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Not sure if I'm allowed to link directly to products here, but company is called Vego Garden. These aren't the cheapest but seem sturdy and high quality. They claim to use a treatment on the steel that is superior to regular zinc galvanizing, guess time will tell. Weren't too bad to assemble, they are modular so you buy a kit with straight panels and corner panels and can assemble it in multiple ways to fit your space.
I will see how some digging goes in that area. We just had 2 trees taken down from up against the fence last summer (in the picture you can just make out some remnants from a stump, couldn't grind it all the way because it was too close to fence). Quite a bit of shallow roots and some pretty thick. If those roots weren't there we would have tilled up the whole area and made that our garden.
Very nice! Like that wheelbarrow/cart too, I have an old school wheelbarrow but it's so tippy when loaded up heavy.
Yeah there is a little bit of a grade to our yard, so I was gonna try to sink them in an inch or two to level them. Will have to see how bad the tree roots are, there are a few big ones I can see at the surface, hopefully if I can cut those out the rest can get busted up with a shovel. I think I will try the cardboard to see how that works. I'm not exactly sure what the ground cover is, but definitely don't want it invading the beds.
I have a compost pile that I started last fall with grass clippings and chopped up leaves, been tossing a few coffee grounds and pulverized eggshells in there. Will also take whatever leaves I have from spring yard cleanup and mix in. Hoping to minimize the amount of soil I have to buy.
Recommendations for the soil layer? Fill it all with dedicated raised bed soil or OK to do a mix of cheaper topsoil and raised bed soil?
When we started our garden out here we used plain topsoil that was blended with sheep manure, and it worked well with no other amendments (expect this year- our 3rd will require some amendments). I would say topsoil blended with a garden/raised bed mix would be a fine start.
Yeah there is a little bit of a grade to our yard, so I was gonna try to sink them in an inch or two to level them. Will have to see how bad the tree roots are, there are a few big ones I can see at the surface, hopefully if I can cut those out the rest can get busted up with a shovel. I think I will try the cardboard to see how that works. I'm not exactly sure what the ground cover is, but definitely don't want it invading the beds.
What do you use to level the soil on the site? I found an article that talks about manual soil leveling tools, but I'm not sure if such tools will help remove any noticeable slope in the soil.
I guess I'm not so much planning to level a big area to put the beds, but was more planning to sink the beds into the soil a bit so they sit level. Meaning one end might be sitting right at the surface, but the other end would be pushed down into soil a few inches. Then inside the bed try to maybe do a little leveling by just digging it up and evening it out. Kind of all hinges on what the tree root situation is. Plan to play around with it a little this weekend.
I could just leave them as is and fill them up, but my OCD really wants them to sit flat and level LOL.
Beds are in. My plan for some light exploratory digging turned into 6hrs of chopping and digging some of the biggest roots I've ever dealt with LOL! But well worth it. I ended up turning the beds 90 degrees, made more sense with the grade of the yard. Tomorrow we'll see about getting some dirt and filling them up (depends how sore I am!).
Beds are in. My plan for some light exploratory digging turned into 6hrs of chopping and digging some of the biggest roots I've ever dealt with LOL! But well worth it. I ended up turning the beds 90 degrees, made more sense with the grade of the yard. Tomorrow we'll see about getting some dirt and filling them up (depends how sore I am!).
Sweet! Those roots are like branches. Wow! Looking forward to the progress. Thanks for the pics! We all love pics!
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