I am curious to know people’s experiences with metal raised beds? Is there one producer that really stands out?
I have gone back and forth thinking about getting some but it is an investment and one I would want to last for years to come.
Main complains I see while looking is the material is flimsy, not enough bolts/holes to secure pieces, no bracing for the middle or not enough, many are sharp edged.
I would want boxes that are 2ft tall or even more sounds better… the dimensions are not something set in stone, I am just wanting to hear people’s anecdotes.
I have some from Epic Gardening (Birdies brand) and Vego Garden. They both seem to be pretty sturdy with no bowing. They’re filled with logs, sticks/branches, chips, and then compost. Depending on the size they have internal support rods. I have 6.5x3.5 and 8x4s. They’re configurable to different dimensions but these were a good balance of maximizing area while still being able to reach across. My husband found assembly to be pretty straightforward after the first one. The edges are sharp but they come with a gasket to cover the top edge. I haven’t put mine on yet and haven’t cut myself at any rate. These brands use aluzinc; I know there are some others that look similar but are maybe less durable. Mark from the YouTube channel “Self Sufficient Me" dug up a few beds including Birdies after years and there was a noticeable difference in corrosion. Both brands go on really good sales at certain times of the year, which is when I’ve tried to purchase. I think I’ve got twenty in total, not all are placed and filled. I’m hoping they last a very long time. During the highest lumber prices they were more economical than cedar and I didn’t want to use treated wood.
I know both those channels, and was interested to know if anyone had the Birdies. They seem good to me but I always like to hear people’s first hand experiences.
@snarfing the rustoleum sounds like something I would do.
I have a bunch of Sproutbox, Vego and Epic beds. Sproutbox and vego are interchangeable and I’ve attached sprout panels to the vego boxes. Epic is 2” shorter but identical color. Despite sproutbox and vego being nearly identical, the finish on sprouts are far surperior. The Vegos scratched just by looking at them. I’m trying a less expensive round Mocogarden in a week that looks identical to vego. It looks like this one comes with the top rubber banding and is not as cheap as a lot of the offbrands.
If you go for an off brand, I would pick up some of the rubber that’s used to line the top of the metal beds, and just be sure that you have either bought separately or made some cross support struts. The name brands will come with this and tell you at what size you need an extra supports. Don’t trust any videos about how long it takes to set these things up. If you’re making them big like I did, it takes hours. And even the year before when I was just making them standard medium sized it took a long time. You have to peel the protective coating off of both sides of the panels and then best if you have a helper to stand them up as you’re screwing them together while trying not to scratch the finish.
my biggest issue is that a lot of my mounded ground has reseeded plants i don’t want to lose, so I’ve got to be pretty strategic. I’ve also got dwarf fruit trees throughout, a grape arbor and shade cloth thing, and i want good walkways my partner can navigate most of with a cane or walker
meh l will use cardboard to keep it off the baby plants and ground and spray it, once it’s over 50F all day. should dry before the veggies grow in
i have extra poly greenhouse panels left over and am thinking i may try to extend shoulder season in the fall by covering a few with it. if the plants stay low enough in say mid November
Yeah was going to say make sure to check what temps you can do it in. I think its above 55. I did one put together and the rest apart. Some colors took 2-3 Cans for my 4x8x16in beds. Some took 1
these are all the one foot tall ones so wouldn’t be too much, but there’s one that is i think 3 feet tall 8 feet long i might have to wait on until i win the lottery for paint money
