Hi, can anyone give any advice and help regarding making or buying raised beds for school gardening club. We have very limited funds and would like the cheapest option. Thanks for any suggestions

rastable wrote:
Hi, can anyone give any advice and help regarding making or buying
raised beds for school gardening club. We have very limited funds and
would like the cheapest option. Thanks for any suggestions

There is not single answer to this as it depends on what you can get in your
area and how you rate some of the risks. The cheapest option may not be the
safest. Many would not use CCA treated pine or creosote treated sleepers
where children play. Galvanised iron is also dodgy as it can have sharp
edges exposed. Non-treated timber that is durable in contact with the
ground is available in some places but it may be expensive. Used material
such as concrete blocks may an option, if you only need to go one block high
new blocks might be affordable. Try to get some local nursery/builder/
second-hand merchants on side to help.

David

Hi,

Some advice on starting raised beds including sourcing materials
here .
http://organicgreenfingers.com/quest...ng-tips-needed

Ciaran

'David Hare-Scott[_2_];882418']rastable wrote:
Hi, can anyone give any advice and help regarding making or buying
raised beds for school gardening club. We have very limited funds and
would like the cheapest option. Thanks for any suggestions

There is not single answer to this as it depends on what you can get in your
area and how you rate some of the risks. The cheapest option may not be the
safest. Many would not use CCA treated pine or creosote treated sleepers
where children play. Galvanised iron is also dodgy as it can have sharp
edges exposed. Non-treated timber that is durable in contact with the
ground is available in some places but it may be expensive. Used material
such as concrete blocks may an option, if you only need to go one block high
new blocks might be affordable. Try to get some local nursery/builder/
second-hand merchants on side to help.

David


i have two boxes 4' wide by 8' long made out of standard spruce lumber, so
far they have done me well.
as david mentioned though a second hand place might be a good idea to look
into--if u have a habitat for humanity restore in your area they might even
donate the lumber to your project or charge u a minimal cost considering its
for a school.
good luck. cyaaaaaaa, sockiescat.

g'day rastable,

we invite you to check out our bale garden presentation it is an
economical way to create raised beds.

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

On Sun, 4 Apr 2010 17:18:38 -0400, rastable
wrote:

snipped
--

len

With peace and brightest of blessings,

"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

In article
,
ciarandeb wrote:

Hi,

Some advice on starting raised beds including sourcing materials
here .
http://organicgreenfingers.com/quest...-gardening-tip
s-needed

Ciaran

The above looks like a nascent commercial gardening site with not much
to offer.

If you want other forums,try:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/phpBB2/

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/

http://www.gardeningforums.net/

I think you are in the best one now, but you might want to look around.
Google gardening forums
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

rastable wrote:
Hi, can anyone give any advice and help regarding making or buying
raised beds for school gardening club. We have very limited funds and
would like the cheapest option. Thanks for any suggestions





Is there a nearby Community Garden area where the club can rent a plot
or two? What age level are you dealing with? Is parental help available?

--There's no sense in reinventing the wheel if an established area is
available.

--It would save the trouble of dismantling it if they kids lose
interest. If the club disbands, you'd still be responsible.

--There might be less chance of vandalism to the garden if it is not on
school grounds.

gloria p

On Apr 4, 2:18*pm, rastable
wrote:
Hi, can anyone give any advice and help regarding making or buying
raised beds for school gardening club. We have very limited funds and
would like the cheapest option. Thanks for any suggestions

--
rastable

Could you ask a lumberyard to donate the board feet required to
set up the raised beds? They could write it off as a donation,
and you could give them publicity by naming the beds after
the business. If this works, they might even saw to your measure.

Then you could purchase (or maybe get as a donation), the
"spikes" or fasteners for the corners of the beds.

Couldn't hurt to ask! Sell it as a community enrichment project
which would give them a positive image in the community.

Just my .02

In article
,
ciarandeb wrote:

Hi,
Thanks Billy for your interest in my site. I posted a link to a
question on my site that has an answer that i thought was appropriate
to this discussion. I am sure you researched my site
( organicgreenfingers.com) very well and I am not challenging your
assessment of it. I enclose below the story of the site, the
philosophy behind it etc. so that other users can make up their own
minds. The most important thing is that it not a forum but a place
for questions and answers about organic gardening.

Regards,
Ciaran.

My question is why and re-invent the wheel? In rec.gardens, and
rec.gardens.edible, there are experienced horticulturalists, arborists,
landscapers, and newbies, whose experience may have just endowed them
with unique answers (sometimes when we know too much, we limit ourselves
by established methods). We have no login IDs or pass words to remember,
and when we need a search engine, we have one called "Google". If we
want to research an idea, a posting, or a member, we have "Google"
newsgroups to repair to. As for earning merit points, I'm afraid it
rather smacks of aristocracy, and by and large, we are democrats.

There is no gardening without humility.* Nature is constantly sending
even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious
blunder.*
~Alfred Austin

You are more than welcome to join us, and add to our little corner of
knowledge, and bantering, and bickering. We are an equal opportunity
group for the wise, and fools, who are not suffered lightly. You just
might want to tape up a metaphorical roll of dimes, to steel yourself
against the inevitable onslaught, for when you break one of the many,
unwritten rules of the group. Then sit back, and enjoy the ebb and flow
of the conversations.
--
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/6...e_us_military/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

Response to billy - Sorry Dave for hijacking this thread. With
regard to my site organicgreenfingers.com. I'm not reinventing the
wheel. It is a place for questions and answers with methods for
people to figure out which answer is a good answer without being an
expert on the subject area (if they were they would probably know the
answer and not need to ask). I don't seek to replace discussion sites
like this (which are fabulous for discussions like this but not great
at questions and answers) but to complement them. Finally Surely my
site is not like an aristocracy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Aristocracy) haven't you heard of a meritocracy (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy)? Far better than democracy in my
view :-) ?

In article
,
ciarandeb wrote:

Response to billy - Sorry Dave for hijacking this thread. With
regard to my site organicgreenfingers.com. I'm not reinventing the
wheel. It is a place for questions and answers with methods for
people to figure out which answer is a good answer without being an
expert on the subject area (if they were they would probably know the
answer and not need to ask). I don't seek to replace discussion sites
like this (which are fabulous for discussions like this but not great
at questions and answers) but to complement them. Finally Surely my
site is not like an aristocracy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Aristocracy) haven't you heard of a meritocracy (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy)? Far better than democracy in my
view :-) ?

Meritocracy is fine as long as competition is fair, and it is one
person, one vote. But, in newsgroups with which I am acquainted, the
people with the best information are recognized. No need to put a gold
star on them. But it's all good. There are no rules. What works, works
Good luck with your site..
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html