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Help with garden/pepper beds...

Pepperfreak

Pepperfreak

I have a quick question concerneing making raised beds for my peppers. I have been thinking about making raised beds out of pressure treated 4X4s and need some direction as to how deep to make them. Also has anyone had any experience using rough cut oak 4X4s instead of pressure treated lumber? how does it hold up? I just came into contact with someone who works at a local sawmill and can get me oak rough cut 4X4s or 4X6s at close to cost. Any suggestions as to what would be better and how deep I should go?
Thanks for yer help.

Paul
 
I have a 40 foot long, 32" high, and 16" wide raised bed I made out of cinder blocks. Why cinder blocks, they were no more expensive than the wood would have been and will last until after I am gone. I made a couple of other raised beds out of wood, one is made with standard 2 X 12's I had in the wood pile and the other is 7/16" plywood. These wooden beds are "temporary" figuring I will get at lest 4 years out of them.
 
I really do appreciate the response so far...But, I still need advise...

I am trying to plan how much material I need, but do not know how deep my beds should be. Is 14 inches good and will be okay or should I go deeper like 21 inches. If I am going with block, this means the difference between making 2 courses high verses 3 high. However, if I go with 4x4, this means a difference between 5 layers tall and 7 layers tall. BTW I am leaning towards concrete block, seems like less material and more sturdy. My wife even made a suggestion about staining the outside of the block to make them look more attractive.
Oh, BTW I'm planning on making 2 - 16 foot by 3 foot and 1- 12 foot by 3 foot bed. So I am trying to be as cost effective (cheap) as possible.
 
The dimensions for a cinder block are 8" X 8" X 16". If you use 2 blocks wide that will give you 32" wide. 16 feet is 192" divided by 16 equals 12 blocks. So both sides equals 24 blocks and 4 for the ends so each tier of blocks will be 28 blocks. Three tiers high (gives you 24" deep) will be 84 blocks per 16 foot bed. The 12 foot bed will need 66 blocks for a 24" deep bed. So you will need ~250 blocks for all three beds that will be 24" deep. If you only make your beds 16" deep that will be 170 blocks. The cost of the blocks are about $1.25 each. I used somewhere around 270 blocks for my bed but my bed is 4 tiers high and the bottom is 8" off the ground and I used cheap ceramic tile for the bottom with a single row of blocks between the sides to hold the tile up...

Here is what my bed looks like.

http[IMG][IMG]http://img265.imagesh..., let me know and I will draw it out for you.
 
Aj, I have a question. Why did you line it with tile? I've done raised beds before, but I never lined the floor of the beds, I just figured the roots could go even deeper if they wanted.
 
mudatvs said:
I really do appreciate the response so far...But, I still need advise...

I am trying to plan how much material I need, but do not know how deep my beds should be. Is 14 inches good and will be okay or should I go deeper like 21 inches.
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You can do it with 14 inches, 21 inches would be better but not required. For this year you might consider going to 14 inches and tilling the ground inside the raised bed before you add dirt. That will give the roots more room to penetrate this year, and you can add another level of bricks next year and raise it to 21 inches.
 
I wanted the bottom of the bed to be above ground level for three reasons...one is no grass growing up in the beds (plus the poisons that were on the ground (have stopped my "weed poison" service)), two was I wanted to allow great drainage (came in handy last summer with all the rain we had), and three....I am basically lazy and figured 32" high would be easier on my back than 24" would be...the new beds will be on the ground and not raised like the cement farm.

The bottom of the bed is 8" off the ground and I figured 24" was plenty deep for good root growth...when I pulled the plants up after this past season...no root extended more than about 12-16" down in the soil.
 
AlabamaJack said:
I wanted the bottom of the bed to be above ground level for three reasons...one is no grass growing up in the beds (plus the poisons that were on the ground (have stopped my "weed poison" service)), two was I wanted to allow great drainage (came in handy last summer with all the rain we had), and three....I am basically lazy and figured 32" high would be easier on my back than 24" would be...the new beds will be on the ground and not raised like the cement farm.
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Ok, that makes sense. I was trying to figure if you'd had problems with tree roots coming up in the bed or voles going after your pepper roots or something.

I want to put in a raised bed for flowers in my backyard, it's where the previous owner built one of his many sheds. It was a carport, and he put both gravel and chucks of concrete in the soil. It would take a bulldozer to get all that stuff out, so I'm just going to build up over that site.

There's another part of the yard where he built a garage to work on cars, and I'm afraid to plant anything edible there, although it's a great location. There's no telling what's in that soil. I set my containers there.


The bottom of the bed is 8" off the ground and I figured 24" was plenty deep for good root growth...when I pulled the plants up after this past season...no root extended more than about 12-16" down in the soil.
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Oh, you did your usual wonderful job. It looks great, and your plants did well in it. I still want to collar you for a little help in my kitchen, but it makes me tired just reading all the stuff you do.
 
I suppose I just am a high energy person since I started seeds this year...what's funny is that I have lost 18 pounds since January...I credit the loss to being active more instead of coming home and sitting in my easy chair plus I am eating peppers every meal...I was at 206 when I started losing and am down to 188. My doctor wants me down another 18 for blood pressure reasons...probably not the place to say this but I have had 6 heart attacks since I was 37, quadruple bypass surgery 8 years ago (2 heart attacks after the bypass surgery), and an aortic aneurysm that was about 6cm diameter repaired 2 years ago....doc says my heart is as healthy as someone that has not had any heart attacks but my plumbing sucks...
 
So sorry to hear of your series of heart attacks AJ. I hope that ticker and plumbing gives you another 40+ years. Do you eat peppers to keep your blood thin? Do you think eating hot peppers has any medical benefit to your system? This is no joke me asking you these question, you may have found and have such an addiction to everything peppers because of your ailment. I'd keep a fresh naga handy just in case you jolt. I wish you very well AJ.
 
I am fine PRF...no problems and thanks for your concern...with my background in the medical field I am very aware of what my body tells me...I am eating the peppers mostly because I love them...the side benefits of capsaicin are too numerous to count but one of the best ones is it increases the metabolism...

I have genetic arteriosclerosis or peripheral artery disease. As long as I pay attention all will be fine....
 
Yikes AJ! Now I feel the need to sit you in a chair and take care of you. Congrats on the weight loss. I have to really watch mine, because I can pack on the pounds in no time.

Having read a lot about eating and the physiology of dieting, I don't think speeding up your metabolism is the primary benefit of hot peppers. They are coming to find out that food craving can build up into a condition very similar to drug addiction. I don't understand it clearly, but it has to do with satiety feedback in the brain. My theory, and I am purely blowing smoke out my ass here, is that hot peppers give that satiety feedback a jolt, and so we're satisfied faster and thus eat less. Plus eating really spicy hot food slows you down, and people who eat slower generally eat less.

Anyway, I'm glad you're taking care of your heart because I would have hated to miss out on your friendship.
 
you may be right Pam...about the eating slower and being satiated without overeating...

As far as eating less goes...last night I just wanted something light and quick so I opened a can of Progresso Southwestern Chicken Soup...great stuff straight out the can...I tasted it then went back to the kitchen and grabbed BBs concentrate...(this was after the wifes experience with the concentrate)..put about 1/4 tsp in and mixed really good...well, I made it thru about 3/4's of the bowl and simply could not eat any more...couldn't taste any more either...but the feeling of euphoria definitely got me going...thank god for Blue Bell Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream...
 
AlabamaJack said:
you may be right Pam...about the eating slower and being satiated without overeating...

As far as eating less goes...last night I just wanted something light and quick so I opened a can of Progresso Southwestern Chicken Soup...great stuff straight out the can...I tasted it then went back to the kitchen and grabbed BBs concentrate...(this was after the wifes experience with the concentrate)..put about 1/4 tsp in and mixed really good...well, I made it thru about 3/4's of the bowl and simply could not eat any more...couldn't taste any more either...but the feeling of euphoria definitely got me going...thank god for Blue Bell Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream...
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Ha!

Ok, well, thanks for blowing *that* theory outta the water!
 
THANK YOU!!! After doing some checking on prices, I am definitely going to make cinder block beds ( a whole lot cheaper). My wife has also sold her idea of staining them to make them "prettier" as she put it. Thanks for all your help, I was starting to feel like I was a thread killer :oops: All I need now is for this dreaded snow to melt.

Paul
 
Pam said:
Yikes AJ! Now I feel the need to sit you in a chair and take care of you. Congrats on the weight loss. I have to really watch mine, because I can pack on the pounds in no time.

Having read a lot about eating and the physiology of dieting, I don't think speeding up your metabolism is the primary benefit of hot peppers. They are coming to find out that food craving can build up into a condition very similar to drug addiction. I don't understand it clearly, but it has to do with satiety feedback in the brain. My theory, and I am purely blowing smoke out my ass here, is that hot peppers give that satiety feedback a jolt, and so we're satisfied faster and thus eat less. Plus eating really spicy hot food slows you down, and people who eat slower generally eat less.

Anyway, I'm glad you're taking care of your heart because I would have hated to miss out on your friendship.
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Same for me, AJ's a great bloke. As for the metabolism theory, if they do speed it up it's meant to be so minimal you'd probably never notice the difference. Like you say Pam the other health benefits of eating them are brilliant. A healthy high.
 
AJ,

I'm glad to hear that you are taking care of yourself. I also agree with Pam aside from the lovely burn peppers give, they have great health benefits that I have been reading about for years. I know that when I eat more peppers, I always seem to feel more healthy.

I hope that you stick around for a long long time to come. I'm learning alot form you my friend...;)

Paul
 
I almost forgot, I got my estimate on how much block I will need for 2 16'X4' beds and 1 12'X4' bed (I decided to add one block on the width to give more growing room because I do have access on all 4 sides) . Local brick/block yard can deliver the needed 252 blocks for $246. I don't think that is too bad since I priced 4X4X8 at Lowe's and that came up close to $700.

Paul
 
mudatvs said:
I almost forgot, I got my estimate on how much block I will need for 2 16'X4' beds and 1 12'X4' bed (I decided to add one block on the width to give more growing room because I do have access on all 4 sides) . Local brick/block yard can deliver the needed 252 blocks for $246. I don't think that is too bad since I priced 4X4X8 at Lowe's and that came up close to $700.

Paul
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Umhuh...that is exactly what I found out when I built mine...and the thing about it is....it will be there when you're gone if you don't tear it down...no maintnenace....other than staining it for your wife...shhhh..don't let my wife hear you...:lol:
 
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