My son and I built som CMU beds at his house in Maine without mortar. I chose to mortar my blocks because of the height. It even grew into the wood sides itself to get in the garden beds. At least 8 " is under grade to deter moles and voles ( I have many) and to eliminate the dreaded witch grass, Bermuda grass or whatever you want to call it, from taking over the beds, it overpowered 8" - 12" of wood chips mulch in the pathways in a little over a year and was a full time wedding nightmare in my beds. My ground has some slope so they range from 24" tall to 1 6" tall. I have replaced 6 4'x 8' beds with 2 4' x 24' CMU beds. I have attempted to use as many salvaged or used blocks as I am able to get ,but the quantities needed are large. That said, I have started to replace all of my beds with CMUs ( cement blocks). C, and even PT wood won't last 5 years before it is mulch. But at over 70’, this is a lot of leveling. It does not take much, even just 1-2” is typically sufficient. I learned that the easiest way to do this was with dry cement as a base for leveling. I have laid down landscaping bricks before and leveled them, but it can be a tedious process. My other two wooden beds actually look pretty good for now and I would like the third to match. I am going to try to get this bed at least close to right angles this time. Also, at 32’ length, I am sure the center of the bed will bow outward. I was going the cinder block route because believe it or not, it is actually cheaper than wood! I compared the two prices and the 10” wood is more expensive than a cinder block. Some are being held together by my own wishful thinking. Those logs are in really rough shape now. I won’t lie, tragically I burned a LOT of logs for disposal, but these were in my pre-Permies days and I had to do something with the logs so using at least some for raised beds seemed like a lot better option than just burning so I got some usage out of them.īut that was in 2009. The decision came down to burn them or use them for raised edges. I hear you about the lack of ideal garden corral.Īll three of my beds started out raised by oak and hickory logs that fell in a really terrible storm. Maybe if I get lucky I will get a decade out of them? Hopefully more. I do expect my 2x10’s to last a while thanks to the dryloc (recommended to me by fellow Permie Bryant Redhawk), but they are not a permanent solution. It kills me when I go by to see them being tossed into giant shredders/grinders to be put onto trucks and transported to the landfill. Those would have been awesome but a truck, some way to transport through the yard, and a few people would have been needed even if I could get permission. They have all these concrete window sills. I went by a place where they were tearing down a housing area. Who knows? If I'm lucky enough to get stone or brick, that might be the fix plus it will add to critter habitat. I didn't want to use wood because it is a temporary fix (warping, decay, preservatives or not) and I hate to do stuff twice where it could have been just once. Each year a little settles, and I add more fill. The good part is I have another couple of years before I really need to start building up as most of my beds started 2-2.5 feet below the ground surface. I have a few cement blocks but don't like them and if you get true cinder blocks, the fly ash has toxic issues which I don't need on property. I have yet to land on a perfect corral for beds. So has anyone else tried a similar project? I would love to hear your experience. Also, as the blocks are only 8” tall I am thinking about adding a second row and I would think that I would need the first row to be pretty level in order to get a second level in place. I know I could just lay the blocks on the surface and let them be, but I want them to be at least a little aesthetically pleasing. Also, the wood will eventually rot while cinder block will last essentially forever. My big question: how important/how much leveling would I have to do if I replaced those logs with cinder blocks? I would use 2x10’s, but 16’ is the longest length I can get. The first bed raised with logs is about 6ish feet wide and 32’ long and the ground is plainly less level than the other beds. They are all 8’x16’ and each needed a surprising amount of leveling even when laid on what appeared to be level ground. My other beds are raised with 2x10’s painted with dryloc, a masonry sealer safe for fungi yet protects the wood from the ravenous mushrooms. My original bed is now almost 3 years old measuring by age of wine caps and the fallen oak and hickory logs that make up the raised edges are over a decade old and are in rough shape (helped on by Wine Caps). I have made 3 raised beds over the years, all of them by now transitioned to wood chips composted by Wine Cap mushrooms.
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