Posted by Nancy Caroli on September 22, 2009 at 9:15pm
I've been searching for a way to actually GET vegetables from my garden. Have been sharing too much with the rodents! I live 1/4 mile s. of Carefree Hwy. in the middle of ground squirrel land. So I decided to tour some nearby successful gardens: the organic garden at The Boulders Resort and the organic garden behind El Encanto Dos, a resturant on Carefree Hwy and 12th Street. Both use raised beds approximately 2 ft. high. My favorite raised bed garden can be found on the website of landscape architect and our own Phoenix Permaculture Guild member, Jennie Cure. Take a look at: http://www.jenniecure.com/communitygarden.html. The raised bed has 4"x4" posts at each corner so that shade cloth, chicken wire or bird netting can be added when needed. I plan to attach hardware cloth to the bottom of the structure to keep burrowing friends from entering from below. Anyone have experience with raised beds for vegetables?
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I'd be curious to know how raising the beds keeps ground squirrels out. I have a back yard full of the cute little buggers but they climb on everything...don't see how a raised bed would even give them pause. It's been my experience out here that your garden needs to be surrounded by hardware cloth on all sides. Even my 1" poultry wire "garden house" doesn't have small enough holes to keep the rodents out. We are going to rebuild it with hardware cloth.
Denise Lindow > Peggy AlexanderJune 23, 2011 at 10:30am
The raised bed only works if you put hardware cloth beneath the bed. Not "poultry enclosure" as they term it at Home Depot--as you've discovered. I use the hardware cloth to prevent tree roots from getting too invasive as well.
You'll probably have to built a fence as well. I have cats, which solves the above ground rodent issue.
My gardening is done in large containers on pedestals, mostly. Carrots, radishes, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers. I still have to net it (before it gets super full) to keep the birds from foraging in the good damp soil but nothing except a snake has been able to climb into the pots. I do have a couple exceptions: I put zucchini and okra in extra large pots (24"w x 32"h) on the ground this year and so far, no invasions of the four footed kind. Perhaps those veggies are not tempting to them? I don't know but I was pleasantly surprised. I am in the same general area as the original poster and I think because so much around us is either undeveloped or the lots are nearly scraped/landscaped/pruned just about bare, the critters naturally gravitate to anyplace irrigated and green.
My fantasy would be a fully enclosed garden with an adobe wall, a charming wooden gate and a pergola over it with drapes for shade/frost, on pulleys of course :) And irrigation of course... sink and workstand would be nice too.
Where did you find the 2" by 6" Cedar?. None at Home Depot. They have a cedar kit but no cedar lumber that would be cedar 2" thick . I am considering using redwood 2" and cut the 8 ft board to make bed 4x4. I am not sure how well redwood would last and really feel very weird about using redwood for this. Looking forward to hearing what others have used for their organic gardens. Also our neighbor backwashes their pond and my husband dug a 4 x4 foot hole on our side of the wall. YEP, this morning when they back washed their pond it was filled up with water. Now wondering how to safely and organically use that for the underside of our raised bed. There will be river rock and heavy gauge wire lining the bed to make the veggies safe from our burrowers.
Good Morning, how about trying 12 inch wide band of sheet metal up the sides of the beds too slick for the little guys, the kind comes in rolls at Home Depot or Lowes it's over in the lumber department.
I won't go into a lot of detail because I don't want to abuse your group with an ad for my business. Please visit my website for another way to keep those critters out of a garden! www.monarchgardenbox.com
I wasn't thinking of a solid wall, just something to prevent the critters from crawling up the side of the bed and grazing across the top. EVERYTHING likes lettuce. :-D
>Field mice can fit through a hole the size of a dime!
Holy smokes! I'm feeling even more fortunate that I have cats. I don't have small mammal problems. I once watched them play whack-a-mole with a squirrel who was trying to burrow up into the yard.
If you're going to use chicken wire and hardware cloth to keep the critters out anyway, why raise the bed? By raising the bed, you'll increase the water requirements significantly more than if the bed was below grade. Wind and low humidity will draw moisture from the soil in a raised bed; while lowering it will enable you to use passive rainwater harvesting techniques to supplement the irrigation. And whether you're on a municipal water supply or a well, rainwater will be much better for your garden plants than what you're using.
Raised beds do have their advantages (easier on the knees and back!), so everything's a trade-off.
Hi Jeff,
I agree with you in theory. I've heard a lot of sad gardening tales in my neighborhood with folks who've planted vegetable gardens at grade and lost everything. Now that I've visited 2 raised bed gardens, I'm willing to give it a shot. I also like the part about 'easier on the knees and back'. I'll share my story after I've given it a try.
Nancy
Hi Nancy
Half my garden is raised beds. You might be able to keep them from burrowing it, but you'll need something to keep them from coming up the sides and just eating away on top. Are you considering enclosing the garden? I understand that Eastcoasters have to bury their garden enclosures two feet deep to prevent burrowers.
Replies
The raised bed only works if you put hardware cloth beneath the bed. Not "poultry enclosure" as they term it at Home Depot--as you've discovered. I use the hardware cloth to prevent tree roots from getting too invasive as well.
You'll probably have to built a fence as well. I have cats, which solves the above ground rodent issue.
d.
My gardening is done in large containers on pedestals, mostly. Carrots, radishes, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers. I still have to net it (before it gets super full) to keep the birds from foraging in the good damp soil but nothing except a snake has been able to climb into the pots. I do have a couple exceptions: I put zucchini and okra in extra large pots (24"w x 32"h) on the ground this year and so far, no invasions of the four footed kind. Perhaps those veggies are not tempting to them? I don't know but I was pleasantly surprised. I am in the same general area as the original poster and I think because so much around us is either undeveloped or the lots are nearly scraped/landscaped/pruned just about bare, the critters naturally gravitate to anyplace irrigated and green.
My fantasy would be a fully enclosed garden with an adobe wall, a charming wooden gate and a pergola over it with drapes for shade/frost, on pulleys of course :) And irrigation of course... sink and workstand would be nice too.
Granny
>Field mice can fit through a hole the size of a dime!
Holy smokes! I'm feeling even more fortunate that I have cats. I don't have small mammal problems. I once watched them play whack-a-mole with a squirrel who was trying to burrow up into the yard.
Raised beds do have their advantages (easier on the knees and back!), so everything's a trade-off.
I agree with you in theory. I've heard a lot of sad gardening tales in my neighborhood with folks who've planted vegetable gardens at grade and lost everything. Now that I've visited 2 raised bed gardens, I'm willing to give it a shot. I also like the part about 'easier on the knees and back'. I'll share my story after I've given it a try.
Nancy
Half my garden is raised beds. You might be able to keep them from burrowing it, but you'll need something to keep them from coming up the sides and just eating away on top. Are you considering enclosing the garden? I understand that Eastcoasters have to bury their garden enclosures two feet deep to prevent burrowers.
fwiw,
Denise
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