We use leaves, branches, lawn clippings, shredded paper and cardboard, hay, straw, and wood chips to fill up the bottom of our raised beds. As they break down over the years we add new soil and compost to the top and it works really well.
Good to know. Just in time for our raised bed filling. We have a bunch of dead trees broken down, now I have your information on where I can move them.😊
Luke, I really appreciate how you are always considerate of those who need to save money. May I suggest you show people how to build a raised row garden bed. You can't get much cheaper than that. Thanks for being my garden friend for so many years!
I have many (100+) flower containers and hanging baskets. By the end of the season, some of the largest pots have a huge root balls of soil and roots, difficult to break down. But, after a snowy winter, those root balls are manageable and make great filler for the bottom of my raised beds, which are 25+ gallon nursery containers from trees. Recycle and upcycle all the way!
A word of caution about that bottom layer. We were pruning our Rose of Sharon bush when we came into possession of several 16 gallon totes from our neighbor. Light bulb moment! Put the stems in the bottom and fill with compost and potting soil. Beautiful! Imagine my surprise when all those Rose of Sharon stems began sprouting in the midst of my carrots and tomatoes. I could probably start a Rose of Sharon nursery now. LOL
Hi Luke! 😊 I love your cheerful disposition. I am battling a nasty health challenge that robs me of my usual spark and energy. Watching your videos is like pouring fuel in my carbeurator. Thanks for being the Kick Start that turns this old engine over. My package from Urban Farmer just arrived. I'm going to test drive their new root trainers now that my motor is running. Never under estimate the positive effect your vibrant personality produces. Thank you Luke 😊
Another thing you can do to keep cost down is to have patient and watch the price of garden soil/compost listed on big box stores like Lowes, Home Depot and Ace Hardware. During certain time of the year, they will run a big discount and you can save big. Just recently, Home Depot in my area run a 50% discount on soil and compost, I ran out and filled up my vehicle with many bags of the products as I had a raised bed to fill out. The raised bed was sitting empty until now. I know if can be very tempting to setup the raised bed and then run out and buy soil right away because we want to do things right away, but if you can hold back and wait, you can save a lot.
This is exactly what I'm experiencing right now. I planned on using leaves but never thought about wood chips. I'm also using homemade compost so that certainly helps with the cost of filling raised beds. Thanks for all of the great tips!
There is a place near me that grows commercial amounts of mushrooms. You can go there and get their 'used' soil (from their perspective) for really cheap. This year however I went to a place that loaded me up with a few scoops of garden compost from a front end loader. Comparing prices, the one I went to, their average every day price was cheaper than the clearance price from the big box stores. I also put a layer of rocks at the bottom of my beds (mine are deep as they are repurposed watering troughs). The rocks definitely aid in drainage.
This is the way with huglekulture raised beds. It’s nothing new, putting logs and clippings, leaves and other mater to to fill the depth of one’s raised garden bed. Knowing and understanding deep knowledge of one’s craft, and crediting those early lessons leads to greatness. Have a great growing season.
My husband built me some raised beds from heat treated pallets this year. I used leaves to fill about 1/3 of my raised beds. Then I only filled them with soil until about 2/3-3/4 full. I will add more soil next year when I amend it. This helped to not spend so much in one year. I use leaves in the bottom of containers, too.
I learned the log trick from my BMX jump building days😂 As kids, we would build jumps by the riverbed and just collect every fallen limb we could find to save us having to dig so much
As someone who doesn't have a ton of mobility to be collecting yard waste but still wanted to do a tote raised bed garden, I got an organic, undyed, local wood mulch to use as the base layer in my beds. So affordable from a local garden center, I got 5 2 cf bags for under $15 for my little home garden set up and it was more than enough. It'll break down over the season, while also helping with drainage and soil compaction.
I add a new raised bed in the late summer, then I add all the sticks, trimmings, missed over grown cucumbers or split tomatoes, half rotted branches, jack o laterns, grass clippings, leaves etc to the bottom until the snow flies. In the spring its already half full and half composted and I just need to top it with compost and soil to get ready for planting.
We are lucky around me that we have a wonderful landscaping company in which we can get a sifted topsoil and leaf compost mix for cheap. Each year we top off with old potting mix and/or leaf compost to top off the beds. A wonderful resource to have
I was fortunate enough to find a lady down the road from me with free fill dirt. Mixed with compost put in our beds. Then went with the 2 for 4.00 manure or garden dirt. Only needed four bags after all that. Thank you so so much for all this info. My go to gardener from now on.
One thing you could fill that raised bed with, if you had to, is cardboard. It will eventually break down. Worms love it. If you are going to have to use quite a bit of it, you will probably want to layer it with something else, so that it doesn't end up flattening over time and you end up with a thick mat of cardboard that is very very very very slowly breaking down. But you could do some cardboard, then some leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps, twigs, etc., then more cardboard, then more filling, etc.
I fall leaves and when spring comes, I pour some leave on grass, and cut grass and with lawnmower catcher attached make a mixed mulch, the grass really help break down leaves
My husband and I just installed two very large raised beds that he built from wood he got from a local saw mill that he does welding work for as a trade for his work. We waited to fill our beds until we started flattening our yard with a skid steer this spring. 1/4 of the beds were filled with branches and logs from a tree we cut down a couple years ago, 1/2 was soil we pulled up when flattening the lawn, and the top 1/4 was 3 year old compost from our goats and chickens. Built and filled them totally for free and we're so happy with them. Luckily we still have two year old compost and a large pile of soil left over from the lawn, so when we add more beds we'll be prepared. Hoping to add few more beds before winter.
We built 2- 36" tall raised beds last year bcs we are getting older. We filled the bottoms with pine logs, thin pine branches, tons of leaves, and then compost and soil. I have bags and bags of leaves still from last year and bales of straw I bought fire pit galvanized rings these last few years for the blueberry bushes. These and our shorter raised beds I put a thick layer of leaves down before laying down the soil mix.
Our city has yard waste pickup and a composting facility. As a resident, you can go and get a truckload a day of compost. That's how I fill my beds each year. I have grown in 100% compost since the 2021 season. I wish I had the ability to make compost myself but my yard is not conducive to that unfortunately.
Luke, You are so correct! I have a new garden space this year. I am burying my raised metal beds, then logs from apple trees I had to trim back this winter. I ordered 10 yards of soil, and 6 yards of compose. 760$. Not Cheap at all!!!! But first year....so, I did it. Plus fertilizers. I had to do all this at our old house 18 years ago. So it wasn't a total shock. Our soil here is pretty good, needs some amendments, but can be ground planted for many things. My grow room is filled with plants itching to get out there, BUT they have to wait for last frost date. You always have great info for gardeners. Thanks!!!
I’ve added several new raised beds this season and the cheapest materials I have found that work are sticks, small logs, ripped up cardboard boxes, and straw. I’ve also been buying the sale soil for $2 a cubic foot and mix it with bagged manure that is $2.50 a cubic foot. Total cost is about $25 to fill an 8x2 foot bed. Not bad at all.
I still enjoy watching your videos and gleaning the knowledge that is Luke's experience and knowledge / education / training. I would love to challenge the preconception that "weeds" are bad things. I know the store has things like Purslane, Milk Thistle, Miner's Lettuce, and so many other seeds that some consider "weeds" (I've personally purchased some of these because I want to be sure what I put in the yard intentionally is what I'm thinking they are, but I'd love to hear you work into the conversation a bit more when mentioning "weeds" the benefits and positives to being able to have the backyard foraging ability should 2020 ever happen again. Just my $0.02. Keep on smiling and thanks for all you (and your team and your family) do!
I don't know how many cities do this, but mine has a public "brush dump" where people can take their twigs, pruned material, leaves, etc. If you need to fill your raised beds and your city has something similar, it's a great resource (and FREE)!
Just a mild warning.. vet the stuff. You do not want certain plants entering your property. You do not want certain bugs coming in. Keep that stuff isolated for about a year so it breaks down and you have a good chance at assessing it. I call it my quarantine zone. It's better to wait and be sure than to rush in and then, deal with things like invasive plants. Otherwise.. free is very very good.
I have a big garden and 4 raised beds outside the garden. I'm adding a few more. We also have a rototiller. We get compost that is BLACK its so awesome! 40$/pickup! I started many of your seeds in our glass enclosed from porch! Can't wait to plant. Then when things are done we haul the finished plants to the farm across the street? The goats love us!!
Hey Luke! This was a super helpful video. I have a question for you though. Our city has free compost from the yard waste center, which is awesome. The problem is that I filled my raised beds with it and now I can’t seem to water them effectively. I can water for what feels like forever but the water doesn’t penetrate down more than a half an inch or so. What can I do about it? Do I need to mix the compost with something else and, if so, what should I use?
Thank you! This is a timely video as we need to fill a new raised bed! Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have a LOT of moss. Any reason why I can’t include moss in the bottom of my raised bed along with the leaves, branches and logs? Thanks!
Also check out if your municipality gives away compost for free! Where I am in Hamilton, ON the compost giveaways are this weekend and next. Just bring a shovel and some bags/bins and take what you need 😀
Looks great. Logs, leaves, grass, branches, some nitrogen chicky-doo pellets- makes for an excellent bottom layer. Question, did you put wood chip mulch over weed suppressing fabric in your new raised bed garden area? Or, is that just edging I see? I won't comment on my experience doing that other than it was wasn't pleasant. BUT, there was some good that came of it when I removed the fabric.
So I was looking for organic soil for my beds. Can't find it in bulk so filling 10 beds (old logs in the bottom) with bagged organic was going to cost me 6000.00!!!! OMG!!! After building a new home and getting about 8000.00 in gravel for multiple applications on the driveway I'm suffering from sticker shock lol. I found a non-organic local bulk dealer and verified where the soil came from so I'm using that with organic amendments. There is no ROI with this and I'm only doing it to grow healthy food. I'm so excited to really get things going even with the crazy high price of things.
A pickup truck of compost is about $10 or $150 if you have it delivered by a landscaping company. It's worth it to get a topsoil and compost blend delivered if you dont have a pickup though.
Dandelions are FANTASTIC! I do understand but if you get rid of them use the roots flowers stems and leaves for salads, skin balms, vinegars, tea, mixed greens dehydrated mix on and on and on - one of the most nutritional useful plants (not a weed) They DO NOT compete w/plants but have a huge taproot which brings minerals up from down deep which makes beautiful soil.
We live next to wood and a creek that floods every yr. We go out there with buckets in the woods and scrape off the top layer every yr. Very rich soil. And tons of worms. It's pretty physical demanding nut very worth the effort
In Utah we have a service called "Chip Drop". You sign up to get Free debris dropped at a designated area at your home. Material comes from trees being trimmed so the size will vary of the material.
If you fill with compost, the beds will constantly sink over time, the cost never ends. The most sensible thing to fill the beds with is top soil purchased in bulk and then amend the topsoil with some nice compost. Even Peat based Pro mix breaks down over time.
@@iowaviking I do make my own compost😊! I believe in adding some compost to my soil every year. But if the bed is completely filled with compost it would sink to nothing in about five years as the compost breaks down and releases its nutrients. I think compost is best added to a real, stable mineral soil. An organic content of 10% would be a lot!
I use decayed logs and branches, bundles of newspaper, and aged woodchips. The Chip Drop I got this year contained a lot of aged woodchips at the bottom, so I sifted them out and used them to fill some tire raised beds. Unfortunately, I think the arborist may have accidentally ground up some poison ivy with the tree, as it got all over me when I was sifting it. Always be careful when working with woodchips from an unknown source.
Top soil is $6/cu-ft at lowes here. Less if you buy a bulk load from somewhere else. First year is primary cost. 2nd year is small addition for what settled. After that, you're good. If you use a non-earthen growing medium it doesn't matter if you fill your bed mostly with logs. You're going to be buying it year after year and it sells at a higher price (2-4x) per cu-ft. I feel mostly non-earth soil mix is ideal for containers, but not raised beds. Raised beds are already robbing you of growing space when you have a bunch of spaced troughs. Paying more to fill them than you should is just insult to injury.
I'm in this situation right now. What do u think about using a combination of compost and top soil and then mixing pronix potting soil into the top say six inches or so? Some advice would be appreciated.
I just dig a hole in the yard and put the dirt in it..... fill the hole back in with grass clippings every week..... never know when you might need a good deep hole in the back yard.
Lol. Everyone hates the dandelions. We didn't have any but I collected the biggest seed heads I could find, after a few years they are everywhere. Pollinators love them, we love to eat them. Their long tap root brings nutrients up to to the surface. Think twice before eradicating dandelions from your garden or landscape.
I don't treat for dandelions in my yard between them and the creeping Charlie its yellow and purple in the spring. I love it. My neighbors, not so happy. But the pollinators are happy. I have to keep my husband from "cleaning" up the yard too early to protect the leaf cover as well. I keep.saying wait until.the end of May. He's like really? Yes! Better for the bees please.
Find your local tree trimmers, especially if they are contractors for your respective utility company, and inquire about getting some wood chips. Maybe offer to buy the crew lunch, in most cases they will repectfully decline, and dump a load of free wood chips at your house. It is free mulch, absent of any chemicals, dyes, etc, and will also double as some raised bed filler. Often it is more convenient for them to dump while they are still out in the field.
You will need to make sure all what trees were cutting down. Willow or fresh pine doesnt make good mulsh. You could have willow growning in your veggie gardens.
Can I put a layer of peat moss over the tree branches & help with water retention? We are in a cedar forest so no leaves. 15in deep bed and it will be getting cabbage & cucumber on the trellis end this first year.
Hi, I have a lot of bags from soil and hate just throwing them in the garbage. I do use them as garbage bags but there are enough for 10 years. How does everyone recycle their soil/compost bags? Thank you
I had tomato plants that seeded themselves in my native plant garden and produced tomatoes. Zero care from me, zero watering, zero fertilization, as well as competition from a thousand plants growing inches from them. Just think about that for a second. The ground is usually a pretty good place to grow things, and we probably do way too much.
Pro-Mix is pretty steep for an outdoor raised but. I mean it's good... but I can get good triple mix for 50 a yard.... sometimes less. Local garden centres will carry it. I love Pro-Mix for my pots but too much for outdoor growing. I've always just assume treat raised beds like ground beds.
I just use my skid steer and dig up some crappy dirt and fill the bottom with that. Then go out in my field before the farmer gets in it and skim off some of the black topsoil. I own the field so it's pretty easy
Question for the people watching, has anyone used white vinegar and dish soap to spray on and kill weeds in a asparagus bed? Still small enough I can target spray.
I just pull or snip weeds off with pruners. Please do not salt your soil as the other commenter said. Good way to never grow anything again, Roman style. Vinegar also doesn’t really work without harming the asparagus
Disabled and living in the low desert, an elevated shallow bed is not very practical for my exposure. As much soil as possible is needed due to extreme heat. I am always looking for options though. Also rather difficult living in a rental.
Update in Michigan if you find some commercial grow facilities, they throw all their dirt away and it’s pro mix potting soil. I got like a couple truckloads for free.
Luke, what is happening with the other property that you had on Range? I see all kinds of construction going on there and I thought that was declared a wetland. Did you end up selling the property to someone else that was able to skirt the regulations somehow? Just curious. Hope all is well and keep up the good work!
Checked Nitrogen fixation typically occurs during anaerobic decomposition, where organic matter breaks down without oxygen. So, by adding compost material at the bottom of the raised bed, you're promoting anaerobic breakdown, which can indeed release nitrogen into the soil as a byproduct. This can be beneficial for plant growth.
Compost itself doesn't draw nitrogen from the soil; rather, during its decomposition process, microbes in the compost use nitrogen as they break down organic matter. This can temporarily reduce the availability of nitrogen in the surrounding soil until the decomposition process is complete. Once the compost fully decomposes and integrates with the soil, it becomes a valuable source of nutrients, including nitrogen, for plants. So, while compost doesn't directly draw nitrogen from the soil, its decomposition process can temporarily affect nitrogen availability in the soil.
If you use twigs, logs, etc top it off with epsom salt, and urea or another nitrogen source, it'll break down much faster without robbing the soil of nutrients.
I laughed at Julie Andrew’s singing, the hills are alive with the dandelion 😂
We use leaves, branches, lawn clippings, shredded paper and cardboard, hay, straw, and wood chips to fill up the bottom of our raised beds. As they break down over the years we add new soil and compost to the top and it works really well.
I've heard of pests like grubs and slugs being attracted by grass clippings and to avoid them. Thoughts/experiences?
@@zpbeats3938I can't speak for slugs, but grubs eat grass roots, not the foliage. Grass clippings are great in the garden and in the compost.
If you put in on bottom slugs arent getting them. @@zpbeats3938
Good to know. Just in time for our raised bed filling.
We have a bunch of dead trees broken down, now I have your information on where I can move them.😊
Grass clippings are great if you don’t spray.
Luke, I really appreciate how you are always considerate of those who need to save money. May I suggest you show people how to build a raised row garden bed. You can't get much cheaper than that. Thanks for being my garden friend for so many years!
I have many (100+) flower containers and hanging baskets. By the end of the season, some of the largest pots have a huge root balls of soil and roots, difficult to break down. But, after a snowy winter, those root balls are manageable and make great filler for the bottom of my raised beds, which are 25+ gallon nursery containers from trees. Recycle and upcycle all the way!
Another good upcycle raised bed is cow lick protien tubs. Sticks, fall leaves and 90% finish compost work great for filling them.
A word of caution about that bottom layer. We were pruning our Rose of Sharon bush when we came into possession of several 16 gallon totes from our neighbor. Light bulb moment! Put the stems in the bottom and fill with compost and potting soil. Beautiful! Imagine my surprise when all those Rose of Sharon stems began sprouting in the midst of my carrots and tomatoes. I could probably start a Rose of Sharon nursery now. LOL
Oops. Lol 🥀
That's what I was thinking when he put the plants in the bed.
Hi Luke! 😊 I love your cheerful disposition. I am battling a nasty health challenge that robs me of my usual spark and energy. Watching your videos is like pouring fuel in my carbeurator. Thanks for being the Kick Start that turns this old engine over. My package from Urban Farmer just arrived. I'm going to test drive their new root trainers now that my motor is running. Never under estimate the positive effect your vibrant personality produces. Thank you Luke 😊
Nice to find a gardening/horticulture channel in the exact same zone and state as me haha, very convenient
Another thing you can do to keep cost down is to have patient and watch the price of garden soil/compost listed on big box stores like Lowes, Home Depot and Ace Hardware. During certain time of the year, they will run a big discount and you can save big. Just recently, Home Depot in my area run a 50% discount on soil and compost, I ran out and filled up my vehicle with many bags of the products as I had a raised bed to fill out. The raised bed was sitting empty until now.
I know if can be very tempting to setup the raised bed and then run out and buy soil right away because we want to do things right away, but if you can hold back and wait, you can save a lot.
Good ideas, I use logs& large branches but they are old and rotten. The plants love it!
This is exactly what I'm experiencing right now. I planned on using leaves but never thought about wood chips. I'm also using homemade compost so that certainly helps with the cost of filling raised beds. Thanks for all of the great tips!
There is a place near me that grows commercial amounts of mushrooms. You can go there and get their 'used' soil (from their perspective) for really cheap. This year however I went to a place that loaded me up with a few scoops of garden compost from a front end loader. Comparing prices, the one I went to, their average every day price was cheaper than the clearance price from the big box stores. I also put a layer of rocks at the bottom of my beds (mine are deep as they are repurposed watering troughs). The rocks definitely aid in drainage.
This is the way with huglekulture raised beds. It’s nothing new, putting logs and clippings, leaves and other mater to to fill the depth of one’s raised garden bed. Knowing and understanding deep knowledge of one’s craft, and crediting those early lessons leads to greatness. Have a great growing season.
My husband built me some raised beds from heat treated pallets this year. I used leaves to fill about 1/3 of my raised beds. Then I only filled them with soil until about 2/3-3/4 full. I will add more soil next year when I amend it. This helped to not spend so much in one year. I use leaves in the bottom of containers, too.
I learned the log trick from my BMX jump building days😂
As kids, we would build jumps by the riverbed and just collect every fallen limb we could find to save us having to dig so much
In my part of the country you can use composted duck manure. I live in Northern Indiana where there are many Amish farms.
I like bottoming with woodchip, it's a built in water retention system.
Logs do that too. I cant believe how wet the soil is deeper down.
I got my “raised beds” from behind my local TSC and rural king. They have free wood and sometimes it’s heat treated wooden crates.
As someone who doesn't have a ton of mobility to be collecting yard waste but still wanted to do a tote raised bed garden, I got an organic, undyed, local wood mulch to use as the base layer in my beds. So affordable from a local garden center, I got 5 2 cf bags for under $15 for my little home garden set up and it was more than enough. It'll break down over the season, while also helping with drainage and soil compaction.
I add a new raised bed in the late summer, then I add all the sticks, trimmings, missed over grown cucumbers or split tomatoes, half rotted branches, jack o laterns, grass clippings, leaves etc to the bottom until the snow flies. In the spring its already half full and half composted and I just need to top it with compost and soil to get ready for planting.
We are lucky around me that we have a wonderful landscaping company in which we can get a sifted topsoil and leaf compost mix for cheap. Each year we top off with old potting mix and/or leaf compost to top off the beds. A wonderful resource to have
Oh this is exactly what I was planning to do! Thanks for posting and letting me know that can work!
I was fortunate enough to find a lady down the road from me with free fill dirt. Mixed with compost put in our beds. Then went with the 2 for 4.00 manure or garden dirt. Only needed four bags after all that. Thank you so so much for all this info. My go to gardener from now on.
One thing you could fill that raised bed with, if you had to, is cardboard. It will eventually break down. Worms love it. If you are going to have to use quite a bit of it, you will probably want to layer it with something else, so that it doesn't end up flattening over time and you end up with a thick mat of cardboard that is very very very very slowly breaking down. But you could do some cardboard, then some leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps, twigs, etc., then more cardboard, then more filling, etc.
I fall leaves and when spring comes, I pour some leave on grass, and cut grass and with lawnmower catcher attached make a mixed mulch, the grass really help break down leaves
Your grounds are beautiful! I really wanna come visit!❤
Last time I needed more than a few bags, the landscaping supply place had bulk garden blend soil for way way cheaper than a store in bags.
My husband and I just installed two very large raised beds that he built from wood he got from a local saw mill that he does welding work for as a trade for his work. We waited to fill our beds until we started flattening our yard with a skid steer this spring. 1/4 of the beds were filled with branches and logs from a tree we cut down a couple years ago, 1/2 was soil we pulled up when flattening the lawn, and the top 1/4 was 3 year old compost from our goats and chickens. Built and filled them totally for free and we're so happy with them. Luckily we still have two year old compost and a large pile of soil left over from the lawn, so when we add more beds we'll be prepared. Hoping to add few more beds before winter.
We built 2- 36" tall raised beds last year bcs we are getting older. We filled the bottoms with pine logs, thin pine branches, tons of leaves, and then compost and soil. I have bags and bags of leaves still from last year and bales of straw
I bought fire pit galvanized rings these last few years for the blueberry bushes.
These and our shorter raised beds I put a thick layer of leaves down before laying down the soil mix.
Our city has yard waste pickup and a composting facility. As a resident, you can go and get a truckload a day of compost. That's how I fill my beds each year. I have grown in 100% compost since the 2021 season. I wish I had the ability to make compost myself but my yard is not conducive to that unfortunately.
Luke, You are so correct! I have a new garden space this year. I am burying my raised metal beds, then logs from apple trees I had to trim back this winter. I ordered 10 yards of soil, and 6 yards of compose. 760$. Not Cheap at all!!!! But first year....so, I did it. Plus fertilizers. I had to do all this at our old house 18 years ago. So it wasn't a total shock. Our soil here is pretty good, needs some amendments, but can be ground planted for many things. My grow room is filled with plants itching to get out there, BUT they have to wait for last frost date. You always have great info for gardeners. Thanks!!!
My granny always used square bales and separated them to the height she wanted then just added more soil every year as it compressded
I’ve added several new raised beds this season and the cheapest materials I have found that work are sticks, small logs, ripped up cardboard boxes, and straw. I’ve also been buying the sale soil for $2 a cubic foot and mix it with bagged manure that is $2.50 a cubic foot. Total
cost is about $25 to fill an 8x2 foot bed. Not bad at all.
Great advice! Thank you for all the helpful hints!
Good things to keep in mind 👊🏻🌻👊🏻
Great advice!!
I still enjoy watching your videos and gleaning the knowledge that is Luke's experience and knowledge / education / training. I would love to challenge the preconception that "weeds" are bad things. I know the store has things like Purslane, Milk Thistle, Miner's Lettuce, and so many other seeds that some consider "weeds" (I've personally purchased some of these because I want to be sure what I put in the yard intentionally is what I'm thinking they are, but I'd love to hear you work into the conversation a bit more when mentioning "weeds" the benefits and positives to being able to have the backyard foraging ability should 2020 ever happen again.
Just my $0.02. Keep on smiling and thanks for all you (and your team and your family) do!
I don't know how many cities do this, but mine has a public "brush dump" where people can take their twigs, pruned material, leaves, etc. If you need to fill your raised beds and your city has something similar, it's a great resource (and FREE)!
Just a mild warning.. vet the stuff. You do not want certain plants entering your property. You do not want certain bugs coming in. Keep that stuff isolated for about a year so it breaks down and you have a good chance at assessing it. I call it my quarantine zone. It's better to wait and be sure than to rush in and then, deal with things like invasive plants. Otherwise.. free is very very good.
I have a big garden and 4 raised beds outside the garden. I'm adding a few more. We also have a rototiller. We get compost that is BLACK its so awesome! 40$/pickup! I started many of your seeds in our glass enclosed from porch! Can't wait to plant. Then when things are done we haul the finished plants to the farm across the street? The goats love us!!
This is awesome, im constructing a milk crate garden at the moment and upcycling nearly everything to save money! So this helps a bunch, thank you
Hey Luke! This was a super helpful video. I have a question for you though. Our city has free compost from the yard waste center, which is awesome. The problem is that I filled my raised beds with it and now I can’t seem to water them effectively. I can water for what feels like forever but the water doesn’t penetrate down more than a half an inch or so. What can I do about it? Do I need to mix the compost with something else and, if so, what should I use?
Thank you! This is a timely video as we need to fill a new raised bed! Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have a LOT of moss. Any reason why I can’t include moss in the bottom of my raised bed along with the leaves, branches and logs? Thanks!
Thank you for this info
Also check out if your municipality gives away compost for free! Where I am in Hamilton, ON the compost giveaways are this weekend and next. Just bring a shovel and some bags/bins and take what you need 😀
I always worry about what other people have contributed to the community compost.
Looks great. Logs, leaves, grass, branches, some nitrogen chicky-doo pellets- makes for an excellent bottom layer. Question, did you put wood chip mulch over weed suppressing fabric in your new raised bed garden area? Or, is that just edging I see? I won't comment on my experience doing that other than it was wasn't pleasant. BUT, there was some good that came of it when I removed the fabric.
So I was looking for organic soil for my beds. Can't find it in bulk so filling 10 beds (old logs in the bottom) with bagged organic was going to cost me 6000.00!!!! OMG!!! After building a new home and getting about 8000.00 in gravel for multiple applications on the driveway I'm suffering from sticker shock lol. I found a non-organic local bulk dealer and verified where the soil came from so I'm using that with organic amendments. There is no ROI with this and I'm only doing it to grow healthy food. I'm so excited to really get things going even with the crazy high price of things.
A pickup truck of compost is about $10 or $150 if you have it delivered by a landscaping company. It's worth it to get a topsoil and compost blend delivered if you dont have a pickup though.
I have been searching for this exact video from you guys!
I saw Canada!!!
Great advice! I have an in-home composter machine and that material needs more work to be "real" compost, so it would be perfect for the lowest level.
Dandelions are FANTASTIC! I do understand but if you get rid of them use the roots flowers stems and leaves for salads, skin balms, vinegars, tea, mixed greens dehydrated mix on and on and on - one of the most nutritional useful plants (not a weed) They DO NOT compete w/plants but have a huge taproot which brings minerals up from down deep which makes beautiful soil.
We live next to wood and a creek that floods every yr. We go out there with buckets in the woods and scrape off the top layer every yr. Very rich soil. And tons of worms. It's pretty physical demanding nut very worth the effort
With the really tall raised beds 25-35" tall chip drop is a great option for the lower half of the bed
In Utah we have a service called "Chip Drop". You sign up to get Free debris dropped at a designated area at your home. Material comes from trees being trimmed so the size will vary of the material.
What would be best for around the beds? Mulch or gravel? I’m a teacher and we’re planning for a space for next school year.
If you fill with compost, the beds will constantly sink over time, the cost never ends. The most sensible thing to fill the beds with is top soil purchased in bulk and then amend the topsoil with some nice compost. Even Peat based Pro mix breaks down over time.
Unless you make your own composting.
@@iowaviking I do make my own compost😊! I believe in adding some compost to my soil every year. But if the bed is completely filled with compost it would sink to nothing in about five years as the compost breaks down and releases its nutrients. I think compost is best added to a real, stable mineral soil. An organic content of 10% would be a lot!
@WhatWeDoChannel I only use a 6 in raised bed so it's never a problem. I also have a worm farm to help
I use decayed logs and branches, bundles of newspaper, and aged woodchips. The Chip Drop I got this year contained a lot of aged woodchips at the bottom, so I sifted them out and used them to fill some tire raised beds.
Unfortunately, I think the arborist may have accidentally ground up some poison ivy with the tree, as it got all over me when I was sifting it. Always be careful when working with woodchips from an unknown source.
Thanks Luke😁👌👌
perfect
I enjoy all of your videos Andrew!...
But with 1.2M subs, do you think you could tweek your intro music a bit???😄
You setup looks really nice. Do you mind sharing what border you used to fence in the wood chips?
What is the black at the bottom of the raised bed please? Thanks🌱
Where did you buy the bins? Where can I get seeds that are cheap? Thanks!
We used a lot of leaves at the bottom of containers and a little compost on top of it. Then finished the top with topsoil. It broke down eventually.
If I was to build raised beds on legs how do you make the bottoms for drainage?
Top soil is $6/cu-ft at lowes here. Less if you buy a bulk load from somewhere else. First year is primary cost. 2nd year is small addition for what settled. After that, you're good.
If you use a non-earthen growing medium it doesn't matter if you fill your bed mostly with logs. You're going to be buying it year after year and it sells at a higher price (2-4x) per cu-ft.
I feel mostly non-earth soil mix is ideal for containers, but not raised beds. Raised beds are already robbing you of growing space when you have a bunch of spaced troughs. Paying more to fill them than you should is just insult to injury.
I have access to screened top soil at a super good price. Will that be ok in container gardens?
Can you use banana leaves and oak green leaves
I'm in this situation right now. What do u think about using a combination of compost and top soil and then mixing pronix potting soil into the top say six inches or so? Some advice would be appreciated.
I just dig a hole in the yard and put the dirt in it..... fill the hole back in with grass clippings every week..... never know when you might need a good deep hole in the back yard.
I hope that’s how my ex felt when he saw me holding the shovel 😂👊🏻
Lol. Everyone hates the dandelions. We didn't have any but I collected the biggest seed heads I could find, after a few years they are everywhere. Pollinators love them, we love to eat them. Their long tap root brings nutrients up to to the surface. Think twice before eradicating dandelions from your garden or landscape.
I don't treat for dandelions in my yard between them and the creeping Charlie its yellow and purple in the spring. I love it. My neighbors, not so happy. But the pollinators are happy. I have to keep my husband from "cleaning" up the yard too early to protect the leaf cover as well. I keep.saying wait until.the end of May. He's like really? Yes! Better for the bees please.
Find your local tree trimmers, especially if they are contractors for your respective utility company, and inquire about getting some wood chips. Maybe offer to buy the crew lunch, in most cases they will repectfully decline, and dump a load of free wood chips at your house. It is free mulch, absent of any chemicals, dyes, etc, and will also double as some raised bed filler. Often it is more convenient for them to dump while they are still out in the field.
You will need to make sure all what trees were cutting down. Willow or fresh pine doesnt make good mulsh. You could have willow growning in your veggie gardens.
Can I put a layer of peat moss over the tree branches & help with water retention? We are in a cedar forest so no leaves. 15in deep bed and it will be getting cabbage & cucumber on the trellis end this first year.
Hi, I have a lot of bags from soil and hate just throwing them in the garbage. I do use them as garbage bags but there are enough for 10 years. How does everyone recycle their soil/compost bags? Thank you
What do you have on the bottom? Also, if I have a 12 inch depth can I grow potatoes with hardware cloth on the bottom?
If you bury your raised bed would you still use potting soil or would you use garden soil?
I had tomato plants that seeded themselves in my native plant garden and produced tomatoes. Zero care from me, zero watering, zero fertilization, as well as competition from a thousand plants growing inches from them. Just think about that for a second. The ground is usually a pretty good place to grow things, and we probably do way too much.
Thanks for the video. Where do you get your Pro-Mix? Haven't found it yet here in the Lansing, MI area.
Do you think I can fill the bottom of my raised bed with prickly pear cactus?
Wait.. so compost doesn't have any nutrients in it? Is that what you said? I was considering using all compost for my raised bed...
How do I search for a compost facility in my area? I tried searching and got some strange results. LOL
Where are they raised beds from? I am interested in buying some.
Did you move? What about the wet land property
The hills are alive😄
Pro-Mix is pretty steep for an outdoor raised but. I mean it's good... but I can get good triple mix for 50 a yard.... sometimes less. Local garden centres will carry it. I love Pro-Mix for my pots but too much for outdoor growing. I've always just assume treat raised beds like ground beds.
I just use my skid steer and dig up some crappy dirt and fill the bottom with that. Then go out in my field before the farmer gets in it and skim off some of the black topsoil. I own the field so it's pretty easy
Question for the people watching, has anyone used white vinegar and dish soap to spray on and kill weeds in a asparagus bed? Still small enough I can target spray.
Use a 30 percent vinegar, salt, and a little dish soap mix to spray on the weeds. One gallon, one cup and a tablespoon
@@cpola5243 yes that what I use but was wondering if the excess runoff would hurt the asparagus crowns.
I just pull or snip weeds off with pruners. Please do not salt your soil as the other commenter said. Good way to never grow anything again, Roman style. Vinegar also doesn’t really work without harming the asparagus
Disabled and living in the low desert, an elevated shallow bed is not very practical for my exposure. As much soil as possible is needed due to extreme heat. I am always looking for options though. Also rather difficult living in a rental.
Update in Michigan if you find some commercial grow facilities, they throw all their dirt away and it’s pro mix potting soil. I got like a couple truckloads for free.
Bury your raised bed??? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a "Raised" bed?
Isn't a lot of dandelions in a sign of a lack of calcium in soil ?
Do you ever have aphid problems when using the pro mix ?
Sawdust wood chips grass clippings cardboard
Oh snap I mixed leaves in my garden beds, now how do I fix it???
Harvest the dandelions
Where do you get your metal beds from?
He now sells his own brand of beds.
Luke, what is happening with the other property that you had on Range? I see all kinds of construction going on there and I thought that was declared a wetland. Did you end up selling the property to someone else that was able to skirt the regulations somehow? Just curious. Hope all is well and keep up the good work!
Most folks don't have logs laying around. It gets very frustrating when people say "use logs" and you live in an urban environment.
Doesnt nitrogen fixing happen in anaerobic breakdown. Would that make the bottom layer produce nitrogen.
Checked Nitrogen fixation typically occurs during anaerobic decomposition, where organic matter breaks down without oxygen. So, by adding compost material at the bottom of the raised bed, you're promoting anaerobic breakdown, which can indeed release nitrogen into the soil as a byproduct. This can be beneficial for plant growth.
Compost itself doesn't draw nitrogen from the soil; rather, during its decomposition process, microbes in the compost use nitrogen as they break down organic matter. This can temporarily reduce the availability of nitrogen in the surrounding soil until the decomposition process is complete. Once the compost fully decomposes and integrates with the soil, it becomes a valuable source of nutrients, including nitrogen, for plants. So, while compost doesn't directly draw nitrogen from the soil, its decomposition process can temporarily affect nitrogen availability in the soil.
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LOGS
If you use twigs, logs, etc top it off with epsom salt, and urea or another nitrogen source, it'll break down much faster without robbing the soil of nutrients.