How to build a raised garden

[cheapdave]

I live in Michigan and want to construct a raised garden in only location in yard where I get enough sun. this will be about 500 sq ft area. Need to raise because of poor drainage. I picked up some treated 2x10's for this project, and some 4x4's I was planning to cement into ground and nail together. My neighbor advised me that frost would likely force the cemented

4x4 posts up. He said to use crushed rock and not cement. any advise appreciated.

[Red Green]

[e-mail] wrote in news:ZuSdnVlRSKV9ArXXnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Stop Rube Goldberg'ing it. Just whack the top of a white trash trailer (must be on axels for raised bed) to let sun in and toss in some seeds. Plenty of dirt inside.

[Jim Elbrecht]

IMO- that's *way* too big for a raised bed. 9" isn't going to help a lot on the drainage. You'd make your life easier by running drain tiles and landscaping.

Raised beds also help on the back, though. Raise the beds up 18-24" & your back will thank you. Cut the 4x4s to the height of the beds

- make the beds about 3-4'x8' & plop them right on top of the ground. My brother & I threw together a cedar 4x8 bed for my dad a couple yrs ago when he broke his hip. His old garden is probably 20x40--- now he plants all his greens, beans & salad fixin's in the raised bed. 4x8 x 24"high. We used 1" boards for the sides - a stringer in the center- and nailed it with ring-shank nails. It has survived 3 NY winters without showing signs of wear.

Jim

[bob haller]

going to help

DONT USED TREATED LUMBER FOR VEGETABLES GARDENS.

Although they claim its safe they said that same thing about the old chemicals now banned!

If it kills the nasties that lead to wood rot, can it be good for humans?

[HeyBub]

Uh, that's the way antibiotics work.

[RicodJour]

So, everything that kills stuff is an antibiotic? Wow, I've wasted a lot of money over the years.

If you're concerned about the treated wood leaching chemicals into the soil, line the raised planter walls with plastic.

R

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

I think Bob has a good point. That's why we used cedar- but cypress or redwood would work. Call a local mill for the best prices-- you don't need kiln dried or dressed lumber- and D grade is fine to just hold the dirt in.

Our local yard carries 1x12 red cedar, dressed one side, that is called D, but I've gotten some boards that the borg would have called 'select'. It is about the same price per board foot as PT.

Jim

[HeyBub]

The reason redwood and cedar are effective is that the wood itself contains substances incompatible with animal life. If it kills bugs, can it be harmless to humans?

Answer: Sure. No human ever died, or even got sick, from DDT.

[cshenk]

wrote .

Are you trying to garden or deal with poor drainage?

Also, thats too big. In a case like that, you just bring in dump trucks of topsoil and then build a retainer wall to hold it in. Due to the size, wood not recommended.

Not recommended for food gardens.

What you can so though is something like what I have which is raised 'pallets'. I have a bad back and like to have a garden but can't do the ground level work.

Using PT wood (2x8) and 4x4 for the legs, we put 3 panels (18 inches across) and raised them 1 ft then ontop of that I have terra cotta looking tall 'tree containers' lined up. I have 8 feet of this now with plans for another 16 along the back of the house. Got wild flowers for cutting, carrots, chives, lettuce, tomatoes, squash, bell peppers, catnip, strawberries, and things like that already going in other containers on a shorter raised table.

[RicodJour]

that is an extreme case, but you said never got sick from DDT. Oops!

You really - I mean really - need to start investigating your opinions as many of them seem to be based on nothing more than your preconceived beliefs.

out the links at the bottom if you are interested in learning and aren't worried about your ego being threatened by finding out your opinion no this matter is worthless.

If you thought about it even a little, you'd realize that the mechanism by which DDT operates is to interfere with reproduction. Since we are all organic based life forms on this planet (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt), we tend to share similar 'weaknesses' towards certain chemical.

Again, do some research - it'll pay off in the long run.

R

[Amateur]

Solution might be to order the inert plastic sectionals sold on-line by many gardening sites. I have used them in my raised beds.

[HeyBub]

This is a paper on a father-son team who mistook DDT for flour when frying fish. The paper did not rule out poisonous fish as the cause of their malady, so I'd say the conclusions were equivocal. The paper also did not rule out inherited stupidity that obviously runs in that family.

Let's look at the statements in the Wikipedia site:

• "This endocrine disrupting activity has been observed toxicological studies involving MICE and RATS..."

• "... exposure to DDT at amounts that would be needed in malaria control MIGHT cause preterm birth and early weaning..."

• "...studies SUGGEST that DDT exposure is a risk FACTOR for premature birth and low birth weight..."

• "...SUGGESTS children who have been exposed to DDT while in the womb have a greater CHANCE of experiencing development problems..."

• "...documented decreases in s**en quality..." [not death]

• "...daughters of highly exposed women MAY have more difficulty getting pregnant..." [but not die]

• "DDT exposure is ASSOCIATED with early pregnancy loss, a type of miscarriage..."

• "... in utero DDT exposure MAY affect thyroid hormone levels and [MAY] "play an important role in the incidence and/or causation of cretinism." [but not death]

• "DDT is SUSPECTED to cause cancer..." [but not death directly]

And so on.

If what you've found is an example research "paying off," you need to get your money back.

Bottom Line: No human every died, or even got sick, from DDT (excepting, maybe, two who can't tell the difference between a weather ballon and toenail clippings).

As per your recommendation, I did check the first seven (of 117) references. No deaths attributable to DDT.

As to your advice about whether I should worry about my ego being threatened, I SUGGEST that potential damage to my ego is considerably less debilitating than your predicament. To see the shrine of Silent Spring turned into a Cargo Cult airplane and realize your golden idol is tarnished must be wrenching beyond measure.

[Steve Daniels]

On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 15:55:33 -0500, against all advice, something compelled "HeyBub" , to say:

I thought it was killing the birds by making their eggs too fragile. It also pointed out how chemicals get concentrated as they move up the food chain.