ground cover alternatives for raised beds
njitgrad
10 years ago
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Comments (16)
EdwinNJ
10 years agodigdirt2
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Concrete Block Raised Beds Covered With Hypertufa?
Comments (16)Tuffatuffa AC noise has different frequencies. One of them being Humm, which typically transfers mechanically (making adjacent structures vibrate with them). Wood is typically used in combination with space, creating sound "traps" for lower frequencies (the humming part of your AC noise). Remember, higher frequencies have shorter wave lengths, so combining different density materials is what you're going for, unless there's a specific frequency range you want to address. This seems like a good link. Let me know if it doesn't answer your questions and I'll do some more research Bass trap I think you're looking for acoustic insulation that wont look bad. Since AC noise will have a variation of frequencies, the more diverse materials you use, the more diverse the frequencies you will absorb. Then, the higher frequencies will just be reflected by the solid surface of the tufa. So, this is how I would do it: 1) Make your wall with a frame of 2x4s for shape 2) Take a piece of plywood or something to go along the interior. Staple it 2 inches from the border (so you're in the middle of the wall). 3) Fill the remaining space (which should be about 2 inches on each side) with foam, carpet or whatever you can find and dispose of. 4) Use some kind of metal lathe to give the tufa something to cling to, and stable it to your wooden frame. 5) If you want to take it a step further, before covering with tuva, cut a few sections of PVC pipe and place it at even intervals accross the side of your wall (about an inch or two of separation). This will insure different frequencies are reflected in different directions 6) Cover the whole thing with tufa. Then, cover with plastic so you can isolate the foam from your wet tufa when you apply Now you have an effective bass(humm) trap, and high and mid frequency absorbtion and reflection (with the interior foam for absorbtion and the corrugated tufa surface for reflection) If you can, lie your "wall" on the floor when applying the tufa. Or at least at an angle so our tufa doesn't slide down. You'll find this is where the lathe will come in handy ;-) Forget my comment about replacing the AC. I have a noisy AC myself, so I am biased towards just dumping the thing :-) OK, I'm typing a lot and I don't know if I'm answering your questions. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help....See MoreRaised Rock Bed-Ground cover?
Comments (4)Cindeea Yo might check out plantcreations .com. Everything I have would be don't get it within 10 miles of your house types lol Would love to have the weeds back gary...See MoreNew veg. garden: raised beds or ground level?
Comments (6)At my last house I had raised beds - 4' wide by 12-20' long with wooden sides about 1 1/2 foot tall. Over two or three years we built 8 of these large beds plus several smaller beds for perennial crops like stawberries, rhubarb, and horseradish. For that situation, there were several advantages. It allowed us to have flat areas on a hill; we terraced with rock walls and put the beds on those flat areas, surrounded by woodchips for mulch, so there was no weeding at all. The beds were sunk about a foot below the grade, and we had to sift the soil, which was shallow over fractured ledge, to get rid of all the rock, and then we filled the rest of the beds with composted cow manure, thanks to our local dairy farmer. So, we ended up with no weeds & great soil in flat beds from an area that started out mostly rock on a steep grade. Other pluses were sitting on the bed sides to plant, screwing trellises for beans, melons, cukes, etc. directly into the bed sides, and the ablility to plant early due to good drainage and early season warm-up. We also sometimes put plastic hoops over the beds, tucking the hoop ends inside the beds to hold them, to cover with spun-bond or plastic. On our strawberry beds, we put hinged wire mesh covers so the chipmunks couldn't eat the berries. Between mulch and the high organic content of the soil, we only had to water when it had been dry for a couple of weeks or more. Our current house had a pre-existing ground-level garden which we simply took over as was since the house needed a huge amount of work, so that's where our efforts and energy went. I miss the raised beds, and find that I have more difficulty with soil-living bugs like wire worms in my potatoes and cutworms crawling in from the surrounding field. I can't work in the garden as long since I have to bend more or sit on & scoot along the ground. (I'm no spring chicken!) The grass and weeds migrate into the veggie garden from the surrounding field, and the soil needs to be prepped in the fall so I can plant peas, potatoes, etc. earlier in spring since the soil stays cold and wet for much longer. There are two only advantages I can see to the ground level garden: it's easier to till with a machine like a big tiller or tractor if you want to be able to do that, and any crops that need winter warmth can be well mulched and will stay warmer in the ground. Garlic, which is a bit borderline as far as hardiness here, has better survival rates, and my leeks and root vegetables overwinter better with a thick layer of mulch when they are in the ground rather than in a raised bed. So, like Lisa, I will eventually have some of both, but with most of my garden as raised beds and a smaller part of it in the ground....See MoreAlternative to EarthTainer and raised beds: Bad Idea?
Comments (4)It sounds like you want to do something like the Aztec mound gardening. The wooldand hummus as a base with some potting mix should work.. just a guess YMMV.. god luck! Here is a link that might be useful: mound gardening...See Morenjitgrad
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