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Raised beds

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Timo:
 Getting serious now..Went and talked to my sawmill guy,and got me some lumber cost figured.Think I'm going with 2"x8" white oak for my bed frames.

Now....I have been told here lately that horse/mule manure is a great growing medium. (dry of course). One fella told me that he uses no dirt at all just mule poop.

What say you garden experts?

mullet:
   My garden is too close to the kitchen window. My next door neighbor dumped cow crap in his and we could smell it for a week. I've heard Sheep manure is the way to go if you don't want to smell anything. I dump bags of Black Cow in mine every year and mulch with Spanish Moss.

Pat B:
I put manure in all my beds last year that came from an old milking barn. It was hard and dry and had lost it's smell. I would not use fresh manure alone for garden soil. I good mixture of manure and soil will give you a good percentage of organic matter to make the soil more friable.  I turned one of last years beds yesterday and planted spinach and lettuces and the soil in the bed was full of earth worms. They, the earth worms, are what you want is your garden. They eat rotting organic matter and poop fertilizer in a form that plants can use, but also aerate the soil so roots can breath.
  I would compost any fresh manure or just use it as a top dressing after the plants have gotten established. Making manure tea with fresh  manure will give you a nutrient rich tea that benefits plants and is added directly at the root level where it is needed and is most effective.

El Destructo:
Pat...my Grandpa used to have a Contraption that he made (old Blacksmith)...He used to fill this big Tank on Wheels  half full of Manure....half with ground Water....the Tank had a big shaft going into the side...and inside it had a big prop that He had gotten from the Shipyards in Marquette.... the tailshaft of this had a Pulley on it...and He run a Leather Belt from the Minneapolis Moline tractor's PTO to this Shaft...and fired up the Tractor....and made Moo Soup...as he called it...... ::)....and then We would go and spray it all over the Vegetable Garden....and I swear to God....you could almost sit and watch the Cukes and Squash grow on a nice warm day....after thsi Gruel was spread on them......

Alpinbogen:
Cool thread.  My wife and I are are planning to build raised beds for veggies in the next couple of weeks.  I'm not too keen on manure, though, especially with these going in right behind the house.  I was thinking of getting some rich topsoil and black leaf compost instead.  I have several leftover bags of fertilizer that I was planning to use as well.  I forget which, but its the kind that makes the plant grow big as opposed to the roots.  I scoped out Lowe's and found 2x10 cedar lumber for the beds, which were priced reasonably.  How tall do you guys make them?

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