Most of our raised beds were made with logs. The Deer Hunter cut the timber from the ridge above our house and rolled, pushed, and pulled them down to our flat yard. Once there he cut them to the desired length and attached them together to form the beds. It was a lot of work!
The logs work great for the beds and I really like how they look, but they eventually rot away. Over the years we’ve replaced some of them by cutting more trees. One year when some of the smaller ones needed replacing we used the logs we’d cut for growing mushrooms since they were no longer producing. Interestingly once we moved the logs to surround the raised beds they began producing mushrooms again so we succeeded in replacing the rotted logs and gained the bonus of mushrooms. But those pre-used logs deteriorated even faster than the ones straight from the woods.
We have several beds that need the sides replaced. In fact there’s one or two that don’t even have any surrounding logs left.
When we replaced our metal roof last year The Deer Hunter said he would use the metal to enclose the raised beds and he’d be done with the hard labor of getting trees from the woods. With Miss Cindy and Granny being sick he never got around to doing it.
He decided to tackle the job during this year’s pre-spring garden prep.
We tried to find cedar to use along with the metal since it’s more rot resistant, but couldn’t find any. Finally we decided to just go with pine since it was more affordable and although it would have to be replaced eventually it would be much easier than replacing logs.
Several subscribers suggested we use the Japanese method of wood preservation called Shou Sugi Ban. One of my Christmas presents was a weed torch so we had everything needed to give it a try.
You can do research on the subject to learn all the details, but basically you burn the outside layer of wood as a method of preservation.
The photo above shows the metal as well as the burned wood that is holding it together. Metal t-posts were used at intervals to give the bed stability.
It looks so nice and we are hopeful burning the wood will mean the raised bed will be maintenance free for many years to come. Now we just need to do all the others 🙂 I’ll be sharing a video about the process on Sunday so be on the lookout for that if you’d like more details.
Last night’s video: Riding a Canoe Across the Ocean & We Got the Greenhouse Fixed!
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They look great! I’m hoping to get our raised beds built this coming up weekend. My one worry about building wood beds is how quickly they might rot. We’ll have to try burning the wood!
Matt, your raised beds are great and so nice in appearance. You should consider merchandising these works of art. Between the two of you, I believe you could do anything. Have a great week. Happy Marde Gras and Happy Valentine’s Day this week.
I saw Chip Gaines do a houseboat with that preservative method, it was very interesting and he said it would last a long long time. Looks really good Tipper!
Tipper that is one pretty raised bed!!
That’s a wonderful raised bed! I was wondering about the t-post pieces used to support the outside of the bed. How long are they? I’m having to replace some side boards in some of my raised beds and the t-post pieces look really sturdy. Our local feed and seed sells t-post defects (slightly bent, etc) at a lower cost than new.
Chris-they are 2 feet long 🙂
tipper
I’m so excited that y’all are growing food in the big garden again. I’m sure you are excited to have more space for the crops you and your family love like corn. the raised beds that y’all are fixing looks amazing. I am so glad that you are fulfilling your garden dreams this year.
That looks so good!
Tipper,
The raised beds look great! Matt sure is a handyman!! Yes are lucky to have him help you with gardening full time
Blessings to him and your family. Praying for Granny. I sent her a card about a week ago. Do you know if she received it? Hilary H.
Did you consider a road fabric to go under your gravel floor in the greenhouse? It’s more wear resistant that ordinary landscape fabric which isn’t designed for even foot traffic. It’s too late now I guess.
Papaw-I haven’t heard of road fabric but sounds like that would have worked well 🙂
Some call it driveway fabric. It stops your gravel from being smashed down into the dirt and keeps mud from working up into the gravel. The gravel lasts a lot longer even under vehicular traffic.
One of the main reasons traditional Shou Sugi Ban is so successful for the Japanese is that they start out with cedar. The burning process only adds to an already rot resistant wood. Most Shou Sugi Ban done in this country is purely for esthetics and ends up getting sealed with some form of lacquer or varnish anyway.
Based on the cattle panel runners, my guess is that bed will be used for beans, or maybe tomatoes. Please keep us posted.
I like the idea of trying the Japanese preservation technique for the 2x4s. I wonder if adding boiled linseed oil to them or to unburnt boards would have any good effect. I know that it helps preserve and extend the life of handles in all sorts of tools. Its biggest drawback to me is its tendency to cause rags to spontaneously combust if not properly handled after use. Just one more trick for your bag of them.
Beautiful raised bed! It must be good to know that as your tribe is increasing, so is your food production plan!
In your video, you mentioned putting landscape fabric down in the greenhouse and then covering it with the gravel or rocks. I know of some people using the rolls of black roofing felt in place of landscape fabric. It is thicker and will last longer. You can not do this in places you want the rain water to soak through.
Tipper
I love the raised bed Matt made for the garden!! They look wonderful and will be so nice when the plants go into the bed…
Having Matt home has really made the difference in many areas of your families
lives. He is able to be such a help to you
but most of all you can just tell how relaxed & truly happy he is in his retirement…yes
he is still working hard but it is at home beside you! May God continue to bless your family, keep Granny healthy & bless you all
with the 2 precious little boys that you will be chasing through the garden one day!!!
Denise
Matt did a great job with the raised beds! We don’t like using chemicals of any kind in or around our vegetable garden either, so this process of shou Sugi ban is a great way to preserve the wood. And, they do look beautiful too!
Y’all never cease to amaze me. These beds look terrific. I went back and reread your post on planting potato peelings. About the only vegetable I’ve ever been able to grow due to the lay of our land and being in the woods is potatoes. The first time was by accident. Dumped the compost bin; and, like you, a pretty potato plant started to grow. Then another and another came along. You are right that those potatoes aren’t as large as their “mommies,” but they were perfect for potato salad. The only fruit I’ve ever grown are melons due to the same reason. I’m going to try again to grow both. I’ll have to make sure the melons are in the back yard so the doggos can protect them from the deer.
Such a good idea using those metal panels. My grandparents would burn wood to preserve it too. Their buildings lasted a hundred years without paint.
Just beautiful! Well done Matt!
Tipper & Matt – if a raised bed can be ‘beautiful’ this one that Matt built certainly is!! If I were a seed, I would love to ‘live’ here. ha ha May the burning of the wood help with the preservation. Trust Granny remains doing well – I keep her and you all in prayer. Blessings.
Tipper, if I may ask is your weed burner an Ivation 38.25 inch black steel garden torch OR a Lincoln Electric Inferno weed burner? Both are at Lowe’s. Thank you.
Brenda-this is the one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09DYB9NQT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 🙂
You are blessed to have such a hard working, creative husband that is willing to do so many things around the homestead. However, he is equally blessed to have a wife that is hard working and creative. You two were just made for each other. The updated beds look great!
Deer Hunter/ Master Garden Designer
That looks great and I was a lot of work I’m sure.
The new bed looks very nice. Maybe I can find someone over my way to help me with this method. Who knows his name might be Matt
The rains are here but plenty to do inside until time to go watch Zoey cheer tonight!
Everyone have a great day. Blessings to all the family.
Wow! I think the raised bed in the picture is beautiful. It looks so rustic and I love rustic. Enjoying your videos too! I pray Granny is feeling better—just loved the girls crochet baby outfits she made. I finally got all my little valentine crochet animals finished for the grandkids—just in time. ❤️
Your newly built raised bed looks beautiful, as does the floor of the greenhouse!! I don’t know if the cost would have been more, but if I could of I would have used 12 X12 paver stepping stones right in front of the greenhouse door and put that weather strip back on to get a tight weather seal across the bottom of the door. Of course, I do a lot of doing in my head as I am as old as Granny and in reality I couldn’t even pick up a 12 X 12 paver stepping stone even though I have done so many times in many, many years past:)
Regarding the Root Cellar, I still seem remnants of them down south. Of course, at the old place, my Grandparents had one right across the road from their house and also used it as a place to go when bad storms hit the area. They were lined with cement block.
Wow! This looks amazing. I’m going to show this to my husband…he’s got to re-do our big raised bed this year. I think he will like this look. I’m excited to follow along with your garden this year. I’ve only grown Tommy Toes and squash in the past. We’re expanding this year to include regard tomatoes, peppers and Blue Lake green beans (my Granddaddy always grew Blue Lakes). I’m also going to try a variety of lettuce that is much like spinach. We’re following your lead! We are discussing some potatoes also. Thanks for sharing your wisdom! Jane in SC
The bed looks great, so neat and workmanlike. I had never heard of the charring as wood preservation but I get it. I’m thinking it makes the wood inedible by wood-rotting fungi. Also, I think it makes the wood harder. Hope you get many years of good service out of the refurbished beds.
What a wonderful idea! It looks great!! Amazing job on the greenhouse too!
your garden looks beautiful! can we get a Granny update plz?
Matt did a beautiful job on refurbishing the raised bed. It looks so pretty & looks very stable. I’ve never heard of that interesting method to preserve wood. Hope you have many more years before the wood begins to rot by using that method. I really like how Matt used the metal in conjunction with the boards. Many prayers for Granny!
They look nice.
Tipper thank you for the great information!
my hubby and I just built some raised beds, we’re new to gardening, this is third year. our question is, once you build the beds, what do you fill them up with? we have a layer of cardboard down, and branches from trees we’ve trimmed. thanks!
Lisa-that is great!! If you can find good topsoil in your area you could use that to fill them with. We’ve used compost, topsoil from down the road, and bagged soil from walmart 🙂
thank you!
Some around me use dirt from the woods and one man has used the free mulch available at the landfill. He will till it into his garden in the fall of year and let it rot. This is just mixed up mulch made from wood brought to the land fill, don’t use it close to your house. I till leaves into my garden spot. My Daddy along with others would spread wood ashes from their wood heaters and fireplaces on their gardens.
What good looking raised beds!!! I definitely think that Matt could make a good living building these for other people!!! I want some raised beds so badly—hoping I can eventually convince my husband to build several for us. He says our summer travel would take us away from them too much—I say we could install a timed watering system and be okay—we are rarely gone more than three or four days except for the seven days we go to the beach every summer. I would like to grow herbs, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, onions, maybe a few potatoes, and several kinds of greens—collard, kale, lettuce. I would also like to grow some strawberries and maybe a few okra plants. I am thinking that this year I may try a few grow bags and purchase a couple of those small metal raised beds like the ones Corey has at her house. Wish me luck
Wow! Beautiful and useful as well.
How do you know which mushrooms are safe to pick?
Richard-the mushrooms were ones we “planted” 🙂 You can read more about inoculating logs for mushrooms here: https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/how-to-grow-your-own-mushrooms/
Your gardens are inspiring. Would you please share information on growing mushrooms?
Emmy-thank you! You can see how we did the mushrooms here: https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/how-to-grow-your-own-mushrooms/
vision clinic today, test is free, transportation is free, glasses are 15$ , thank you God, God is with me, he is for me and you, Hallelujah, God bless Granny Wilson with healing and health in Jesus name
A friend made a raised bed with roofing tin for me around 5 years ago and it is still holding up just fine. Loaded it up with old cut up logs, then horse compost and dirt from the woods, then topped it off with garden mix. The dirt has sunk down a little over the years as the logs rotted, so a few more bags of garden mix are needed this year.
Tipper, those beds look fantastic- not to mention neat and orderly-which really does it for me! They should last you many moons (that’s 5 years in my estimation.) I mean anything getting beat to death with rain, hot sun, etc takes a butt whooping over a few years. I’m highly impressed on the Dear Hunter’s work! He’s the MAN!!! Btw, my helper fled early yesterday and took a day out of work. I’m hoping today I get back on the job, but FREE shouts volumes and I need to MALEABLE. Deer Hunter-I need ya now! Lol but Tipper and the girls have your excelling working presence not to be seen this side of the Cumberland Gap! God bless you all as I watch the rain.
Congratulations Matt, you should have gotten several “atta boys” from the CEO. Just remember one “aw shucks” can override a lot of “atta boys.” The men I worked with had another name for “aw shucks.” I hope everyone realizes I am teasing Tipper, a day or so ago in a video Matt called her the CEO of this greenhouse and raised beds project. It all looks good enough to be in the Southern Living magazine.
Yesterday, in my comment I mentioned the number of subdivisions being built around me and the letters and calls I get from people wanting to buy my land. Yesterday, I got a letter from an investor in New Hampshire wanting to buy my land and making me a cash offer for my land. As far as I know he has never even seen my land. For the ones that don’t know I live in Greenville County, SC. So much land and woods are being destroyed in my area for subdivisions. Others along with me are realizing it is now out of control.
Really nice looking bed!!
ŵhat a beautiful bed. I think you and Matt do such a good job of repurposeing!
We’re “city farmers…” We admire the real farmers, try to listen and learn from REAL farmers, and are often entertainment for them. They don’t let us “get in trouble,” but do watch right up to the point where they know we need help… like when I’m plowing in circles…
So our raised beds are mostly the 150 gallon water troughs. We got 3 in a llama rescue, when we took 17 llamas off a mountain, and the equipment. We never used those troughs for the llamas; we use the 5 gallon flat back and even heated 5 gallon buckets for them to provide fresh, clean water. But we did catch rain water in the troughs off the barn roof for watering the vegetable/flower garden; running hoses from the drain holes. We are blessed to have received the working part of a farm including the old dairy barn.
Since then we bought a few new, I think 2 or 3, when they were $89. Then we would buy them any time we were at an estate sale, etc; usually for about 20 bucks. Now we have 12. We fill them with 3 year-old “llama dirt.” They grow FABULOUS gardens, and of course are waist high which makes them easy to work in. The down side is all but one of them are black or dark grey, and do dry out quicker, so they require more frequent watering. We have them end to end, and space between the “rows” for us to walk and work between.
We also have some typical raised beds which mostly keeps me from weedeating the daylilies we grow in them. We also grow squash vines out of them, since they go over the sides and either out into the yard, or up the fence. We probably had a dozen butternut hanging off the fence as they grew.
So, thank you to all who tolerate us city farmers. At least we know we’re city farmers. And we’re glad to entertain you, and thankful for your help “just before” we get ourselves in trouble.
Paul-Your gardens sounds amazing!!
Using wood is great for the garden since I t eventually returns nutrients to the soil. And scorching it…great idea.
However, here in FL wood will also attract termites. But we live in a small wood which isn’t maintained well for dead fall. Good thing, our own oxygen makers! Going to be an epic gardening year.
They look beautiful! Wow.
That man of your is something…do you loan or rent him out???…Loved watching your purchasing and building and to see this, although I did think I knew what you two were referring to, it is awesome. Still praying for Granny…God Bless.