[papercreters] Re: Raised Garden Bed in New Jersey (Now off-topic, sorry)

Hello Mike,

 

Have you considered truck tires for your sides?  You can get free truck tires, use a saber saw to cut the side walls out and make one cut across the tread so that you can straighten the tire out.  Cut lengths of rebar and put a “J” on one end.  Drive the rebar down into the ground so that the “J” is over the tire and holds it in place.  I use it on both sides of the tire, alternating the side every other one.  I drill holes in the ends of the tires and use stainless bolts to bolt the ends together so they’re longer.  For corners I use a short “T” post driven into the ground.  The “T” posts make handy hangers for row covers, buckets, and bed markers.  I also use the “T” posts to hold netting over the Dahlia bed so the plants don’t fall over in the wind and break.  This year I’m thinking of putting some 6’ “T” posts on one side of one of the beds and making a jute trellis for pole beans.  That way at the end of the season I can just cut the trellis down and throw dead vines, trellis and all, into the compost.  Sure beats picking dead vines out of a wire trellis. ;)  If it works I’ll put everything that’ll climb onto a jute trellis.

 

I put the tire tread on the inside, prime and paint the outside (which is the inside of the tire) because in South Texas I don’t need the heat that the black absorbs.

 

The tire walls last forever, aren’t hurt by the weed eater I use to mow the paths, don’t leach anything into the soil, recycle something that is typically thrown into a land fill, and other than an occasional coat of paint they’re maintenance free.  Living in New Jersey you wouldn’t even need to paint them.  If you don’t want to buy stainless bolts you could drill several small holes in the ends and use aluminum wire to tie them together (I use the wire typically used for electric fencing for LOTS more than fencing).  J

 

Good luck!

 

Pat

South-Central TX

--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "mikestj65" <michael@...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I've been looking for a material to make raised bed gardens and
> intrigued with the possibility of papercrete.
>
> Was considering plastic lumber made from recycled plastics but the
> cost is absolutely astronomical.

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