Babs,

I have heard that , too and was initially apprehensive about it. There's a woman in town who has a few horses. In the spring, she piles up the winter bedding and manure in a huge pile by the side of the road and puts up a 'free' sign. I keep a shovel and bin in the back of the car and fill it up every time I go out for the three weeks or so that it's available. It looks like it's as much wood shavings as composted manure? I'm not as meticulous a weeder as I should be, so can't say whether its given the garden more weeds than there would have  been otherwise. It has improved the soil and it's full of redworms, too....plus it's free...so far it's been wonderful.

I tried canning too and found it made me so tired! Lots of work, lots of standing, lots of clean-up afterwards. When I was a teen and worked together with my mom and sister, it didn't seem so bad. And maybe that is why it is so tiring, working alone. If you could get someone to share the work with you, it would probably be more enjoyable and rewarding, certainly would go faster.

A couple of years ago we got some free compost that the city was giving away. It was awful! It stunk, and I don't mean compost smell, but motor oil smell. It also had little bits of trash in it. We thought we would try it anyway, putting it in a planter bed just to fill it up some, then covering it with weed fabric with potting soil on top of that. Nothing came out good from that. Root vegetables tasted funny and grew weird, and above ground plants were beautifully green but produced few vegetables, like tomatoes and peppers, and they usually grow like weeds around here. This past year we added bags of top soil to the potting soil but it didn't make much difference.

 I would love to have some plain dirt! Things might grow better if we did. E

I made a raised garden bed with cinder blocks and rebar.  I wanted to use railroad ties or similar lumber, but they just cost way too much, and also, I couldn't find any that didn't warn that they shouldn't be used near small children, pets or edible plants... and since this is a fruit and vegie garden, in the back yard where my dog hangs out, not really a good choice.

I started by marking off the area I wanted, and then started digging; the area I was using wasn't flat, but the top of the garden is more or less level.  The wall is 2 cinder blocks deep, with the holes open to the top.  Some of the dirt I dug out was used to fill the holes in the cinder blocks; then I pounded in rebar with a sledge hammer to hold the cinder blocks into place.  Then I put down a piece of 4 mil plastic I bought at a yard sale, to conserve water, as Denver was experiencing a drought (happily, large enough for the entire bed, which is about 8 feet wide and 15 feet long) and started buying dirt, 1 pick-up truck load at a time (one of my neighbors has a pick-up truck and buys dirt from the local materials yard; she only charged me for the gas, as long as I helped her unload her dirt at her house; later loads I paid a friend of mine's son to bring in - still way cheaper than the delivery fee).  When it was half full, I started planting.  The back 3 feet (3 x 8) is raspberry bushes; the rest is squash, peppers, and tomatoes.  I planted herbs in some of the open tops of the cinder blocks, and I'm going to plant more... although I may have to mow the mint down at the rate it's going.  I also had my sprinkler system extended so now I have a drip watering system in my garden; the clock/timer has more than paid for itself, because I don't forget to water, or to turn the water off.

Conveniently, one of my neighbors was throwing out mesh fencing about the time I realized my dog liked to lay on the dirt in the garden to cool off, so I  picked that up on trash day and fenced in the garden (longer rebar is holding it up), and put a large piece of bird netting over the top of the fence (4 feet high) to keep the birds from harvesting too.  All the garden waste goes into a compost heap (more mesh fencing - chicken wire I got the same way) and creates mulch for the next year.

Wow!  I'm impressed.  I suppose the cinder blocks would work real good to help keep the soil warmer in a cooler climate.   I'm sure the boards I used weighed alot less than those cinder blocks! (I'm exhausted just thinking about it!)  You have a great idea regarding the watering system.  I may have to see about doing the same - I have 8 boxes that measure 4x8ft.  I started out with 2 and added over the years.  In the future, I may redo them  and have 2 - 4x22ft boxes. That may be the way to go instead of adding more 4x8 ft boxes. I've added peatmoss to the soil over the years and that keeps it from getting too compact.   I have dogs too that just love to dig!  A lab and a jack russel (what ever was I thinking?)  It's a constant battle so the fence idea may work for me too.  Thanks so much for the tips!

Thanks for the tip about "group canning".  May have to make a day of it with some of the girls in the family.  Pumpkin

We made a raised bed garden at one house we lived at, according to the designs in a series of videos by Burpee called Yardening with Jeff Ball. They are out of print now (1980something copywrite), but many libraries still have them. He also has a book called Yardening, but the video series is indepensible.

They were built with 4"thick and I think 12 or 18"tall boards, with supports at the corners and where the boards come together. Then dh put PVC pipe in the ground at intervals (sorry i can't remember how often). The pipe came up only about as tall as the boards. Into these pipes would go bendable plastic tubing like CPVC to make hoops. Over this would go plastic. This would extend the growing season by 2 months easily plus protect from frost. It allowed for a little earlier planting too.

Unfortunately we moved shortly after we had it just the way we wanted it LOL. But it was neat.

A very good book on raised bed gardening is, Cubed Foot Gardening by Christopher Bird. Pressure treated 12" by 2" planks work fine and are safe; I checked. Here is a neat trick I use, obtain an old but working blender, take your kitchen scraps, what ever would go in your compost pile. Blend throughtly and add to your garden. This mixture should be soupy.

Hi turtlebax,   I don't have a compost pile and that idea might just work for me!  Kitchen scraps usually go in the garbage but not anymore.  Thanks!

Great book I got out at the Library---Lasagna Gardening.  I forgot the author's name, but it is a very popular book telling how to make a raised bed in layers with very little work.

I am starting gardens in raised beds.  In the fall I mowed our very large lawn, using a grasscatcher on the lawnmower.  That gets poured into the beds to compost over the winter.  I add kitchen scraps (no meat) and some manure from my friend's donkey and llama.  I outlined the beds in railroad ties, and am a little concerned about what leaches out of that wood, but that was what I was able to get that was big enough. Hopefully spring will be here soon and I can get some food growing.  I also just started a couple of seeds to see what would happen.  Little cabbages are coming up under the shoplight I put in the spare bedroom.  I know it's early, but it is fun to see the 'babys' grow.

Don't forget SQUARE FOOT GARDENING I forgot who wrote it. It's an incredible book.