The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: pgkevet on May 08, 2019, 08:15:46 pm
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Ah, the joy of gardening without back-ache. It's proof of concept really but i may make more--- perhaps more permanent in the future- say blocks and perforated ally tread-plate rather than fill the whole thing with stuff.
Asparagus will take three years I guess from my seedlings so a catch crop of sp onion seedlings and lettuce at the mo'. Strawb's the other side again a year for them to recover and crop.
(https://scontent-dus1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/59822561_10217984143092229_348195098925727744_o.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_eui2=AeHCi1ciu4X_XzR0LRvRk9g_nuzufTBU1zZhhKbSiFt1zIVav3g1R7pld-LPv34n-UfxByFEwzR9ICkPqTQ4fyXth3T_pU8SQj6knCvsEvpE3g&_nc_ht=scontent-dus1-1.xx&oh=83c5f88e049ecdbdfc97873996ef7162&oe=5D58D15B)
(https://scontent-dus1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/59674318_10217984142052203_4702248680923594752_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_eui2=AeHzXHd0ZIkgYPiZEToIu73S9YyPdG1ng_FEGuTVh5X2J6wp0m9FoygnggljJdJTGb4KiRUJdGI8ekBx8G3FX1M9F6XrIBvck2q_fbOsEhkw_g&_nc_ht=scontent-dus1-1.xx&oh=209fbf463b6f317f0aac1c42721475f1&oe=5D6EA71C)
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Nice looking beds. I have raised beds because I am disabled so that I can sit and work. Mine are the whole depth. Wish I'd thought of having them on legs so they don't need so much filling, although it was a good way of using up a lot of goat manure.
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I've had mine that height since I retired. Makes a huge difference.
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Nice!
Now put a ring of copper tape around each of the legs to keep the slugs out...... and watch the birds peck at all your seedlings instead! :-D
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Nice!
Now put a ring of copper tape around each of the legs to keep the slugs out...... and watch the birds peck at all your seedlings instead! :-D
Easy to install a net if needed... I was contemplating slug-proof... was thinking about an inverted V type collar with sharpened edge. I thought copper tape was debunked?
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Yes, I saw a report not so long ago that they crawled over copper tape. I've got mine in my chicken and duck garden so the slugs are kept down, and the raised beds are netted so the hens can't use them as dust baths
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I thought copper tape was debunked?
Ooooh, it seems you're right! I have never actually tried it, since we installed "ducks" instead.
A couple of wraps of it made live with a battery (https://youtu.be/ZFn9TT_rlXU?t=195) seems to be better though?
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Nice!
Now put a ring of copper tape around each of the legs to keep the slugs out...... and watch the birds peck at all your seedlings instead! :-D
Put the legs of such beds on a paving slab as the weight of the beds on grass will eventually start to cause the beds to sink & they might not sink evenly .
Re slugs & snails yep the copper band does not work if applied as a single band .. though it might work if two bands are used with a slight separation & one band is of zinc so it becomes a battery ..
Stand each leg in an oil resistant plastic container & drop an inch or two of used engine oil in the tub ..It also keeps out ants and helps stop rot to the legs as well as giving you somewhere to put used engine oil .
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Re slugs & snails yep the copper band does not work if applied as a single band .. though it might work if two bands are used with a slight separation & one band is of zinc so it becomes a battery ..
Stand each leg in an oil resistant plastic container & drop an inch or two of used engine oil in the tub ..It also keeps out ants and helps stop rot to the legs as well as giving you somewhere to put used engine oil
I think the oil pot would end up with oveflow from rain and a nasty slurry of partially emulsified oil below. Multiple metal strips as per your battery might work (expensive) but then so should things like a coil of miniature razor wire but all gets a bit nasty for other things.
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Put a split disc of cheap pond liner round each leg and secure it to th leg with stainless steel hand fired staples if you have a stapler .
Make sure the spread of the umbrella . skirt is bigger than the can containing the oil .
They should look a bit like large brassica anti cut fly collars, about 10 inches in diameter & form a cone when overlapped & stapled to the legs.
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i always found old rusty cattle troughs made cheap easy raised beds
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@PKVet
Just noticed the long run of your beds .
Do you have any device besides the upright braces every six foot or so to stop the bed walls bulging out when the soil gets wet ? 6 mm stainless steel rodding joiners 7 big stainless penny washers with nyloc nuts could make a usefull tie rod set up .
All 26 of my 36 inch deep beds are made of engineering bricks on proper concrete foot wide foundations as square yard boxes , all the inner walls are all properly tied in bricks to full wall height .