Raised Garden Beds

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on   some raised beds to plant veggies in. Its been a slow process because I’ve been interrupted by lots of rain and other things that needed doing more (like shearing) but I’ve finally got all three boxes built and most of the irrigation finished. All the wood is from Habitat Re-Store and the hoses are pieces cut off of old, torn up or split hoses that I’d been saving.

One of the boxes has big glass windows on top. This raised bed doubles as a cold frame or greenhouse box. In the early spring and late fall we will be able to close the windows to keep in the heat and extend our growing season. The windows are on hinges and can be propped open to let in warm air during the day and then closed on chilly days or at night. In the summer, they can be removed completely and stored until fall.

Each box has a different type of irrigation. These are all experiments, so it’ll be interesting to see how they work and if one works better than the others. The only one that is finished is the cold frame box. This box has a large perforated tube that will be buried under the soil. When filled with water it will slowly release water into the soil as needed. At least- that is the idea! It can be filled with water in two ways. When the windows are closed any rain that falls will pour off the windows and into the gutter mounted on the side, and then drain down to a hose that feeds into the big tube. Or, if there isn’t enough rain, it can be filled with the garden hose.