Really raised beds

[jinak]

I love your creativity! I hope these ideas will pan our some good results for you. Perhaps after you have experimented and been successful, you can write up an article for an Alaska gardening magazine! We Alaska gardeners need all the help and resourcefulness we can get, especially with some of the challenging weather conditions here. I look forward to reading your story one day! Good Luck...

[ImAHobbit]

This makes me think of a garden I saw this summer while hauling propane. I'm not too sure of your options for hay (straw) but this old couple (both in their 90's) that lives out in the toolies had a great garden idea that must've worked pretty good because they had pretty big tomato plants on the 10th of June.

They took some old straw bales (small squares) and stacked them up like a big raised bed about 20 ft long and 1 bale wide. They drove posts down thru the outer bales and one in the center bale. They wird together some old barnwood on top along the edges to form the box and filled it with dirt. The whole thing was draped with black plastic-over the bales (to make them warm up?) and the sideboards and they had some string tied across from the end posts that supported a clear plastic cover (which was off at the time) to make it a 'hot box'.
The whole works seemed pretty ingenious and the bales would insulate the bed from the cold ground and lift it up to easy working height. If you can't get bales there, I would say that a piece of blue board on a platform would probably work similarly, but the base wouldn't warm up as easily.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Great idea Hobbit -- hay and straw aren't that inexpensive up here (I think I saw straw at almost $5 for a 2-string bales --- eeek!) but if I had a cheap and easy source then that would be excellent. I think the black plastic over the bales was to keep the rain and weeds out since black plastic doesn't warm anything up except the plastic, but the clear plastic on top of the soil should have warmed the soil up right nicely.

I've got some leftover 3" foamboard (R-12) laying around that might work wonders to insulate the box... and it's got the relective mylar on it so that may help keep the sun's heat in even more. Well, when the sun finally comes back out in the spring, since there is virtually no sun in the winter. If I can enclose the space under the platform to keep the wind and wet out, it might get warm enough in there to transplant some of the cold-loving crops as early as March. Even 3" of foam on a ground bed should work to warm up enough to get the warm-lovers like corn and vining tomatoes started a month earlier than usual.

Jinak - if any of my experiments work, I'll be sure to blog them and let UAF know Maybe send a letter in to ADN and the News-Miner. Is there a magazine just for Alaska Gardeners?

[jinak]

Hi Missing! Have been "off" for a few days. Driving with the family!
I really like the straw bale idea, but I am a very visual person and am having a little trouble "seeing" the idea as presented by hobbitt, even though is was very clearly spelled out by him/her. Do you think the straw bales completely covered the ground in this 20 feet X 1 bale wide configuration? And then more bales added on top to bring up the working surface to the desired height?Essentially, the straw bales became the "ground" then. And the sides of the box were made out of wood. Wonder how deep?
Then filled with soil. Idon't see the black plastic in here. Is it covering everything including the soil? or is it under the soil on top of the bales and sides. Then the clear plastic I see very well and a good idea too. They were growing tomatoes! Yum!!!
And I don't believe there is a strictly Alaska gardening type magazine. I think the Sunset magazine for the Northwest is what I was imagining.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

I'm not sure the exact configuration Hobbitt saw; but what I'd do, assuming that this is a square foot garden that is 4'x4', is:

1) put down an inch or two of gravel to improve drainage under your beds

2) completely wrap each bale tightly in black plastic to protect them from the weather (2-string bales are usually 14"h x 18"w x 36"L, 3-string bales are usually 16"h x 24"w x 42"L)

3) lay the bales down to make a 4'x4' square box on the ground 2 bales high (so it would be 28"-32" high - which is about counter height)

4) build a 4'x4' wooden planter with 1x6s and 1/2" plywood (drill a couple holes for drainage)for the bottom (for a deeper bed, you could use 1x10 or 12, or just make a another 6" frame to stack on top)

5) put in an inch of pea gravel for drainage and then 5" of good garden soil mix

6) for any bed that needed some extra heat throughout the growing season, I'd then staple clear plastic over it and poke hole right over where I planted so the stems could get through

7) for any bed (or even a single square) that only needed a soil warm up and a little early season protection, I'd make a "cold frame" of 1x6 and lay plexi or an old window on top (need to be able to vent it as it warms up so stpleing down plastic wouldn't work as well)

8) putting them "to bed" in the winter, I'd put the cold frames on, and put foamboard on the sides... that way they'll be all ready to warm up in the spring sun just by sweeping the snow off the top

I'd leave the clear plastic on all season for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, melons, squash and corn.... but all of those would probably be in a ground bed since they are tall or vines. Everything else should be fine with a removable cold frame.

Ideas for a ground bed:

1) again with the gravel

2) build a 4'x4' planter with 2x12's and a plywood bottom

3) put 3" foamboard (it comes in 4x8 sheets, so you can get two beds from one sheet) in the bottom with holes drilled for drainage

4) 1" of pea gravel for drainage and 8" of good garden soil mix

5) staple the clear plastic over the frame with holes for the plants to come through

6) putting to bed in the winter, enclose the sides with wrapped strawbales and put a piece of foamboard, plexi or plywood on the top.

[ImAHobbit]

bales were set on the ground stacked tight together with stakes driven thru them to keep them from separating (the stakes also supported a clear plastic cover to act as a greenhouse), with a 'box' built on top of the bales a few inches in from the edges and dirt right on top of the plastic covered straw. The plastic was over the sides of the box and down the sides of the bales to the ground. (I assume to keep the sides of the bales drier so they don't wilt away and to keep the moisture from ruining the bales).

[linsmile]

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