumpster you can have it for $20.” SOLD… I spent an entire day off working out in our lumber section sorting and collecting Trex. It was epic. That stuff is HEAVY. But it’ll last forever and from the research I did, won’t hurt my plants. I know it’s sawdust mixed with plastic but since most of this stuff is really old, it mostly done offgassing is what I figure… plus… $20?!
5 trips in the van later and I got it all back to the house. We’ll be able to fit 5- 8x4 beds, one 4x4 bed for my blackberry bush in the center that came up on its own accord, and then a 3x6 bed because that’s what fits. I also got extra to put some decking around our old hot tub pad and make that a more killer hangout space (future plans… gotta have em).
This is the first bed going in. I spent 2 days cutting all the Trex to size for the beds and Rob did the manual labor of digging the 4x4 posts (also sourced from ReSource) a foot into the ground. This is all in January… let’s just say the soil is not frozen!
First bed complete! And you can see how my reclaimed wood fence is coming along in the background!
We worked into the night on the 4x4 bed measuring it all out so that the boxes are even and level. Even the nights have been relatively warm so we could stay out and work like we would when it stays light until 9 in the peak of summer! We do need more lights in the backyard though…
A few days later and a few more boxes up!
For about $35 for the Trex, screws, and 4x4s from the salvage yard we have got some pretty sturdy, lifetime guarantee garden boxes. Now that’s what I’m talking about.
And then this showed up in the mail…
Oh goody! I get to start thinking about filling them up!
that's awesome! love that you prioritized salvaging something you could get locally and found something that will last even longer than redwood or cedar!Your beds look great! I can imagine a lush paradise there come spring :) well done!
Salvaging and keeping things out of the landfill is my thing, kinda like a part of me now. Mix that with gardening and I'm obsessed! Glad you like them as much as I do (;
Can't even wait for the "lush paradise" to sprout here! Imagining it already...
Hey, use what you can. I'm sure it's done off-gassing but still it's tough to justify (don't get me wrong, 35$ and saving something from going to the dump is the perfect justification) putting plastic in the garden where the sun lives freely. What dyou plan on putting in the beds? @lonestarpoet
Yeah it's a toss-up purests would certainly not want to use Trex but at the same time I figured for the price and the longevity it wouldn't shorten my lifespan any by growing veggies in beds made of Trex (;
I've got a long list of things to plant in them... I'm currently reading a book called, "Gardening When It Counts" and it's really thorough. I'm gonna try to follow what he suggests which means carrots, beets, radish and the like and then tomatoes, peppers... the 3x6 will be pretty much all asparagus... corn and vines like melons and squash won't be in the raised beds though. I'll write a post when the time comes (;
Thats some hard work done there, and late into the night. The gardening gods were on your side when they sent you the seeds. Yiu must have done it right!
Still cant believe the seed catalog showed up the day we finished ( :
Thats the way of the world!
That is a great idea and plans. I will have to try these beds out. Thanks for sharing.
pretty easy too do if the ground isn't frozen... make sure you get out a file and sharpen up your post hole digger and shovel for this one... it helps a lot to have sharp tools!
Nice! Can't have to many raised beds. looks like your going to be able to grow a lot of food in that area.😁
That's the hope... and more food than weeds I'm hoping too (;
Still have plans to add beds to the front yard... but maybe not for this coming season... I don't think I have enough trex!
That's a lot of work, but it looks like it's going to be amazing when it's all filled up! Thanks for sharing!
Lots of work is rewarding when you get to see what comes of it... and taste it too ( :
Thanks for checking it out!
Nice post dear
Thank You ( :
That is a lot of dirt.
Yeah 6 cubic yards of compost I got dumped a few years back and we carried it egyptian style in 5 gallon buckets into our backyard. We have a favorite story about it because during all the work in the late spring our roommate was lounging out on the deck drinking a lemonade and calls down to us... "I can't wait to eat some of those tomatoes on my eggs in the morning." All we could think was, "This guy is such a lazy bum watching us carry dirt, why should we share?!" But by the time those tomatoes came we certainly did... we had way too many (;
That's awesome.. it looks great
Thanks! I'm hoping a bunch of us Colorado folks might get to meet up when the Growhaus in Denver does their yearly seed-swap! I'll be there for sure ( :
Nice work!
Those look really well made. I bet that felt great when you got your hands on all those materials to finally build your raised beds. I'm not familiar with Trex. Is that the kind of new material they are using now for building decks?
Yeah it’s nice to have sturdy stuff... trex is fairly new I guess. It’s wood shavings and plastic melted together so it doesn’t rot and lasts forever... Goods and bads to it I guess
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Very nice job, you gave me a few ideas for spring gardening. I love the colorful fence in the background! The soil here is sandy and acidic, it needs reconditioning. We have to do raised beds or containers until the time comes when we feel the soil is ready. We tested areas with various planting’s and nothing did well...bummer🐓
Ruff, soil problems are a pain and take so long to fix. I have a garden in the corner of the yard that I tried to grow in for so long and finally gave up...I’m building a blacksmithing and pottery shed there instead! The ground right there I think is solid clay... thick and hard no plants ever grew but rhubarb...way to much of it(;
the raised beds that were in front of the other house were made of that recycled plastic mix - they're a dark grey, and did a great job of heating up to allow incredible pepper and tomato growth. keep in mind that heat retention when you get to planning & planting!
it is BEAUTIFUL and i am so excited to see it flourish here soon. fingers crossed that there's no weird late frost for you!
I didn’t think about the heat retention... that’ll be interesting to see! Latefrosts are possible but what I usually do when that happens is stick a 5 gallon bucket of vety hot water in/over the beds and cover them with sheets and that seems to have never let me down. That thermal mass seems to do the job over night every time(:
We built our big raised bed with cinder blocks. The real savings comes and never having to replace them.
If only the weather would allow us to get out and work this time of year, especially into the night! I'm just dying to get out there and get dirt under my fingernails! 🌱
I feel really blessed with the weather we’ve been having...although it’s bit too droughty... we really need to get some snowpack in the mountains!!!
Ugh, my yard is all mud. I was hoping it would dry out a little this week end, but it’s raining right now, so I guess that’s a no-go. I guess one person’s problem is the next person’s solution.
send some our way (colorado) (;
If only I could afford the postage!😁