Dirt cheap raised bed idea

mumsthewhat
mumsthewhat Posts: 1 ✭✭✭
edited April 2022 in Quote Ideas

HERE IS A DIRT CHEAP RASED BED IDEA USEING A CARDBORD BOX AND CONTRACTOR GARBAGE BAGS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ff3803qInY DEAL WITH REALITY OR IT WILL DEAL WITH YOU

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  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Not a fan of using plastic to grow food or medicine in. Not all plastic is created equal. Some will degrade faster than others. Most is photodegradable which means it breaks down in sunlight. As sunlight is the one of the most important components of gardening, the bags will be exposed all day long.

    Also, when exposed to the elements, plastic will off gas things like methane and ethylene.

    Black gathers heat, so that might increase the heat absorption of the soil in the box, cooking the plants. Maybe a good thing for starting seeds in the early spring but I can see boxes like that getting very hot in the heat of the summer.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    @mumsthewhat I would also add to @torey's concerns that many chemicals are taken up from plastics into the plants. Some do it more than others.

    What you may save in one way will make you pay otherwise with your health. In my opinion, the trade off for the short term isn't worth it in the long term.

    I don't have any plastics anywhere near my garden.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I used just a cardboard box as a raised bed one year when I was short of time. It held together long enough to get a few crops then I composted all of it.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    @Monek Marie I think a stronger/thicker box may be the way to go. I wondered if just a box might be enough.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning I used a thick box, had thought about double boxing but just went with one. It lasted the summer into fall, so it served its purpose. And I had great mulching material at the end.

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin

    I agree that I probably wouldn’t use the plastic bag, but a sturdy cardboard box as a quick, inexpensive, temporary bed solution — plus its uses later— is intriguing. I feel like we can tend to make these things so hard and expensive sometimes, when they don’t really have to be! Thanks for sharing, @mumsthewhat !

  • Kuri and Kona
    Kuri and Kona Posts: 177 ✭✭✭

    I have also used cardboard boxes in the garden, and they last a year or so. As others have stated, the end product can also be composted.

  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    I may have to try cardboard boxes----much cheaper than using wood! Thanks!

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @water2world Are there free pallets available in your area? I use those a lot.

  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    @Monek Marie I'll check that out---surely somewhere around here. Thanks!

  • SuperC
    SuperC Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2022

    @mumsthewhat , your idea using cardboard, which I use often sprouted an idea to share using straw bales and building a frame of wood or stones or mosquito mesh. First, water the chosen area to apply water onto the ground. (Either a full sun/shade or partial sun/shade area.) Second, place the bale on top of the soaking ground. Third, water the straw bale. Next, plant the seedlings and seeds into the straw at their needed depths. Last, knowing you’ve made homes for thousands of microbes, the plants’ roots will have enough spaces to grow, ants, spiders, frogs and toads, and mice and snakes. And follow up with the frame. Water the straw bales accordingly. Enjoy with love