fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[Mother of Chaos]

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Ron and Cleo - October 2019

Aww, the shore! Which beach?

 

[fuzzi]

Aww, the shore! Which beach?

South Topsail Island, NC. It's accessible by bridge. We would go in early October.

 

[fuzzi]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The raised beds continue to deteriorate. I think the cedar isn't resilient enough to handle our wet climate and ants!

I think my best course of action is to convert the beds to concrete, aka "cinder" blocks. If I want the beds to remain about 16" high, it will take 36 blocks per bed.

If I do this, it's going to be an extended project, and since I don't want to remove the soil, a bit complicated. Stay tuned.

 

[fuzzi]

Some videos

Gardener Scott

Wades

 

[Mother of Chaos]

South Topsail Island, NC. It's accessible by bridge. We would go in early October.

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Oh, Topsail is great, especially off-season!

 

[NanaK]

If I do this, it's going to be an extended project, and since I don't want to remove the soil, a bit complicated. Stay tuned.

When I did mine it was not as tough as I thought it would be.

The bed is 10x20. I just removed one section of old wood at a time. No more than I could replace with the concrete in one work session.

After I removed a section of wood, I used a flat edge shovel along the area to make sure it was flat and level. I just eyeballed it. Turned that little bit of soil back into the bed. Laid the edging and raked the soil back along the new concrete edging.

If I were going to build it 2 blocks high, I think I would use a level on the ground row before I stacked the 2nd row. I would consider driving rebar at least in the corners to make sure it didn't move over time as it settles.

Definately take your time because it should last a very long time and concrete is HEAVY!

 

[Molpet]

I'm lazy and would just build the cinder block wall around the existing bed, up against the rotting wood.

 

[kcan2]

Will you have to do any leveling of the cinder blocks?