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Post by solargeek on Apr 8, 2019 3:54:47 GMT
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Post by oxankle on Apr 10, 2019 2:16:05 GMT
Geek; the picture shows something that looks like an H;
Is the 6 x 6 dimension the entire H? That is one nice tall box.
I just filled a 3 x 8 raised bed that is 17 inches high. It took 60% of a truck load of compost, plus 11 sacks of Walmart humus and topsoil to fill. (compost the first 11 inches, soil the top six.)
How will you fill yours?
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Post by solargeek on Apr 10, 2019 4:14:50 GMT
oxankle , The keyhole is more like this picture so not an H but more of a hard edged "C". They are 22" tall so not as tall as they look.
www.google.com/search?sa=X&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS732US732&tbm=shop&q=african+keyhole+beds+reviews&source=univ&tbo=u&ved=0ahUKEwjZ0--40sThAhUL_IMKHZU7CH4Q1TUIdygN&biw=1163&bih=481&dpr=1.65#spd=8810522217328071959We plan to lay down hardware cloth under each bed and buried a few inches out side it. Next will be cardboard boxes spread out in each bed. Then we will order compost from our county. Their truck hold 5 cubic yards, $20/yd and $20 delivery. It is twigs, leaves and not yard waste. No straw or stuff from farmer's fields that could have bad herbicides/pesticides residue. We will likely need 2-4 truck loads if we get as many of these as we plant. DH wants to never do this again and these have a 20 year warranty!
4th we will cover the compost with straw we have from last fall so good and moldy. Lastly we will top with a few inches of potting soil. This will be a big effort and we may hire help for some of it.
Our 39 beds were put in in 2012 and have of course sunken. We have covered them in straw each winter but not this winter. We would need to add the compost to each bed if we were not doing the raised beds.
We also are buying 12" high standard raised beds for the tomatoes and things that are tall.
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Post by Maura on Apr 10, 2019 15:10:33 GMT
When I saw the photo with the one wall removed I thought: potatoes. how much easier to remove potatoes. You'd still have a mess, though. My future vegetable garden beds will probably all be raised, but more than 22 inches.
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Post by feather on Apr 10, 2019 22:29:04 GMT
39 beds in '12? That's a lot of raised beds.
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Post by oxankle2 on Apr 15, 2019 1:57:50 GMT
Geek; Those Keyhole beds look good, and if they are as stout as they appear they should last a long time.
One thing that shocked me is the price you pay for compost. Here the city has to dispose of ground up yard waste, leaves and trimmings, so they grind all that and compost it. If you get the "early" stuff what you get is more like mulch and needs fertilizer and a year on the ground to decompose. Once or twice a year they have fully composted material.
All this is free for the hauling; drive up to the city barn, a loader comes out and fills your truck. I have part of a load of the rough stuff and a full load of compost out there by my garden now.
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