Galvanized stock tanks for raised beds
gcorman
21 years ago
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strawberrygoat
21 years agoFireraven9
21 years agoRelated Discussions
When Is A Stock Tank Not For Cows???
Comments (32)I replied to your post, cjc45, a couple of hours ago, but somehow it isn't here. Usually that means the "Submit Response" button wasn't clicked, but I'm SURE I clicked it. Oh, well. Guess I'll try again. I'm glad you have been spurred into creating a pond, cjc. Every garden deserves one! I don't know why we went five years without one at this house...oh, wait. Money and time, that's right! We were going to put a larger, in-ground pond with a stream, and it was going to be VERY labor-intensive and costly. I'm glad we decided to go this route, or we might have been another five with no pond to enjoy! I've seen two ponds close to each other, with a "bridge between them, planted so that it looked like water might be connecting them. It was very effective. You could even just put some rocks between them, with broms on them, or a waterfall into one of the ponds, and it would give the same effect, I'll bet. I have been to Biosphere lots of times and have known Jim Thomas for over 30 years, but I haven't been out there in at least a year now. I need to get back over there. It's a longish ride from Sanford, but worth it. The last time I was out, the pond area was just getting going. I'll bet it looks great now. Anna, somehow I missed your post earlier. Thank you so much for your kind comments...coming from someone with a pond as beautiful as yours, it's especially nice. You have one of the prettiest big ponds I've seen, for sure. Yes, I expect I'll be getting tadpoles and will have to try to figure out if they are good guys or not. The doves walk around the rim of the pond and bend over to drink, but the smaller birds go to my birdbaths. Not quite as frightening looking to them. Potter stands on his tippy-toes and tries to drink, but I discourage him. He has his own water dish out there and doesn't need to be drinking pond water. He has also jumped up on the edge and walked around, looking in the water. *sigh* I will be very unhappy if he messes around and falls in! My yard is starting to have a bit of color in it again, after much very hard work. We had to tear out so much dead stuff, and I basically started over. I've put in a lot more things that are cold-hardy, and some natives, like Walter's viburnum and Simpson Stopper. I don't want to go through another devastation like this winter produced. A few things came back, but most had to be removed. I think I'll try to find time tomorrow to post some before and after shots, just to reassure myself that it is getting better out there. The pond helps!! Marcia...See MoreGalvanized Water Trough Raised Bed Design Help
Comments (3)I've done some research on the idea of self watering planters, so these 3 resources may help you decide how to design your planters. 1. using prefab kits from Home Depot plus additional supplies for more productivity, less watering, & avoiding toxic metals in contaminated soils. http://www.insideurbangreen.org/sub-irrigation-aka-self-watering/ 2. Seattle area gal who used upside pots in trough with landscape cloth over & commented on this blog page: http://twomenandalittlefarm.blogspot.com/2011/11/galvanized-water-tank-trough-vegetable.html Salmonlady4March 28, 2013 at 7:53 PM Hello from Seattle, Washington where every little bit of sunshine counts in gardening... All the troughs ...are sitting on plastic that is covered in gravel...on top of my old raised beds. Just put a bit of plastic netting over the drain hole and cover it with an upside down plastic pot. In fact, save all your old plastic pots, large ones are best, and turn them upside down and they will fill the bottom of the troughs. Put a piece of fabric cloth over the pots and then add your compost and dirt,straw and mushroom compost and grow away. ...and ... have not needed any other holes drilled into the bottoms because they had some of that plastic netting in front of the drain hole I pulled out. ... trailing plants hide most of the trough color and shine... wonderful ways to grow anything from herbs to potatoes and ...for those of you who want your compost near your troughs..... I just sunk two old galvanized garbage cans (with lids on top)into the ground and I put all my kitchen compost in those two cans. All I do every Spring is use a few shovelfuls from the cans in each of the troughs ... putting one or two short pipes into the soil of the troughs and you can pour water right down into the troughs that way for the plants. ... They can easily be covered with plastic (from your dry cleaners) to warm up the soil and put in your early vegetables and get a head start on growing.... 3. Val Easton on Vashon Island grows in troughs now, too, but also in wooden beds. Her Low Maintenance book discusses the troughs, but her blog shows both she uses currently. http://www.valeaston.com/ Remember if you don't have sufficient drain holes you need an overflow to prevent rotting roots at the bottom. You may decide you don't want the expense of the troughs & that volume of soil mix. Sometimes the most simple is best of all. I have to remind myself that all the time because there are always new ideas that might not suit my situation or budget....See Moregot 6 ft stock tank, now what ?
Comments (10)I've seen a few vids of this guys set up. I can't really speak to any answers as the bins I have are significantly different and I have no experience with something like this. Many others may not be posting because they also do much smaller indoor bins. I did manage to make a 7' by 4' worm bin quite unintentionally and it is thriving. I have a raised bed garden built on a concrete pad. When making it I started with straw bales and placed compost over the tops of them as done in bale type gardens. I then bought some leaf worms at the local bait shop and tossed them on it. Now I have more worms than could be counted. Each year I toss about half a cubic yard of chopped fall leafs on top of my garden. Have you found the blog at http://www.redwormcomposting.com/ this has a huge amount of info that has helped me a lot. I will echo the suggestion that you have a second smaller bin with a second population of worms as a backup. Gut feel an 8" diameter circle filled with holes may be fine as long as there is a cover to shed the rain. Rather than drilling it may work well to use a punch (like a framing nail) and hammer to punch holes from the inside out. Again this is gut feel and I have no experience. I don't know if the drain hole there will work or not because I have no clue how it is mounted or how easily it will clog. More holes allow for more to fail without a failure of the drain system. Red worms are a rather resilient animal and will live in a large variety of conditions. Have you read the thread "Three Big Mistakes" started by morgan_3?...See MoreGalvanized Steel Raised Beds
Comments (6)Eight inches is not very deep. That's not to say it won't work; it just won't work well for deep rooted plants. I don't think the metal will get any hotter than any other container. Most container plants in the south benefit from afternoon shade. All potting soils dry out quickly, and can be difficult to re-wet. I always add 1 part coir (fine coconut fiber) to 3 parts potting soil as it absorbs water better than peat moss. In fact, most coir is sold in bricks or blocks that expand when water is trickled over them. Once sold only at hydroponics stores, you may now be able to find coir at local nurseries and home stores. Here is a LINK to an online site. It depends on where in south Texas you live as to how long a galvanized container will last. Much of south Texas is semi-arid so rust is not as much of an issue. However, stock tanks are also available in plastic polyethylene with U.V. inhibitors. Black plastic does absorb heat, so look for other colors....See Moreclg1
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