Cinder block raised bed

11 years ago

Okay, so 6 makes 96" and 3 make 48, a standard 8x4 raised bed. 16x8x8 are the blocks, stacked 3 high would be 54, hopefully I will be able to find them for around 1$ a piece, but I am thinking they'll be roughly 1.50 each. That's 85 without mortar and soil. I want to do 12 minimum.

I am just trying to get ideas on design veneers, mortar costs, top idea costs, and do yall think 2 foot would be a good height or should I go a little higher, closer to 3 foot or a little over 3? I will be ordering quite a few and would like to get a majority of them at one time.

What type exterior is the best looking and cheapest long term vs cost, paint, stucoo, veneer?

Thanks,

Brad

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Comments (10)

digdirt2
11 years ago
Have you looked at all the pics of his cinder block beds that Jon Hughes has posted here? I linked a bunch of them below to browse through as well as some other discussions on cinder block beds.

Beautiful beds and no exterior treatment is needed either.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Cinder block beds and pics
pitcom
11 years ago
Just this year I built several new beds out of cinder blocks. I only went 2 high. The 16" is plenty deep enough. I grew lots of root crops in them and I had an amazing carrot harvest this year. Also I only used mortar on the first 2 that i built, which were roughly 18' x 4'. However the last two beds which were approx 14' x 10', I decided to not use mortar. The blocks have not moved a single inch. I have been very happy with the cinder blocks and they work great if you want to build hoop houses over the beds. One piece of advice is to do yourself a favor and put some hardware cloth down at the bottom to keep voles/moles out of the area.
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Its 12 AM sun, and I will be working on this another hour or two tonight and will post tomorrow, thank you Deviant for the help and hundreds of pictures. I have compounded the #'s with the lot and have come to the conclusion that having 4 rows of 4x8 with two horizontal in the back in between a back gate in the middle will be spot on at 18. I am going to draw something up tonight/tomorrow and post it in the next day or two. Pls8xx, Thank you so much for those #'s. I was highly leaning cmu, but am now entirely on the fence as your #1-4 were almost exactly in the order I would have them. I was leaning towards the CMU's because of height and that it would be easier to cart CMU to the end of the lot as I have a mower with 1200# capacity trailer attachment. You have helped a ton with the #'s. If I can't find the block at a reasonable price, I will weld rebar forms for poured and will shoot for 20" in height. I have been helping the school out in their raised beds of recent and am trying to get them into the raised bed/organic/heirloom arena as much as possible. The majority of vegetables will be heirloom and nearly all organic, I have always done all organic, nothing like eating them off the bush. I am thinking when it gets much closer I am going to have to look around heavy for used block and that would save a ton, or possibly purchased on discount. I would really like to use it for 30" of my greenhouse walls as well, as the current OSB has a year or two left max and something more permanent would be great. Drtygirl, my wife is from New Orleans and I have a good friend that owns a major lighting company in Mobile, AL and I think I can get some really reasonable copper lights at insanely low prices if the timming is right. Have you seen the flicker candles for them, I have not but have heard good things. I do believe the coppersmith is out of alabama, turtle something that supplies bevolo. I absolutely love the look of them over the granite counter, my philosophy is totally pulling the inside out and putting the outside in. Have you seen sola tubes for natural light? I was thinking of maybe even keeping a key lime in the master bath lol. Sense I am off track, I wanted to post my Night white rosary garden design I finally finished last night. We'll have our lifelike statue of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus in the middle. "notice the two apple trees" its always practical with me to a degree if possible/practical. Roses are finicky at times, even good ones like knock out. I added one in the back for a transplant but its only a solo, I like to do that and it might help some other people out when doing groupings of shrubs. The kidney/pipe shaped path will be gravel and the outside will be slightly raised bed with pine straw surrounded by monkey grass for limited edging/low weeding. Thank you all very much for all of the help, inspiration, and ideas. I hope I am giving some for others as well.
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I used them but first put layers of newspaper, about 6, on the ground before laying them out. It helped keep weeds from coming up into the main growing area and into the holes. I agree it's nice to cap at least a small area so there's a place to reach and sit. I recently wrote about a gal who projected 65K gross from her 2 acres of cinder block gardens. Many of them are in greenhouses, so she gets sales for year-round fresh produce in Colorado. She has an inexpensive e-book on just how to build them and lay them out. It's at www.MicroEcoFarming.com, click on the 'Review of Market Garden Growing Techniques,' then scroll down to find the link to her Cinder Block Gardens book on the right. Here is a link that might be useful: Center for the Micro Eco-Farming Movement
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Just a little update since this thread started up again. I have two raised beds so far. Each about 12 feet long by 4 feet wide. I started vegies from seed and two tomato transplants. So far so good. We've had a lot of rain since I put in the seeds. Both drainage and moisture retention have been perfect. The true test will be in August! They weren't near as much trouble to put together as I thought they would be. Our yard has a fairly good slope to it... Although, it is trouble getting the cinder blocks to my house one batch at a time. I'm going to have some areas with "caps" on them. They sell them at Home Depot to go on top of the cinders. I decided to only go two blocks high. That's just tall enough to sit on and weed, etc., but not so tall that it's awkward for me to till, or get in and out of them if needed. I also found a website a while back that showed someones interior concrete floors. They used Ironite to stain them and it looked fantastic! As soon as I have a day off with no rain, I'm going to use that on the cinders. The free materials I picked up from freecycle members will be used for a circular herb bed in the center. The materials were mostly rocks. Some I would even call small boulders. I hope to have it finished by spring of '08. And if I ever get a digital camera, I'll post pictures!
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fruitmaven_wiz5
11 years ago
Damn, lost the whole message I typed!

I built several raised beds this spring, the narrow 4-inch ones. The top row was solid blocks, I held them together with landscape glue. It is amazing, not budging at all. Since they were narrow, I had to stabilize the base layer by digging and added a layer of paver sand . That was a pain, though I really like the look of my finished beds.

I only went 2 blocks high, the plants are happy but the rabbits van still hop up there. I don't think they'd get up a 3 block deep bed, but I don't know.

The link is what I used for reference building my beds. Oh, my blocks cost only 79 cents each from Menards, in WI.

Here is a link that might be useful: Concrete raised garden beds
jonhughes
11 years ago
Thanks Dave ;-)
Hi Ocean Dweller,
Check out my youTube videos on how I built my CinderBlock raised beds, (link below).
Also, I get my 8"x 8"x 16" CinderBlocks for 75 cents each, just find the closest manufacturer and they will sell you their seconds for half price (very slight imperfections/chips), which they can't sell as First Run Block.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to build a raised bed that will last forever.
albertar
11 years ago
Jon thanks for posting that link, you have inspired me to do the same thing next season. :)

Alberta
rick_7425
11 years ago
I am going to need a bigger yard !!!
nc_crn
11 years ago
Check Craigslist for cinderblocks if you have one for your area.

Some people just want them off their property or try CL before hiring someone else to haul it off.
howelbama
11 years ago
Jon Hughes, awesome stuff!!!! Super jealous lol. I have a mobile home with very limited space and have managed to squeeze in about 130 sq ft of raised beds, I still have room for some more as my budget allows, I plan to keep adding. I would love to do cinder blocks, but I don't think the prop managers would like that so I went with wood for now. Maybe when they rot out in a few years I will see if I can get away with the blocks. I'd prefer that as they're much more sustainable than using up precious lumber.

For now, I'll have the watch your videos and dream :)
Brad Edwards
Original Author
11 years ago
John, got really busy with the build and got lost. Thank you for the idea on 1/2 block. I love your beds, those look amazing. I will have to go 3 high as well now :) Great idea on the onion and lettuces in those, now you have me thinking about basil, chives, and a ton of stuff that could go in there. I am actually honored you would post. I had not seen your stuff and watched all your videos. I love how you give it away to a food bank your a great guy.

Great idea NC about checking craigslist, I wouldn't be surprised to find some.
DidiH
11 years ago
Hello! I just found this forum, and this thread... it's a little old, so I hope you don't mind if I jump in with some questions on the subject (or should I start a new thread?). I too am very impressed by John's beds! I'm planning on building two raised beds out of cinder blocks as well, one of them 2 feet high and the other 3 feet. The 2-foot-tall one will be 10x6 feet in size, a garden with a path in the middle of it that you can walk on. The 3-foot-tall one will be long (35 feet) but narrow (2 feet) and will serve as a border edge wall along the sidewalk, and will be planted with shrubs. Now, my questions are -

1. Can I get away with not pouring a concrete footing, but instead using just compacted gravel or sand? Will that be structurally sound?

2. Can I use the "skinny" cinder blocks instead of the standard ones? They're cheaper and lighter, but are they as structurally sound of a choice given the size of my beds?

3. Do I have to fill the cinder blocks' holes with anything for structural support? I was thinking of putting top caps on them so the holes don't collect water (as they'll be quite deep).

4. It's hard to find information on raised beds that are 3 feet tall; is there anything else I need to take into consideration at that height, other than general raised bed procedure? Like, do I have to fill the bottom with a layer of gravel for drainage? Etc.

I'm planning to drive rebar down the holes for extra support, and mortar the joints between the blocks. But given that one bed will be walked on, and the other one is tall, I'm worried about their structural soundness. I feel like the more I read the more confused I get... If anybody can answer my questions, I'd really appreciate it!
Thanks!
Didi

This post was edited by DidiH on Wed, May 1, 13 at 21:24

Cinder block raised bed

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