Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

The landscape timbers in the one bed are pressure treated but the other beds are just poplar that I milled. Most of the beds have been in for almost 4 years and are the original lumber. I take that back - I caught one end board with the front end loader and had to replace it.

 

[Bruce]

Some years back I made a raised bed with cedar along the driveway at the old house. Figured it would last forever. Turns out that cedar rots quite well when in contact with soil. Even the 4x4 posts rotted.

 

[Mike CHS]

That's one of the good things about being in Amish country. I don't have a whole lot of 12" lumber but I can get it for around 50 cents a foot for poplar.

 

[greybeard]

Some years back I made a raised bed with cedar along the driveway at the old house. Figured it would last forever. Turns out that cedar rots quite well when in contact with soil. Even the 4x4 posts rotted.

Depends on the type cedar, and where it's grown. The good cedar posts are grown in a relatively dry climate, where the tree's grow slower.

I have a lot here and have cut some for posts some years ago. They all rotted in the ground, but if I had gotten the cedar posts that grow 200 miles west (the same variety) they would last years and years.
The difference? Precipitation/annual rainfall. We get so much rain here, that the cedar grows too fast to develop a good red heart. The posts I cut were 4-6-7"" diameter, but the heart was 'maybe' 1-1 1/2" diameter at the most...the rest was just white sapwood.

 

[Baymule]

I planted a row of Maestro English peas, they bore early and are done now. I also planted 2 rows of Sugar Snap peas and they bore more peas than we could eat, so I picked them as shell peas and put them in the freezer.

I picked this plastic bowl twice on Wednesday before switching to the wash pan.

Today I picked about the same amount in the wash pan again. I don't know if they will bloom again and put on more peas or if they are done.

Do y'all freeze the snow peas or eat all you can while they are bearing?

 

[Ridgetop]

I used plain doug fir 2 x12 for manure pits in our original rabbitry. After 15 year there was no rot on any of them. But other than washing down the rabbitry paths (made of redwood laid on top of the manure pit boards between the rows of hanging cages) the only moisture in the manure pits was from the urine. Maybe watering the raised beds causes the boards to rot faster. This year I had 3 heavy duty extra large storage bins where the lids had cracked. I drilled holes in them, filled them with soil, and am using them for raised planter beds for strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and bush beans for the grandkids.. I told DH that if we moved our corral fencing over one panel, we could use the area between the house fence and the corral to dump our manure and barn waste. Then next year we will rototill it in and plant. It would give us a 16' x 40' garden. Not large but we could use it for row crops like peas and beans. Then the raised beds can be cut with sand and used for beets. Come to think of it, unless we ine the garden with wire under the ground the gophers may eat everything! However, we can build wire enclosed raised beds in that space too.

On the other hand, maybe we will find our dream ranch when we go to Texas this summer. Your garden looks beautiful Bay!

 

[Mike CHS]

y'all freeze the snow peas or eat all you can while they are bearing?

We just plant a single 10' row so we pretty much eat them as they grow.

We actually get more produce out of our raised beds than we got out of 4 times the space planting conventional garden.

 

[Ridgetop]

We actually get more produce out of our raised beds than we got out of 4 times the space planting conventional garden.

That is really good to hear since with our gopher problem we need to do raised, wire lined beds. Our old place had fabulous loamy soil and no gophers. Here terrible red clay and shale with 9 ph score means 30 years of improvement of soil with minimal results. LOL And pesky gophers surprisingly!

Gopher problem here is no vegetation = no gophers; plant something and they show up. Then the dogs dig up and kill the gophers resulting in a minefield and no vegetation. Back to no gophers, but - LOL

Thus the only solution is raised, wire lined beds, fenced off from dogs. Hearing that you do better with your raised beds is good. With raised beds you can use old windows from Habitat to make cold frames during the cooler months of the year or to start plants earlier. So Cal goes from cold but sunny to hot with no warming period. By using raised beds we can plant seed in cold frames and have it sprout and harden off before the intense heat hits the young plants.

Definitely going to put in a bunch of raised beds when we move our corral fencing over 10'. Love sugar peas straight from the vine! Can only plant them in the fall for a winter crop here.

 

[greybeard]

Time to call The Gopher Guy
One morning's work:

Or, just call "Caddyshack" Carl Spackler....

 

[Baymule]

Thanks @Ridgetop but I have so many weeds in the garden that BJ mowed them. LOL