Vertical garden - raised beds materials?

[MamaHawk]

Hi all,

I'm about to bite the bullet and start buying things to pursue a more vertical garden. Currently my plan includes getting a bunch of terracotta pots to make tipsy towers for my more bushy and low plants, or maybe a tower or two of stackable planters if I can find any for a good price. Part two is a cattle panel arch for anything vining that I'm considering - mostly for veggies.

I'm probably going to go the cheapest route on everything this year, just to get an idea of how well the placement of everything works, and if I like the plants/where the plants are. That being said, I can't find Douglas fir lumber (for raised beds/holding the arch) easily. Can I substitute for a pine or spruce lumber, or am I sacrificing longevity if I don't find actual fir lumber?

 

[Mr_Yan]

Lumber:
Is there a look you want to go for or just get a raised bed built and in? I've always used standard kiln dried big-box cheap 2x lumber. Sure cedar or something else will last a few more years but you're not getting 2x or 3x the life of the raised bed for the 2x or 3x cost of the lumber. My raised beds have a galvanized corrugated metal side with a wooden frame at the top and this year I will be using a fence and deck sealer to reseal these. The oldest raised beds I have are going into their 5th season.

Small terracotta pots will require a lot of high maintenance watering through the summer. I don't like plastic so my personal preference won't be to tell you to use it. I no longer use planters smaller than a 5 gallon bucket for outdoor garden stuff.

 

[MamaHawk]

Lumber: I want it to look nice, but not splendid, if that makes sense. How do metal beds work for you? The more research I do, the more it seems like I'd have to seal the interior to some degree of any raised bed to retain moisture better, so the building material matters less to me.

I figured I'd get 12-10" pots, but maybe one small tower up in the front where I'd see it everyday. I'm also not against planting directly into the ground, I just shy away from the odds of the clay killing anything I put down and forget about. Also the weeding But it shouldn't be a ton, so maybe I just need to get a hoe and deal with it.

 

[MamaHawk]

In this same vein, I just saw a post about putting a wire mesh between the bottom of the open raised bed and the ground to protect from pests. Now I don't know what to do with the bottom of my bed! Any advice?

 

[YumYum]

Well you could pile some logs in the bottom as in the Heugulkuture (spelled wrong, I'm sure) method and hope moles dont try to resurface there from the added resistance. Mice would probably go in from the top anyways if they can get up there.

 

[MamaHawk]

There's always another method to learn! I'll look into it. I talked le husband into letting me join him at Lowes shortly so I'll get some ideas of price expectations.