The Ugly Truth about Raised Beds...

today me and tuck are going to share with you the ugly truth to growing in raised beds let's go me and Tuck have both built and grown in almost every kind of raised bed there is let's start by going through some of the pros and cons of each one first off we have what I call the standard raised bed this is the first kind of raised bed that I've ever build so it has like a kind of sentimental value for me I build them with common building Lumber some of the pros of this is that the lumber is relatively cheap and it's easily accessible any of your Home Depot or Lowe's will have this kind of lumber it's usually just Pine or fur they're softwood one of the cool things about it is which makes it easy to build is you can go to Home Depot or Lowe's as long as you have the length they'll usually cut the wood for you so you don't have to do it yourself which is super convenient and it makes the whole thing easier and it makes it so you don't have to have as much skills or you don't need as many Tools in order to build it the only thing you'll probably need for this is like just like maybe a drill another thing I love about them is that they're customizable you can make them whatever size you want and you could also add custom features like I did right here this is a ledge that makes it really nice to be able to lean on and reach in the bed and it just makes it more comfortable to work in another thing is these kinds of beds are perfect for square foot gardening which is my favorite way to grow food so that's another added bonus and definitely a pro another Pro to these kinds of raised beds is you can build your own customizable add-ons like you see here I built this with some 2x4s and then some uh PVC and this is really nice cuz I can use for an insect netting to keep the bugs out I can use a shade cloth in the summer to reduce some of the strong strong Sun then I can even throw a row cover on this if we get a frost or even plastic in the winter so it's a really cool thing for you know to add on any raised bed this is the kind of rais bed that I would suggest new gardeners to build if they have a little bit of skills and they don't want to spend a lot of money but there are some and let's get into those now so some of the cons of this kind of raised bed is that they're only going to last about 4 to 5 years because we're using common building Lumber I'm not using treated lumber because I just don't like growing food in treated lumber so it's only going to last a few years like I mentioned it's relatively cheap but if you're going to grow for like 10 years then you're going to have to build multiple of them so The Upfront investment isn't a lot but over time if you have to keep rebuilding it it's going to cost you more money than just just putting out a little bit more money in the beginning and it's also going to cost you more time because you're just going to have to rebuild them another con is as they start to break down you can get splinters from this wood so you just need to be careful especially if you're sitting on the ledge also they're relatively low so you have to like kneel down in order to work in the bed when some of the other beds that will go into later they're taller so it's much easier to like work in that bed because they're short also tuck will sometimes jump into the bed which is okay when he's pulling up carrots but if you come over here sometimes he'll jump up and just rip out some of the brassas so with a short bed like this you got to be careful if the dogs are trying to kind of find their way in and harvest their own snacks let's see if he wants one of these mustard greens though tuck want a snack boy let's see if he wants one of these snacks he usually likes the stems of these he's a good guy spam some hearts down low you love seeing tuck in the videos one more con I would mention is that they take actually a little bit of skills in order to build and it's going to take a little bit of time so that's not like it doesn't go together as easy as some of the other beds but overall I think it's a fantastic raised bed if you're first getting started let's move over to the next raised bed it's just right here so the next raised bed I'm going to get get into is a pallet rais bed some of the pros of this one is that the wood is free and most most people can get access to this wood also in my opinion they look really nice it looks a little bit unique and I think it just Blends in with a garden really nicely so they have a really cool look to them another thing that's great about these is you can build different kinds and different styles so this is one where I have the boards going vertically I also have another design where the wood is going horizontally so there's some customizability with these because there's so many different kinds of pallets out there one of the greatest Pros to using pallet wood is that you're actually recycling which is pretty cool I like to call it upcycling I'm sure you've heard that before but you're taking something that was like trash and turning into your own form of treasure I like blending in some standard wood like you see here with the pallet this helps the whole thing kind of be stronger and also gives it a really cool look I think now when it comes to the cons of using pallettes cuz there are some cons one of the main main one is that it's a lot more work and it takes a lot more skills so when it comes to the pallets you have to find the pallets you have to go collect them bring them back to your house you have to disassemble the pallets then you have to build the bed so it definitely takes more time definitely takes more effort and it definitely takes more skills and also more tools so that's definitely one of the downsides another thing is that it's only heat treated lumber so it's going to rot after a few years it's not going to last a super long time but if you have the skills and you want to save the money it's a fantastic option and I think they just look really cool especially for being almost free when it comes down to it let's transition over to metal raised beds and get into some of the pros and cons of both building and growing in these so the pros is that it takes almost no tools or skills to build these basically anyone can do it it's fast and easy to assemble as well another thing is they're relatively deep you can get some ones that are tall so if you have some issues bending o bending over or kneeling down they're easier to work in one of the great things is that that they're going to last a long time like 20 plus years for these kind of raised beds so that's super convenient also it's really nice that you could disassemble them pretty easily and then move them if you want you could even just lift them up cuz they're light also they're modular and come in different sizes and different uh like shapes and stuff and they come in different colors which is really cool this is just one of the sky blue ones another great thing is some of the add-ons like lights and stuff which is pretty cool they hook it to the side you can get insect netting covers which are Super convenient and this one here even has wicking cells at the bottom so it's like self-watering so there's a bunch of different features that you can get for the raised beds and it kind of makes it so everyone can have to protect their plants and assemble a raised bed relatively easily the first raised bed I showed you you can make some of your own covers and build the things but that's going to take more skills and it's going to take a little bit more time so let's get into some of the cons of the metal ra beds the first con to the metal raised beds is that they're relatively expensive up front over time it will pay for itself but they're probably the most expensive option potentially starting off another thing that's not great about them is they're not ideal for square foot gardening because especially these ones they have like rounded edges so it's not perfect for square foot gardening one other thing is that I heard in the South that the black beds like this that they heat up really hot in the summer so if you want to get one I wouldn't suggest getting a black if you live in an area that gets really hot so that's another con also they don't look Supernatural so if you're going for a garden that's very natural looking then the metal raised beds might not be the choice for you look at this guy trying to eat all my asparagus what you doing buddy he sees all these fresh asparagus popping up look how nice those look we got to try to keep him away because he's going to snack on all of them another con is you got to make sure you get a high quality one because there are some issues with some of the lower quality beds like check this over here some of these rusted these screws over here we don't want rust in our garden that's not super convenient and also as as time has gone on some of the plastic at the top has got a little brittle and if this plastic comes off or rubber whatever it is then the edges can be sharp so it's not necessarily the perfect raised bed but if you're going to get one you want to get a high quality one and some of the other raised beds don't come with covers and different kind of trellises and stuff so you're going to have to build some of your own me and Tuck want to take a second to announce the winner of the raised bed from the give away from last week this guy is come on man you're supposed to be working he's over here snacking on stuff so tuck chose the winner what we did was we went on Google we typed in random number generator we put it between 1 and a th000 we press press generate and it kicked us out the number 54 I went on to my email typed in 54 there were a few people who entered 54 but the one who entered it first and who the winner is is pad clackum thanks for your entry and we're excited to give you a raise bed everyone down low congratulate Pat and you know show her some love for being the winner of this giveaway we can do more giveaways in the future just let us know Down Below in the comments something else that you want me and Tuck to give away and he'll make the final decision he's the boss again we appreciate everyone entering and we'll do more in the future again let's send some love download to patch let's get into the next kind of raised bed this is one that I put in just last year this is a cedar raised bed some of the pros of a cedar rais bed is I think that they look really awesome they look great in my opinion they'll also last a long time because this is Cedar Wood it's not going to rot as quick as like the pine the fur the common building Lumber the other wood that we showed also it has a nice natural look to it and it is natural so that's always an added level of convenience I think the aesthetic of a cedar bed is one of the best probably in my opinion there are some cons that come with a cedar bed though one of them is that cedar wood is expensive I have seen some people use cedar fence boards and build the beds out of that but around here I wasn't able to find anywhere that actually sells those cedar boards when it comes down to though Cedar it is it's an expensive wood because it is a really good wood another con is it takes a good amount of skill in order to build a kind of bed like this and it definitely takes a good amount of time let me go back to one of the pros that I missed another Pro is that you could do something called the show sugy Bon which is an old Japanese style of preserving wood you'll notice a dark color on this I actually burned this wood and that helps to preserve it and make it last even longer so if you have the skill the time and the tools to be able to do that it's a cool option and it helps you get even more out of the cedar wood and will help it last even longer so a lot of the cons come down to expense time skills and tools which you know are things if you have all those things then you could go with a cedar bed but when it comes down to it it's going to last a long time but it's not going to last as long as something like a metal raised bed will the ugly truth about raised beds is that no raised bed is going to be perfect for everyone there's so many different kinds they all have some pros and they all have some cons it really depends on what your goals are and what you're actually good at yourself and your particular situation for instance if you have a lot of building skills and you have a lot of time then maybe you should go with a pallet rais bed if you want to save money but if you have some money but you don't have a lot of time and you don't have a lot of building skills then maybe like a metal raised bed will work for you if you like building things if you want to try something different then a cedar rais bed could be cool because there's so many different Tech techniques you can use to build it like the show sug Bond so everything has its benefits everything has some things that are drawbacks but it's really just about what's going to work best for you if you're a brand new Gardener and you think think you're only only going to be guarding for a few years then the common building Lum one is a good choice but if you think you're going to be growing food for the next 10 15 20 years then you want to invest in something potentially that is going to last a long time you can get a bunch of add-ons for and is just going to be kind of more like a showpiece I guess in a way so it really depends on your situation me and tuck are really happy with how everything is going this year you can see this rais bed Things Are coming along really nicely a lot of beautiful growth and we showed you even in the Cedar bed things are looking fantastic too when it comes down to it the kind of raised bed you're growing in isn't really going to affect what you're growing that much it's just going to be about your particular preference so this bed things are growing really nicely into with the covers you can see protecting the plants it's going to make it a little less work not having to worry about cabbage white butterflies and allowing this to cut the wind but again it's going to cost more up front if you have the skills to be able to build just a rais bed cover like I've showed you in the past that's a really great option to just serve so many functions for you like I mentioned just a little bit earlier tuck out here having a lot of fun look at he's got the dirty nose he must have been out doing some building I mean doing some digging this guy right here always getting himself into some trouble right boy yeah spam some hearts down low if you love seeing the young king in the videos he loves being out here I want to show you a few trees but I also want to mention a couple things about raised beds when I first started growing I was just growing fruit trees and planting directly into the ground I was kind of against raised beds But as time has gone on I've absolutely fallen in love with them and I find that it's a great it's something that blends greatly with the fruit trees so you have a fruit tree like this in full bloom apple looks beautiful smells amazing you can't even I can't even tell you how good it smells it's amazing then we have raised beds right next to it a raised bed over there a raised bed over there so we're blending this whole idea of like a food forest with high intense annuals and it's just been such a great combination of the two and growing and raised beds has made it so I can protect all my crops from Bugs from pests from birds all different kinds of things so overall it's made growing food a lot easier and just a lot more fun that's today's video Growers thanks for watching we hope you enjoyed it we hope you got something out of it me and Tuck had a blast out here we're so excited that the food Forest is blooming there's cherries on the Rainer there's pairs on the Asian pairs it's just uh it's such a fun time of year when all the Investments we've been making are starting to pay off and they're going to continue to pay off as the year progresses it's a it's a blast out here we wanted to send a thank you to one of our new channel members Karma thanks for being a part of Team grow thanks for having your hand in everything we're doing out here if you want to be part of the team hit the join now button down below and you'll get a badge and we'll shout your name out in the channel so overall it was a blast get another shot of the king down there we always have fun out here we hope you got some value from this video and we hope that we share with you an honest opinion of the pros and cons of all different kinds of raised beds so you can make your choice on what kind of rais bed is going to be best for you so you can grow more food and just get in touch with some natural homegrown hopefully organic food there's nothing like it tuck and James will be back to you again real soon we out

Channel: The Gardening Channel With James Prigioni

Views: 93,144

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Id: aC5lvpjULBc

Length: 15min 39sec (939 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2024