馃攳
Dirt CHEAP But PREMIUM Way to Fill LOTS of Raised Garden Beds - YouTube
Channel: Self Sufficient Me
[0]
g'day i'm mark from self-sufficient me
[2]
and in this video i'm not just going to
[3]
show you
[4]
how to fill nine of these high-sided
[7]
raised garden beds on the cheap
[9]
also i'm going to give you a ton of tips
[11]
on how to fill them
[12]
with a medium that is premium and will
[16]
help you grow veggies right from the
[18]
beginning
[18]
healthy nutritious and thriving
[22]
for many years to come let's
[26]
get into it
[33]
[Music]
[35]
out of the nine garden beds i've got
[38]
four
[39]
to go i'll level with you i don't think
[42]
i'm going to be able to
[43]
fill them all in this video there's just
[46]
way too much space there
[47]
for me to manually fill in and i've just
[50]
finished leveling them off so speaking
[52]
of leveling that's the first
[54]
tip is to make sure you do get them as
[56]
level
[57]
as possible you might not be able to get
[59]
them perfectly level
[61]
most of my garden beds have sunk over
[63]
time as well these
[64]
raised alley zinc ones so i wouldn't
[66]
worry about that too much
[68]
i just worry about growing veggies in my
[70]
garden beds and that's my main priority
[72]
looks isn't number one if you follow my
[75]
videos for a while
[76]
you know that's quite true and because i
[78]
retrofitted
[79]
these garden beds over the old rotten
[82]
one and i needed
[83]
of course the prong to be able to pull
[85]
all that out
[86]
it was a fair job it was a lot of uneven
[89]
ground
[89]
and the existing soil was underneath
[91]
these and which brings me to
[93]
another tip or a point is it a good idea
[97]
to use your old soil and most of the
[100]
time
[101]
it is because if you have done the right
[104]
thing by your veggie garden beds
[106]
and you've been improving the soil
[108]
you've been adding compost you've been
[110]
adding manures
[111]
that is turning into a really good live
[113]
soil it's full of worms and
[115]
animals bacteria fungi that is
[118]
beneficial to plants so it makes sense
[121]
that if you're replacing them with
[122]
higher sided raised garden beds
[124]
that you use that soil on the top
[127]
however
[128]
if like in my case you've left that soil
[130]
go a little bit it's not too bad but
[132]
then
[132]
it's too much of a hassle also to try to
[135]
get it back into those beds
[136]
because there's too much to move to one
[138]
side or it's not quite worth it
[140]
because the soil is not that good well
[142]
then you could just simply use it
[144]
at the base of those beds and keep all
[147]
those animals and
[148]
worms maybe that might have still been
[150]
in that soil lay those beds on top
[153]
like i have done and then any excess
[156]
throw back into those beds that way it's
[159]
going to save me time in this case
[161]
it's going to save me fill and it won't
[163]
make much difference to the final
[164]
product because we're going to
[166]
get to the soil and medium mix
[169]
shortly
[171]
[Music]
[191]
even the cooker bars are after the worms
[193]
that's one that i didn't get
[195]
otherwise i would have put it in the
[196]
garden bed well that's that done
[200]
it's hard yakka and that's another tip
[202]
that i want to give you guys
[203]
if you're willing and able i mean
[205]
willing if you're able
[207]
maybe not that willing because it's hard
[209]
work shoveling dirt
[210]
i would say skip the backhoe or the mini
[213]
digger which
[214]
a lot of guys would be thinking that
[216]
would be an easier way to go
[217]
get a mini digger and fill these beds up
[220]
quick smart a
[221]
you have to purchase that or you have to
[223]
hire that
[224]
and b you're not getting the exercise a
[227]
lot of us
[227]
as we get on a bit and even younger
[229]
people don't work out as much as we
[231]
should
[231]
but this is a way to get a workout in
[235]
at the same time improving your garden
[237]
so don't shirk
[238]
the hard work think of it as a gym
[241]
workout
[241]
and not as a chore or something that you
[244]
should
[245]
pass off onto heavy machinery the next
[248]
thing i'm going to put in
[249]
is a composted down wood chip and the
[252]
reason why
[253]
i want it to be composted down and i
[256]
recommend you do it composted data not
[258]
fresh
[258]
is for two things first of all if it's
[261]
fresh it will
[262]
compost in your beds and heat your beds
[264]
up you may or may not want that to
[266]
happen you might want to be planting
[268]
straight away
[269]
if you do i would recommend you don't
[271]
put a raw
[272]
or new chip into the base of these beds
[275]
and then top it with soil because you're
[277]
going to get an extra hot bed and that
[279]
might not be good for the veggie
[281]
roots for a month or so and the second
[284]
thing is
[284]
composted down wood chip is already
[287]
turning into the good stuff and i've
[289]
shown that in previous videos so i won't
[291]
go over that if you want to know
[293]
about that go to the what happens when
[295]
you leave
[296]
wood chip sit in a big pile that video
[299]
will explain
[300]
everything the humus for example but
[302]
it's not just that
[304]
it's also the materials won't sink as
[306]
much so when you top these beds up with
[309]
the soil it's already composted down so
[312]
you're going to get less sinkage which
[315]
means you're not going to have to top
[316]
these beds up or have them sink too much
[318]
in your first season of growing which
[320]
will help
[321]
because you don't want too much sinkage
[323]
and starting to reach down into the bed
[326]
to harvest your veggies yes it will sink
[328]
over time
[329]
but not dramatically like a new wood
[332]
chip
[332]
would you're getting closer to me young
[334]
fella huh
[340]
boo anyway let's get into the next stage
[344]
of filling these beds most of the way to
[347]
the top
[348]
with wood chip
[355]
now i'm just adding to the noise
[359]
what can i do the rest of the
[361]
neighborhood's going off
[363]
i might will be noisy too
[375]
[Music]
[381]
[Music]
[404]
let's finish this bed off with some
[406]
premium soil
[408]
just because you mix soil with a manure
[411]
doesn't turn it into an excellent or
[413]
premium soil
[414]
in my opinion and that's the other thing
[416]
you've got to be careful of a lot of
[418]
landscape supply companies
[419]
will mix their own soil that you have to
[422]
be
[423]
very careful about the home joby who
[426]
like to save money themselves by mixing
[429]
their own soil at the back
[431]
and then selling it off to the customer
[433]
as premium
[434]
soil simply because they've got some
[437]
loamy sandy
[438]
cheap soil and then they've mixed it
[441]
with some chicken poop that they've got
[443]
from
[443]
the local poultry farmer or maybe the
[446]
pony club
[446]
that type of thing is never a very good
[450]
mix of soil to put into your garden and
[452]
it's certainly not premium
[454]
what premium soil is is soil that has
[457]
been
[458]
mixed with a whole range of goodies
[461]
yes it can have some animal manure in it
[463]
but that's not overly important
[465]
the fertility of it coming from manures
[469]
or even artificial fertilizers or
[472]
synthetic fertilizers which some will
[474]
throw in
[474]
and call it that extreme or gold soil
[477]
you'd be better off
[478]
putting your own fertilizer into a
[481]
premium soil
[482]
that you've purchased at a lesser price
[484]
than buying
[485]
that other one that's been mixed in with
[487]
the manures you'd be better off mixing
[489]
in your own manures
[490]
once you've got it in your bed and top
[492]
dressing with a manure maybe digging
[494]
that in
[495]
then getting the top level soil because
[498]
you're just paying
[499]
extra that you can do it a lot cheaper
[501]
yourself your premium soil
[503]
should in general have a charcoal colour
[505]
it's been mixed in
[507]
with some good composted down organic
[510]
material
[510]
you should see bits of twigs and small
[513]
bits of stick
[514]
ash small rocks and stones giving your
[518]
soil the minerals it needs
[520]
it shouldn't be too sandy or loamy it
[523]
shouldn't have a crust on top of the
[525]
surface
[525]
it shouldn't fall through the fingers
[527]
too easily when squeezed
[529]
and if it's a bit moist it should hold
[531]
together quite well
[532]
of course it shouldn't be too wet and
[535]
clay-like but it should hold together
[538]
well enough without
[539]
breaking apart too easily and being
[542]
definitely too sandy the guys that i get
[544]
my soil from now
[546]
they actually get it made by a third
[549]
party who specializes
[551]
in making soil for garden beds
[554]
and because they specialize in it and
[556]
they are a trusted brand so to speak
[559]
and that's all they do sure it might
[561]
cost a little bit extra but not a heck
[563]
of a lot but you know you're getting a
[565]
quality product
[566]
anyway let's finish this job off
[601]
you can see that i've raised it up
[604]
probably a few inches that's because i'm
[606]
still allowing for some
[608]
sinkage you're going to get sinkage
[609]
anyway especially over time all raised
[611]
garden beds sink no matter what
[613]
even if you fill them full of soil
[615]
because you're taking things out you're
[617]
using nutrients in the soil you're
[618]
pulling weeds and soil naturally
[621]
compacts over time
[622]
that's why i give it a little bit of
[624]
leeway and raise it up before i put the
[626]
sugarcane mulch on top i'll give a
[628]
little bit of a sprinkle
[629]
of some fertilizer maybe some blood and
[631]
bone and that'll give it a
[633]
bit of an extra punch for when i plant
[635]
into that bed shortly
[637]
i wouldn't usually add too much like
[639]
heavy animal manure to this type of
[641]
soil mix at this stage because it'll
[643]
probably make it a bit too heavy so this
[645]
type of
[646]
fertilizer like a blood and bone or
[648]
something watered in
[649]
is perfect
[666]
and there you go that's six out of the
[668]
nine done well i never got close to
[670]
finishing them all today did i
[672]
but at least i gave you that one example
[675]
and of course you saw the other ones in
[677]
the video as well i hope you enjoyed
[678]
this video
[679]
one last thing now you might be saying
[682]
mark you don't practice what you preach
[684]
why didn't you use
[685]
your wheelbarrow to cut the dirt around
[689]
and the mulch that would have given you
[690]
more exercise well
[692]
all i can say to that is a i'm not a
[694]
glutton for punishment
[696]
right so i will use the lawnmower to
[698]
pull the cart around and
[700]
b the cart holds more than my large
[702]
wheelbarrow does
[704]
so there are my excuses but yes if you
[707]
wanted to use a wheelbarrow
[709]
and heave everything around go for it
[712]
it's a pretty good workout i just think
[713]
that it went a bit a bit too much for me
[715]
but anyway
[716]
i did a lot of shoveling and i feel good
[718]
for it thanks a lot for watching
[720]
make sure you subscribe if you haven't
[722]
already and share the video around
[725]
bye for now
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage