I just saw a new way to make raised beds

ronron · #1 04/10/10, 12:23 PM

Gardening with Cisco show on king 5 in Seattle, Just showed a new raised bed material called gardening socks they are filled with soil and stacked you can also cut small holes in them and plant flowers in them. I am so going to make some of these. I am looking for some suggestions on a kind of material that will last....I have sewn things out of plastic the flannel backed kind would hold up...

salmonslayer · #2 04/10/10, 01:42 PM

We use Polymax grow tubes for our greenhouse operations and it looks like they will last 3 or 4 seasons (here is a link to where we get ours http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies...Detail&isDoc=N )

You should get some ideas from Farm Tek though you can just buy the tube material and fill it with your own compost. Its very good for greenhouse operations or if you need quick temp fixes while you build up your planting beds.

Truckinguy · #3 04/10/10, 02:16 PM

In the spirit of reusing and recycling, how about the legs from old pairs of jeans? You might need quite a few but they're free and eventually biodegradeable. Sew up one end, fill it, then sew up the other end. The denim would likely last quite a while.

Wisconsin Ann · #4 04/10/10, 03:32 PM

jeans...GREAT idea

oh god...now I have a vision...all my old jeans (and any other I can scrounge) WHOLE with the cuffs sewn up..and stuffed with dirt. Then a rope thru the belt loops pulled tight. All these filled jeans laying out in the garden with tomatoes and peppers growing out of them

Might have to get some heavy weight shirts and do similar just to complete the view.

Other than the jeans...burlap would be great. I'm thinking grain sacks/feed sacks, too. The kind of woven plastic stuff. It will let water in and out, but it won't disintegrate.

ronbre · #5 04/10/10, 04:57 PM

lots of people have gardened right in the boughten soil bags for a long time..slash the bottom and cut off the top with a lip around and plant right in the bag..right on the lawn !! but the sock idea is pretty much the same thing only with your own soil

chickenista · #6 04/10/10, 05:02 PM

Put some rebar up through the legs of the jeans, stand them up and use them as a strawberry teepee thingie.. or hang from a tree.. oh the possibilities!

Wisconsin Ann · #7 04/10/10, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickenista

Put some rebar up through the legs of the jeans, stand them up and use them as a strawberry teepee thingie.. or hang from a tree.. oh the possibilities!

oh golly...what about setting them on a swing or on a bench with a trellis? strawberries sprouting out of the knees and legs...maybe right up the chest and back? or various herbs..that might work as well!

hmm...might have problems keeping it hydrated, tho...must think.

belladulcinea · #8 04/10/10, 05:33 PM

This is an awesome thread! I have lots of old jeans I could use!

Jenn · #9 04/10/10, 06:26 PM

the BYUTV garden show had a show on those socks. Guy in TN area fixing slope problems with them as well as making raised beds.

pourfolkes · #10 04/11/10, 02:28 AM

Do you have the link on how these are made? Thanks

Alice In TX/MO · #11 04/11/10, 07:11 AM

http://www.gardensock.com/frnews.htm

ET1 SS · #12 04/11/10, 10:50 AM

We use concrete blocks. Dry stack them on the ground.

ronron · #13 04/11/10, 11:42 AM

The ones I saw most resembled the the farm teck grow tubes. made out of a black woven landscape fabric approxmately 4 feet long and six inches across...He was showing how you can stack them up to three high (making sides 18 inch high sides to a raised bed) they would also bend around corners...these would be simple to make and fill yourself for small jobs.