We Filled ALL 21 Raised Beds with AMAZING Compost And Saved a Ton of Money!
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Living Traditions Homestead is all about living a simple and sustainable way of life. We believe the world has gotten too “busy” and that people are missing out on many of the true blessings this world has to offer. We started as a small urban homestead in Gilbert, AZ and after the city grew up around us, decided it was time leave corporate America and take a big leap of faith by moving our family to the Missouri Ozarks.
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PLEASE, PLEASE plant a cover crop now or next spring you will have dead soil/microbe's and no heathy plants
Please please put clay 3/4 to the top of the bed because compost will shrink 1/2 it’s size in one year worms will eat it all up and you will be lacking minerals which you can only get from your clays and stones as they weather the worms bring them to the top
Are these shipped from overseas? My card got a fraud alert on the international purchase.
@@karenhudson8862I've tried 4 different cards and nothing will go thru.... been trying to get someone to call me.. they said their landline isn't working. . The person emails me back telling me to break it down into 3 purchases.. and possibly send them a picture of my cards 😂 Are we getting scammed... nothing has gone thru in any of my cards yet.. but now I wonder if I need to get all my numbers changed. Holy moly. Ridiculous. I really really really liked these planters... and on sale currently... hmpffffff
Thank you! I just ordered 6 of the same garden bed through your link, love the savings. No shipping charges, great deal! I also ordered the weed fabric, lots of pots etc... through your link, more $'s saved. Thank you!
Fortunate is the man who has a wife that’s right there to work by his side. Love you two. Praying that God blesses your efforts.
What about using the last area of the old covered area next to your new raised beds to plant just perennial flowers. It would be a great area to bring bees and butterflies to your garden area too! And also an area where you can have cut flowers - maybe even to bring to the farmers market! I love watching you guys! God bless you and your family.
This is brilliant in several ways! Beauty! food for Polinators! Fragrance! Gifts! Poporrderi(sp?)! Dried Flowers! Added income stream! Mail order Lavender both for Cooking , Scent, and Decoration, Oh just how wonderful! Grateful for finding you. All the best
I left stands of clover right next to my garden just for this reason.....I still had a awful year...the only thing I got was about,3 messes of Red Bean's.... absolutely nothing else out of 8 rows 😢😢😢
@@conniepitts8392 😢
I purchased those very same raised beds last Fall. I planted in them this Spring. The only thing I regret is not putting hardwire cloth under them. I ended up with rats getting into a few of them. I plan to take the soil out and do that before replanting next Spring.
What you guys have done is every gardeners dream, so beautiful, I can’t wait to see your harvest next year. So happy for you
Agreed ❤
PLEASE, PLEASE plant a cover crop now or next spring you will have dead soil/microbe's and no heathy plants
You’ve got that right, a dream 😊
The raised beds are great. To save on soil, its great to fill the bottom of the beds with logs branches grass and leaves.
I place a row of car board and sticks and fill with leaves in new raised beds in fall and fill overfill with dirt wet the whole thing and fill again in spring with compost.
It works well, but you will have a lot more settling as the logs break down, even years later. For the price I think compost is a good idea here to avoid heavy settling later.
So excited for you guys. Wish my spouse would get on board with the homestead life. It's ok that I do it and they eat it but little to no help with activities or care of the homestead. It gets overwhelming and exhausting doing it alone and working but I keep on keeping on for the kids and the hope that they will wake up one day and join in. 😂
I feel your pain. My husband does nothing to help, but is more than willing to let me start seeds, plant, nourish, weed, pick, preserve, cook, etc. It gets exhausting doing my share of the farm, AND his, while he gets glued to his tablet, watching movies. Sigh. 😐 AND, I do the mowing (4acres), trimming, hauling, repairs, animals, etc. He will help me (usually), if I specifically ask, but still grumbles. I'm 70 yo, 7 years older than he, and have numerous health issues. He's perfectly strong and healthy, but lazy.
@@susanmcconnell6041 Take a year off where you can (of course animals need tending too). Once he sees you are not doing what you used to do, and the pantry is not being refilled, he'll ask why, all you have to say is," I'm getting too old for this, and without help, I've decided to retire from gardening, other than my flowers. Sorry, honey, I just can't do it anymore, we can buy at the Farmer's Markets. Oh, and I'm thinking of budgeting for someone to come in to mow the property, so I can enjoy my retirement". lol One shopping trip to the grocers, where he'll get an awakening of just how expensive it is, the cost of the trip to and from the grocers, and having to pay someone to come in and tend to the property, and the money that will be spent at the Farmer's Markets, he'll either start helping or not. lol You shouldn't have to ask for help. Good Luck.
Oh gosh…i cannot agree more. And those life tips will be an eye opener for sure. I always tell myself that by the end of any labor sessions of either mowing the lawn, landscaping or tending to crops, theres a satisfaction & you gave yourself a whole body to shoulder exercise that will benefit your health in the future and make you both mentally & physically alert and stronger.
Make them join in. Your discipline (guidance) will teach them self-discipline. And they'll end up liking the work. Labor is life fulfilling.
Looks great. My biggest challenge was how I was going to fill my bed as well. I ended up using fine mulched leaves from my property filled halfway up, top dressing with compost.
ALSO U can use cardboard boxes toilet paper and paper towel rollers, newspaper, cardboard egg cartons. Those are the brown parts (carbon ) of the composting recipe. And you can also put in "Green" stuff (nitrogen, but not always green) like kitchen scraps, dry grass clippings, too. And if you get the chance, I would fill it up and a bit higher than top of bed because it is going to rot way way down. If you need anything, let me know. I really good at scrounging up stuff for the garden. Many grand blessings everyone everywhere and always.
Thank you! ❤️
@@mariae6942 my pleasure and anytime and delighted to help. 👍👍 Many grand blessings everyone everywhere and always
Hugelkultur will save time and money 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 wait until you wet the soil settles about four inches 🥹Looking so beautiful!!
You guy's are doing a great work on your new home, property, I guess. I whatch yesterday when your new house was being set up. I know the videos I'm watching not in order. Glad to see you guys are getting set up 😂❤
I would still add tree trimming or small logs, limbs to the bottom of each of your beds, Hügelkultur style.
So cool. It seems that a lot of people are switching their gardens into raised beds. So much easier to control. Less weeds. Cant wait to see how the new garden grows. Lol. 💜. Some people added branches, cardboard and other compostable materials in the bottoms of the beds. It takes a lot of soil to fill all of those beds.
Yes we used logs hay and cardboard
It seems that these beds are not as deep as those where I have seen people use wood scraps in the bottom. I was actually kind of surprised at the size Kevin and Sarah chose..having watched them garden for a few years I cannot imagine this will be enough space for the amounts they grow, unless they intend to cut down.
Since they are going so well in the greenhouse and are putting freeze dried food up I think it has given them a lot of freedom to scale down the outdoor garden. 21 is a big investment, but if it's not enough they can always expand next year. The better soil will help yields immensely.
How will you be irrigating the beds? It would be nice to see a video showing how you’ll be doing that.
I saw ppl using their old plastic bottles & jugs. Makes sense to me... the main reason for putting things in the bottom is to raise level of garden. In the 80s I watch a guy do square foot garden method. Bartholomew??? He explained several benefits (never walk on the bed to help earth stay soft). I did some container gardening back then. Now I'm OLD. Raised beds & containers make Sense
In our experience the steel raised beds will at least double the yields from the garden (or more) and significantly reduce the amount of work. The biggest challenge for us was watering by hand the first year. Last year we designed a custom irrigation system using PVC buried pipe, PVC risers, and drip tape in each bed. It worked like a charm. We ordered six more beds this year for a total of 18 all together. We make our own compost from leaves, garden, kitchen, and yard waste as our property is heavily wooded. I rotate the open compost piles with my tractor. We used smaller 3 x 6 galvanized steel beds from Northern Tool and Equipment. They are on sale once in a while for around $42.
Great comment! Thanks for the info!
You guys drill drainage holes in the containers?
Why is seeing those containers filled with soil the most exciting and gratifying thing I've seen in a long time? Love it.
Looks great! We switched to raised beds 20+ years ago due to health issues... we've never looked back! Y'all will love it. Blessings ❤
Do you think raised beds help with back pain?
@@secretjourney4815 absolutely, I'm a 6x cancer conqueror and for a time I couldn't get off the ground... my hubbie made me raised beds and I could sit in the side and garden with my oxygen and IV's and I was good. I also was in a wreck about 10 years ago, was hit from behind and it broke my neck and back in 2 places... sooo the 17" table beds are perfect for me... we also have horse water troughs and they are great as well. Blessings
Love your methodical process. Over time one of the best parts of your vlog is the fact that you guys finish what you start before you start another big project.
Once you pull up the old landscape fabric, you could scatter wildflower seeds. Also, you could put two or three of your round containers in each corner and fill them with flowers to attract pollinators. Everything looks lovely!
Looks great! I think I'd be tempted to drop a few earthworms into each raised bed. Will you lay out drip irrigation as well? The grid of hoses would be an interesting challenge. I wonder if you could suspend the main lines overhead and drop down into each bed, to keep from having them running along the ground. If you used a sturdy suspension system, it could double as a support for trellises.
It's amazing but worms still cone up through the weed fabric. I've watched them. Although yes, I deliberately add a worm or 2 in my raised beds
If anyone is looking for other ideas: filling bottoms of raised beds with free old logs/sticks, then free manure, and then a couple inches of good compost on top would be much cheaper and add more nutrients. The logs will break down and decompose and you just add a little compost on top each year from your stash.
May I suggest using cover crops to keep your soil covered this winter. The soil microbes are always happier when there is a crop photosynthesizing in the soil. I use White Dutch Clover, but there are many inexpensive choices. Next spring, you can turn it under for green manure, or cut it back to the ground and use it for mulch or compost. Cover crops are a cheap way to prevent erosion and add valuable nutrients to the soil.
Yep never leave your soil uncovered all season. Does the clover reseed itself in the beds ?
@@elainevang9114 No, it is removed before it goes to seed.
Grow alfalfa to enrich the soil with nitrogen
If those beds are 100% compost, a covercrop is a zero-sum game. The CC will simply deplete the nutrition in the compost unless fertilized. They may get a small net gain with above & below organic mass. Hard to say. If those beds had 12" or so of real dirt, covercropping would make sense. They might as well cover the top of the bedds with mulch to overwinter & either buy compost in the spring or start their own composting operation to feed those beds. They are on the compost treadmill now.
@@flatsville9343 Actually, White Dutch Clover is a legume that fixes nitrogen in the soil. It shouldn't need fertilizer.
FYI, be prepared for the weeds in the spring and summer. I have 8 beds that are 30” tall. Mulch, mulch, mulch, but you will still have to pull weeds. It’s just part of gardening. My garden yields increased exponentially.
Raised beds are probably easier as you get older, but I love my dirt garden. My pumpkins are huge this year and it is the first year I have raised them. So excited I have a pumpkin patch this year!
I have raised beds and still plant pumpkins on the ground. It just feels like pumpkins are meant to be sprawling all over the ground.
pumpkins can be planted in the raised bed for the good soil, and the vines trained to sprawl along the ground....I would prob put them in one of the outside beds where they have extra space.
I love how much thought you two put in to all your projects! It looks beautiful❤
I added redwigglers to my raised beds. They are very happy to help and are doing great 😊!
This is the time of Year that I go on a Campaign to Liberate Red Wiggler Worms from the small refrigerators in Corner Deli Stores near Lakes & River which are plentiful in Northern Ohio. I seed my Raised Garden Beds when I first establish them with one container of RRW's per 4' X 8' X 2' (64 sq. ft.), adding a 2nd container of RWW's the following Spring and half of a container in the Spring of the 3rd year. I additional sprinkle them sparingly in the regular Flower & Shrub Beds and on the Lawn area. Red Wiggler Worms are prolific at reproducing and usually you will not have to add anymore after the third year. Beware that RWW's will wiggle away from Chemicals. Respect their Wisdom, they have been here longer then us.
You can use a worm tower to put your kitchen scraps in and it's sits vertically in each bed. Do a search for worm towers in raiised beds. It is about a four inch pvc pipe (from what I remember). The part that goes into the soil has circles cut in so the worms crawl in and out. You put something on top to keep flies and other bugs out.
The best time is NOW to put fertilizer on top of the compost - before the rains. Fall rains will trickle down the fertilizer to the root zones, and any further settling of the compost, and topping off the beds, will have the proper depth of fertilizer layer in Spring - for planting.
I put wheat straw bales in my raised beds and then 6" of compost on top. Each year it settles so I add leaves and food scraps in the off season and a little more compost at next planting.
Raised beds is the only way to go Switched myself three years ago You’re going to love the results
Just curious as to why, with such a large property as yours, that you don't have your own composting area? With all the animal clean out, grass clippings and dried leaves that will soon fall, you can have an excellent no food scrap compost to amend beds next year. Mix in a half yard of that purchased compost and let the worms and critters do their work. I don't recall you guys ever addressing this in a video.
I thought the same to be honest. My garden is 1/3 the size of theirs, and I have never bought compost, and just make it myself with leaves, table scraps, grass clippings and used coffee grinds. I also put lots of branches, sticks, leaves etc to fill up half of the beds before I add compost, and I use cardboard on base instead of weed fabric, to really make it inexpensive.
Compost is gold.
They do have a composting area where they put their manure and scraps and let the chickens turn it. They've done a video on it within the last couple of months. 😊
@@cookingsherry8784 Yes, they did finally put out a video of their new compost area after my comment was made.🙂
@@honeycakes1693 black gold. 🖤
The prettier I made my garden area the more I absolutely loved and enjoyed it. It all looks WONDERFUL GUYS!
The garden looks amazing! Have you thought about putting a raised bed by your house? A kitchen garden, with the herbs you use most often in cooking ready at hand; I know you mentioned planting the herbs in that garden, but perhaps you use some on a daily basis... just a thought! I love your shirt messages, by the way!😉
just off-camera is the house actually....so not too far of a walk to the garden :)
@@sewingstoryprojects6178 Unless it's raining, hailing, storming, tornado-ing, or blistering hot - then that walk might seem too far.🤣🤣
@@stephanieh.777Lolol. Blessings everyone everywhere
Looks wonderful. I was surprised how much my soil settled the first year. was wondering if you should leave a section of the logs open to get a wheelbarrow in for refilling beds and harvesting lots of produce. I would be so excited for spring looking out at that every day.
Maybe they should have put more space between the 3 columns so they could drive the tractor in between them? Meaning the outside columns would be closer to the edge. Then, they could easily add compost to each end of the tub from the tractor bucket. Also use the tractor to bring in spring potted plants. When the season is over, pull out the old plants and into the tractor bucket. I avoid wheel barrels when I can. Just a lazy persons thought?
@@texancowboy9988 lazy is sometimes called just plain sensible you know. I'm kinda crippled so labor savers mean I get to garden myself. Many grand blessings everyone everywhere and always
@@texancowboy9988 work smarter, not harder!
Just make a small ramp to run a wheel barrel over or small lawn mower with a trailer or ATV.
I could sense Sarah’s joy getting her hands in the amazing soil. Beautiful job!
Rocks and clay? Sounds like the Poconos where we live. We have raised beds, configuration was shorter in length, but wider to hold a larger area, plus we left the bottoms open to facilitate the contact with the ground to allow the worms, bacteria, nematodes and protozoans free access to our organic growing materials in the beds. We do have fruit trees and berry bushes planted directly in the ground, but our vegetables will be in the raised beds. Funny that we also have 21 raised beds as well. Just in four areas on our homestead, not all in a row.
I would cover the compost in the raised beds with wet cardboard to keep weed seeds out.
I love what you’ve done with the place! Excellent job!!! That was a lot of hard work that will absolutely pay off in the future! I’m kind of surprised that you made the wood border all the way around, though. I would’ve thought you would leave at least one of the wood planks absent so that you could get wheel barrels, wagons, and if need be the tractor in there a little more easily. But, you do you! I can’t wait to see how this turns out for you! 💙💙💙
They could use boards as ramps as needed.
Love the effort in planning and execution of everything you guys do. It’s professional in appearance, neat and efficient. Why many homesteaders don’t take the time to do their homework & take the time to establish greater permanence w/their setups - I do not understand. As you both know in the long run it saves money and time, while looking decent and in good order. God richly bless you both & ur new creative homestead avenues.
I think many don’t do it because the initial cost is so much. These beds cost around $160 each.
@@lindabolden3223Not including the weed fabric.
You had more space for more beds! You should finish it with wood chips on top of the black weed fabric. Wood chips feel good under your feet.
There’s a guy I’ve used near Seymour who claims he’s selling compost that’s supplemented with natural fertilizers but the quality was inconsistent and his delivery charge almost doubled over a 6 year span to our farm near Mountain Grove which is 30 miles. So when his delivery charge got to $75 for a 10 yard load we gave up on using them. Your deal looks a lot better depending on distances. Folks from other areas don’t realize our state crop here in the Missouri Ozark’s is rocks. We aren’t blessed with the great soil they have up north or over near the Mississippi River.
I just love to watch how well you two work together. You are quite the team!! Congratulations on the new beds!
Cover your left over compost so weeds don’t grow ver the winter
A little tip when using staples. If you hold one prong in your left hand and one in your right, and stretch the staples out a little. Then with one hand, push it back to its original opening then hammer in the staple staple will want to spring out while in the ground, making it much harder for it to come back up. If you just hammered straight in, it is easier for the staple to come back up.
I used city compost in my raised bed. I think it is contaminated with grazon / local people’s weed killer. My tomatoes had terrible leaf curl and really slow to ripen. I now have started my own compost .
I am so happy for you both! The compost looks amazing and lovin' your layout. I'm taking a few notes for my own future garden. Thank you for sharing your life and giving me inspiration that I can use for my own small garden.
I ordered four from your web site. I've received all of them and getting ready to assemble them getting ready for next spring! All the best to you all. I saw the steam as he dumped it. Compost looks amazing. So excited for you all. Great system and looks so good! You all have made me want to get busy on mine! lol All the best to you both and thank you for sharing. I wondered how much was left. Wow, this looks great! All the best!
@@martymalinowski6352 I received them (4) in less than a week. Very nice and I’m ready to begin putting together. All the best!
If you would have started with a base layer of top soil it would have prevented you from having to get a full truck load of that compost every year. Compost breaks down fast within one season, if there is top soil underneath keeps the beds from shrinking down so much every year. You also should have over filled the beds as it will compact by half after a heavy rain.
I just have a small city garden but because of my knees, back, and husband in wheelchair, everything I do is in raised beds and large buckets (the mineral buckets from friend's cows). My driveway stays covered in the spring/summer.
Really enjoyed watching. You are so organized and efficient. Can't wait to see spring planting.
You guys work so well together and I like the way you think out all the pro and cons when it comes to all your projects . The new raised beds area looks great.
Be nice to add a few more beds along outside perimeter on 1 side to plant flowers to bring pollinators to your veggie garden.
When I hit 60 years of age, I started doing raised gardening. So much easier on my back and less problems with rodents!
Looks really good! I can't wait to see them full of plants. I am blessed with both a nice back yard while living in an apartment and a son with a sawmill, so I have been making small, raised beds out of wood that are tall and bottomless, that fit nicely around my fence. I designed them small enough that I can use them to compost the yard debris under soil I buy and move them around as needed.
Looks so organized and beautiful. Just wondering are you going to mulch the beds before winter to help retain soil and nutrients? Also just thinking ahead maybe make a "ramp" of sorts for wheelbarrow or carts to get over the wood come season. Again looks amazing!
I'm wondering the same thing. I'd want to cover them in case seeds take hold and I have to deal with it in early spring but they'll probably get out there early.
I love the looks of the raised beds but I still wish all of that was inside a big gigantic greenhouse like the other greenhouse that you have.
Awesome! I’d tarp that compost over winter so weeds don’t come up in the spring.
I love how organized and intentional you guys are! The area looks amazing & will be even more so when overflowing with all the green things 💚
What a beautiful garden space! Can’t wait to see them next spring as the plants start to grow! Well done
you can also fill the bottom of your beds with grass clippings and leaves twigs and small branches it helps with not buying so much compost and soil
Fabutasticly Groovy guys ..I cannot wait to see what’s next!
I am so thankful your doing this transition. It’s going to help me so much when planning my own. Finding the compost source alone is a weight lifted. Thank you so much!
It looks amazing! We love our raised beds so much and have had wonderful results over the years. Kevin’s shirt is awesome😂
I am in rhe very windy Thumb of Michigan. Tip: when installing your staples, alternate their direction. So one staple north south, next east west, repeat. Otherwise, if a wind gust lifts a corner, it will act like a zipper and lift a large area. I learned the hard way...😢
We have very rocky clay soil here, too. Several years ago, we went to all container gardening and it has been an amazing lifesaver!! We even bought containers just like yours and put them on that same landscape fabric. We also built rows of boxes and put up cattle panel fences behind them for the climbing vegetables. It is fabulous, lots of harvest, plus nice and neat to look at, with no weeding!!! Then we installed an automatic watering system. Beautiful garden, no bending, no weeding, no watering, just harvesting. Awesome!! Yours looks really great!
Looks fantastic. Can’t wait to see all the plants in the spring.
HONEST QUESTION: Would you still have taken this route if Vegega(the raised bed company) didn’t sponsor you?
He said they (Vegega) did not sponser them in the video. Kevin and Sarah did alot of research, picked these beds. But they were able to get a 10 percent discount for us if we want to buy them. But they were not a sponser.
Why
My sister's quote: "Every party needs a pooper, that's we invited you." "Honesty has it's own reward." -Dad quote.
Why do you care if they are sponsored or not ?? Do you pay them ?? I just don´t understand that negativity !!
Non of your business I think
Went to Silver Dollar City this year. Recommend it for everyone. super family/christian friendly.
Its super pretty at Christmas time.
FYI Took class on raised beds and I was taught 1/3 compost 1/3 clay and 1/3 sand. I’m hoping your plants have enough moisture since your not putting any clay. I love your shirts Sarah!
Thank you for the information, we were wondering what else should be added to the compost before planting.
I enjoy your videos, you guys do a great job communicating with your audience. Kevin is a handy man and I’m sure you have a plan to access your raised beds with a wheel barrow when you need to add compost to them such as a ramp. What type of irrigation will you be using?
Looks wonderful can’t wait till spring to see it come to life
I have raised beds and have placed 16 foot hog panels hooped from one bed to the next allowing verticle growth of pole beeans, scarlet runner beans, asian yard long beans, cucumbers, tonatoes and etc. Not all beds, but just what you want. Makes great shaded areas at the base for crops needing some shade. And a great place to take a break in the shade. Just an idea from the peanut gallery!
The best way to fill these beds is with straw bales! after a few seasons you have a bed full of compost. And its CHEAP because you have already grown with the straw bales. I do this for like 3 seasons with my 17 inch vego beds
I thought you may have place some logs in the bottom of the beds first, fill them up a bit and use less dirt
The new garden looks awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing how well they work for you. I've checked out the website and am thinking of getting one to start with for next spring. 😊
Looks great guys! Over time you will learn that the landscape fabric is a waste of time and money in the long term in your particular setup with fields surrounding your garden, as a covered area that large exposed to the wind you will not be able to keep clean of dirt, leaves, debris, seeds, etc coming in with the wind, and over time it will fill in naturally unless you sweep or vacuum it constantly in all seasons except winter. I have tried doing large areas like this shown in your video, several times, and they look great the first year, but then steadily fill in with detritus starting year 2 and you will end up with all kinds of weeds as time progresses unless you spend many many hours each year keeping it perfectly clean. Then your option is to lay more expensive fabric down again, fasten it all in place, again, for three more years, repeat cycle....
You guys are a great team 😊Praise God 🙏
I know Kevin likes his math so was wondering what the total cost of everything for that garden area was you have built? It looks fabulous.
Ooooh, I wouldn't ask that. Lots of mean people will say it's none of your business although, as a viewer making them money by viewing a video, they make it your business.
Great job guys! Question - what are your plans for watering the beds? We have raised beds and we live in southwest Missouri, so about 100 miles from you guys so our weather is very similar. We struggle with watering too much or not enough. Thanks!
That looks great! I ordered some of these beds from a "discount website" and they never arrived, I found out it was a scam site and lost my money. I guess I'll have to save up to pay full price for them. They look amazing!
Gosh, I've never been so glad to live about 2 miles from a place that sells this stuff and is organic. We can just run down and get a pick up load whenever we want. Except Sundays. They are closed on Sundays. Then we can back right up to the new raised bed and kind of push/sweep the soil right off into it. One year when we built a bunch of beds, they let us by the soil at the dump truck price, but let us come get it one pickup load at a time so we could do the push/sweep method. Saved us money and them time. It saved us so much work, we didn't have farm equipment to help us, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I'm a couple of videos behind, but will get caught back up.
Wow, it's $3,600 just for the containers! Not counting the landscaper fabric, the landscape timbers, the 12" galvanized spikes, and the compost. And I'm sure you'll be adding some type of finishing material over the landscapers cloth to protect it. That will bring this project in for a total of around $6,000 - $7,000. Not many people in the real world can afford this high dollar garden. It also reduces the growing area considerably. You'll end up with less than 25% of the actual plants you can plant vs the in ground space that you had. Wouldn't it have been a wiser choice to just add a thick layer of compost to the actual ground (to make your own soil better) and keep the growing area as large as it was before? That would have kept your harvest at the maximum amount for the square footage of the space used. Not reducing it by 75% ,just to look pretty. And not making your own soil better on your farm.
Cost aside, there are problems with trying to grow in compost only, heat build-up in raised beds, and watering system expenses. I've grown in west central Missouri for 30 years. You are correct that a long term soil build is the way to go. I do keep raised beds as well, but inground no till lasagna layering of a variety of composts and cover cropping and most importantly heavy mulching is more cost effective and productive in the long term.
Prior videos answer your questions. They used a year of time pulling stones out and adding compost to this area. Tractor tilled more stones out. They covered it in plastic to smother weed seeds and help the soil. Its just too much gravel. They want to grow less food. One child has moved out. Plus they have freeze dried a lot. Plus they have the gigantic high tunnel that grows better vegetables than the outdoors full season. The cost of the infrastructure initially is for something that will last 15 or more years. So its actually cheap container gardening. They will make plenty of their own compost from all their animal bedding. Their rabbit waste pellets have been their main fertilizer=free. They realize gardening while standing is less physical than squatting all day. It's their choice how they use their land. I just "root" for their success.
@@AussieTracy no judging, just experience. You suggest digging out the area to expose the clay bottom and bringing in soil to fill ..hahaha! You'd have one big muddy pond.
@@AussieTracy there is no jealousy here. I just don't waste. I'm just saying most people cannot afford that kind of expense. Building the soil takes at least 5 years. Gravel is great drainage.which is their base here. I am a long time viewer. I do know what they have done. I know they have 1 less child (grown) at home. It's not to make people mad or to say they made a bad decision. I just pointed out that most can't afford such a huge output. That this would not work for most people. It doesn't improve the soil either. You all don't understand what I'm saying. I like this channel. I like most of the things they do and congratulate them when I do. But I offer a different point of view if I don't. They do not take my comments wrong nor do they think I'm disrespectful. So you shouldn't either.
Denise, you've obviously ticked off the cult viewers by injecting real cost analysis into this project.
I love my raised bed garden. I used Birdies raised beds - I think they are much the same as these. 🇦🇺
Birdies garden beds are the best.i have three and are going to get more. Fill them with cardboard,green waste,branches logs or anything you would put in your compost bins. We used sugar cane mulch as well. Cheaper than buying and filling with compost or garden soil.
Fill the raised beds up to the last 15 inches with filling,and then add good organic compost with manure for the plants to grow in.
Landscape timbers are plywood core. They are what is left of the log they make plywood veneer out of.
Nice project! I would have left some openings in the border so you don't have to bump over the landscape logs with wheelbarrows full of compost.
Great looking compost. Your veggies will thrive next year!! I wonder however how they could call it organic when a lot of the source is food scraps from these amusement parcs. I doubt if their food is all organic....
Would you ever consider covering the landscape fabric with some sort of non-organic material to hold it down and dress it up even more. Like some sort of rocks or non-organic mulch
Maybe they should have put more space between the 3 columns so they could drive the tractor in between them? Meaning the outside columns would be closer to the edge. Then, they could easily add compost to each end of the tub from the tractor bucket. Also use the tractor to bring in spring potted plants. When the season is over, pull out the old plants and into the tractor bucket. I avoid a wheel barrow when I can. Just a lazy persons thought?
5000 for the beds then the dirt? I liked it better when everyone on KZhead, used to show us poor people stuff we could do. I’m a widow, I can’t pay $250.00 each bed! Even buying one at a time.
They do what’s best for their family with their budget. And everyone on KZhead didn’t only show what to do on a limited budget. You are free to do whats best for you and your budget, but not necessary to post an angry message. These are nice folks who live off of their land through hard work and incredible perseverance. They should be applauded and congratulated, not shamed.
Agree with Lisa. They’ve saved up for this. If others can’t afford it, no need to whine
Wow! Realistically most can’t do this, not once did I say they were not nice people. I’ve met and talked with them a number of times, so I guess I would know. My point is , most people struggling to put food on the table and pay their bills, would like a more cost effective way of doing things. I’m paying back $90,000. I. cancer bills, I would like to see more reasonable raised beds. I’m not “ whining”, but honestly, most people can’t be this fancy. It was a statement. One I’m sure, resonated with many others. Be blessed♥️
Cost effective is inground uve already been shown that just as each KZheadr starts that way then they get better stuff and out walks the gremlins because it’s a poor me I’m left behind guilt trip hahaha
Tell your family to pool their gifts to you money and buy you a raised bed. Give them the link to the 10% discount.
you guys have to do a video for the Average Income person, who cannot afford those fancy vegagga gizmos, honestly you've got millions of dollars while the rest of us just won't be able to afford what you are featuring. Some of us have tended our gardens for 30 years and more, started with rocky clay soil which you have shunned, but we have done it the (hard) way that we could afford. We made our own compost out of kitchen scraps, twigs, grass clippings, leaves, old newspapers, whatever we could. I guess these OLD ways are too old for you. I wonder what type of world is coming when the old ways are forgotten, becuase it won't generate any "likes" on social media.
You are on to something. Look in to starting your channel where you tend to a garden with kitchen scraps and twigs. The more information is out there the better off everyone will be. Plus you can make millions while doing that.
@@whitehorse1961love this answer!
@cherylanon5791 if what they’re doing bothers you so much why are you here? Instead of understanding this video for its intended reason, which is to give you IDEAS which you can incorporate in whatever set up you have, you decide to attack people that are giving you FREE content to look at. You are narrow-minded and short-sighted for sure. Do you write to the different networks like HGTV complaining how those people are doing things that don’t fit your lifestyle or your income? If you were curious instead of envious and jealous of someone else’s success, you could’ve done an internet search and find that these people are not making millions like you stated. Trolls like you need to crawl back into your holes and stay there.
This is how I do mind and I love them
Might I give you a suggestion for next time, to keep that pesky crabgrass out (I call it the state weed here LOL)? Leave enough weed fabric on the edge that when you put your landscaping logs down, you then pull it up from under the log and tuck it over and then under the log on the inside, like a sausage. Then nail the log down. This way there is NO outside opening at ground level where the log meets the fabric for the weed’s pesky runners to get through. It also leaves a nice “frame” for the garden . Actually, and I hate to suggest this since you’ve cut it off already, and have 7000 nails in LOL, but you could just do it now by bringing in your sides a bit.
Tucking extra fabric around the landscape logs sounds like a good idea.
I seen where people put logs in the raised beds before they ass the ground. I can see you gave up a lot of growing space in that garden. I wish I could of has a garden like that to grow food in. I hope you will get all the food you hope to grow. It looks nice.
Just a suggestion, Self Sufficient Me, is a channel that has raised gardens for many years, He fills the beds with a whole lot of woods and different materials before adding compost, soils, maybe check it out,
Wish I would have talked to you before you filled those beds!! The garden space looks amazing and I am a fan of a weed free environment. However, cutting holes in the fabric inside of the boundaries of the beds would have been a HUGE plus towards promoting mycorrhizal fungi transfer to the deeper earth under those beds. Not to mention worms and tap root planting benefits.. I would love to chat with you about some regenerative gardening ideas that could benefit your garden! (Mike)
Reflecting and researching before a projet is invaluable but experimenting brings us farther. I would have taken time to experiment with a few beds before buying so many. You are in a very hot climate. The heat will penetrate entirely in the soil and dry up the culture. In four foot wide beds, the mass of soil would be bigger, use less metal and be still accessible from both sides.
Those beds are going to work so well for you. It’s work setting them up but less back breaking work in the summer heat.😁🌹🌺
Ohh, that is so me. I love your raised bed garden. So nice and tidy. Thumbs up and love from S. California.
My grandfather said raise beds are lovely to work from however, they do dry out faster
Don’t be surprised if those landscape Timbers bow and warp. Railroad ties would be nice too.
Take it from an old man. Raised beds are much easier to garden in when you get old and the knees and back don't like kneeling or bending over. However, things like potatoes and sweet potatoes aren't that easy in a raised bed. I have had success using large containers that I can lift and dump into a wheel barrow. I then sit in my lawn chair next to the wheelbarrow and throw handfulls of earth back into the container and potatoes into a bucket. Nothing beats harvesting potatoes from a lawn chair. However, the containers are getting heavier as I get older so I am thinking I will eventually need some way to lift and tip the containers without using my old back.
You've dropped some serious coin - proof gardeners CAN buy happiness! Best wishes 🎉❤
Even though the timber looks great I can see it's going to cause issues especially when you want to bring wagons or wheelbarrows in. You'll have to figure out how to go over the timber without dumping your load.
good idea to put brace through beds one side to other as they start to bow with weight of soil over time