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I finally ditched the $60 raised cedar beds I bought 2 years ago in Springfield
I spent $180 on three of those fancy raised cedar kits from the big box store and the slats warped bad after one wet spring here. What changed my mind was seeing my buddy's setup, he just lays cardboard down and piles 8 inches of compost and leaves right on the grass, cost him nothing. My tomatoes in his style of bed outgrew the cedar ones by a foot, so the boxes are getting ripped out this fall. Anyone else skip the wood and just grow straight on top of the ground like this?
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hunt.nora5d ago
I did the cardboard and compost thing two summers back when my back was acting up and I couldn't build boxes anymore. First year was slow, honestly, the cardboard takes a while to break down and the plants sat a little low, but by year two the soil was dark and full of worms and my squash went nuts. The one thing I'd tell you is pile it thicker than you think, because 8 inches settles down to almost nothing by July. I also tossed a few rocks and some old logs on top to keep the wind from messing with the leaves before everything rooted in. My only gripe is the grass creeping in at the edges, so I edge it once a month with a flat shovel and that's been fine. Two years in, I'd never go back to paying for boxes that rot out in a wet spring.
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