7 Beginner Raised Bed Garden Mistakes to Avoid
In this video I will share seven common raised bed garden mistakes. Gardening in raised beds is easier because you have control over more variable and can grow more in less space, unless you make these mistakes. So watch this video and avoid all 7 of these raised bed gardening mistakes.
MENTIONED PRODUCTS
Grassroots Fabric Pots & Raised Beds
https://www.grassrootsfabricpots.com Use Discount Code: NEXTLEVEL10
MENTIONED/RELATED VIDEO
Building raised beds (like at old house): https://youtu.be/8Z48Ni8wgm0
Build Simple Raised Beds (like in this video): https://youtu.be/EiR20Dqad6U
Winterizing Raised Beds:
DIGITAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:37 – How long should a raised bed be
01:49 – How deep should a raised garden bed be
04:02 – Materials to use for raised beds
06:15 – What do you fill raised beds with
08:39 – Do you need to refresh raised bed garden soil
09:51 – Do you need to mulch raised garden beds
11:25 – How do you prepare raised beds for winter?
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Hey Guys, I’m Brian from Next Level Gardening
Welcome to our online community! A place to be educated, inspired and hopefully entertained at the same time! A place where you can learn to grow your own food and become a better organic gardener. At the same time, a place to grow the beauty around you and stretch that imagination (that sometimes lies dormant, deep inside) through gardening.
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Fabric?! Really c’mon man sh_t last a year here in Texas heat, DO NOT waste your money!!! Just go and get logs from any where, side of road, your own land. Dont over think it
What part of SoCal are you in ?
CA gophers must be smarter. They dig, pile up dirt next to the 6" board wall and climb right into my raised bed garden.
When you add soil to the bed the following year, do you have to rake away all your mulch first? You don’t want to bury it, right?
Perfect size=2 yoga mats next to each other… Got it👍
In my area a raised bed makes an excellent Rodent Motel ! 😢
Mother Earth magazine interviewed a college science professor who said most treated lumber is fine. She explained it.
The best results ive gotten with raised bed soil is 1 part top soil, 1 part sand, and 1 part manure/compost. Sometimes i might include 1 part peat moss. NEVER use wood chip in the soil!
Do what ever works for you don’t believe everything they tell w.
You mention not to use pressure treated wood. What about using wood stain on the outside of approved woods?
Placing a layer of new soil creates a barrier layer over last years emergent pests, but reusing old mulch will also preserve that same issue. Interesting also most of the YouTube farmers is the lack of knowledge and experience on the issues of RKN (root knot nematodes) and fail to cross-source success and failures. This topic is avoided because the solution is so very limited or just unknown.
great info. thanks!
Between bed size should be big enough for the wheelbarrow minimum
Well done
Commenting for the algorithm lol rewatching for reminders for this year
My raised beds are 3 feet by 25 feet. Easier to reach to the center of the beds, and better space utilization than short beds. Easier to install drip watering system in a long bed, easier for using row covers, just better. Plan your work and you don’t have to walk around them a lot.
Very helpful,
Plants should never have more than 3 inches of mulch , termites live in abt 7 inches and ants love love love mulch
Still mesmerizing to me how obsessed the USA is with 🦶🏻
isn’t walking good for you? Just saying.🤣🤣
I use cinder block. Plant herbs and such in the holes.
If its your first bed do you mulch before you plant?
My take on treated lumber is that gravity pulls straight down, not laterally. My point is, as long as your roots dont make direct contact with the treated wood it should be safe to eat the product, in theory. If its just for stuff like bee balm or other plants you dont intend on eating, then go for it. My problem is that I am a mega cheapskate and often get pieces of discarded treated lumber for free. Im not dead yet tho.
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I have had wood beds. But I live in Europe and we don’t usually build homes out of wood, therefore our easily bought lumber in the hardware store is pine tree lumber. It is soft and my beds made from it were eaten by soil bacteria in 4-6 years. To get some hardwood to build my beds would cost more than buying metal beds, that I now got for 35-55€. My yard is sloped so I need some kind of raised beds to stop the water going down with the gravity. People say my beds cost a lot of money and veggies are cheaper at the store. I just say that fishing gear also is expensive and fish at the store is cheaper, but that isn’t the point, is it? 😊
I put soaked cardboard at the bottom of my raised bed to help with the weeds but now I’m concerned it’s too shallow and the roots will have no where to go. Should I remove the cardboard? Will this completely ruin everything I’ve already planted?😢
I found that I preferred 12 inches deep for any bed. I intermix crops and some have deeper roots while others just grow 4-5 inches down. I’ve done 18 inches, 2 foot, 6 inches and 4 inches as well… and 12 is my choice every time. I coat cheap pine in linseed oil mixed with peppermint oil to deter pests and critters. This mesh also works fabulous. Same with planting pest resistance plants all around the bottom borders. Having predators (cats) around helps too. Same with birds of prey if you have large trees. Find ways to welcome them in to eat the pests. Same with predator insects, bring those in as well. Healthy plants rarely attract pests. You can also do some plants pests love in a garden bed away from your garden so that they (hopefully) go there instead. A sacrificial plant garden 😊
Beautiful
Thx for tips
I want to use 2 bookshelves I have for raised beds
Im sure its not made of cedar!
What if I lined them with burlap? Would that help in case they’re made of treated wood?
Ty🌻
How to keep rabbits from eating your plants is my question
Why not concrete block beds?
Excellent tips for anyone who gardens! I already did/do these, but it’s always nice to see what you suggested & they align with what I already do.
Hi Brian–I have been noticing on You Tube that many raise bed gardeners say to use 50% topsoil and 50% compost rather then the second method which is 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss or coco core and 1/3 perlite or vermiculate–they state that over a period of 5 years or so that the second type will decompose and you have to replace the whole bed–is this true??? The second method does not contain any real soil it is all organic. I built a 4 ft by 4 ft bed about 3 years ago and filled it using the second method–am I going to end up with my bed not doing well or nothing at all????
Make them 24 inches deep, works great!
The point of building raised beds for me is to save my back. I’m going to put mine on legs. I have plenty of old lumber from our old wood fencing I’m going to tear down.
USE CEDAR FENCE PLANKS. they can be doubled in thickness if you desire. cost less
CENTRAL HEATING TANK CUT IN HALF 4 X 6
EASY AS PIIE
Never use cardboard or anything like that as mulch or the too covering? If you do, where the f are roots going to get their oxygen from?
Never build a raised bed. End of lesson.
I got some 8ft 2×8 kiln dried soft yellow pine, and some precut 2 ft 2x4s probably not great for longevity but building a 4ftx8ftx16in bed cost me about 45 for the wood
Great job thank you
Be careful with that cacao shell mulch if you have dogs! Can be toxic if eaten.
Question: In the second and subsequent years, when you add the next blanket of soil/compost, what do you do with the existing mulch? Do you remove it, add soil, then return it?
MCA treated lumber is fine, as long as its not super fresh. If you have treated lumber put some drops of water along it. If they bead up they need a few days to dry. If the water absorbs in your good to go.
4×10 is also nice. Not a lot of waste. Two 2x10s + one 2×8
😂
I started using mosquito screen I purchased a 7x 50 ft for abt 30 bucks , and unless my plants have flowers that needs to pollinated, I screen it from the beginning so I don’t have pest problems . This yr I will have all my garden area under polycarbonate bc of all the spraying of the sky’s. Only use well water to water my plants
Learned that cardboard has very high amts of toxic chemicals that will leach in the soil as it breaks down so I never use that or suggest that.
Don’t have grass. Every time you cut it, it produces a chemical that attracts pests which will enter your garden. ALWAYS have dirt, wood mulch or living pathways that are not chopped by blades. All the bad guys will sense it and end up in your garden. They like weak plants and cutting grass makes it weak.
Thanks!
We used some fresh grass clippings in with the dirt for growing potatoes and they produced alot more potatoes. Not a ton of grass clippings though. Just enough to warm the soil as they decayed.