Raised bed garden using cinder blocks?

[Devneck]

Our beds and pots are plagued by squirrels some times and drives my wife crazy. I use to trap them and take them over a mile away but after hundreds over the years, I gave up and told her she could do it herself if she wants the critters gone.
Now she wants me to build o of these: (only with a automatic trigger.

 

[DunRanull]

Our beds and pots are plagued by squirrels some times and drives my wife crazy. I use to trap them and take them over a mile away but after hundreds over the years, I gave up and told her she could do it herself if she wants the critters gone.
Now she wants me to build o of these: (only with a automatic trigger.

That right there is dang FUNNY, I don't care who ya are, that's a stone HOOT! Funny thing, tho, the Old Woman vetoed my plans of building one for the yard...

 

[Dungannon]

Built two at a horse therapy ranch in Mexico three years ago. Drove in rebar at the corners and every three or four cavities, and dropped excess cement from the horse stable construction project into the cavities over several days. All the raised beds were three blocks high, so that kids in wheelchairs could care for the plants. Because they were so deep, I filled the bottom third with all sorts of branches and twigs with some local dirt. The top two-thirds was filled with a mixture of dirt, sand, leaves, garden trimmings, etc.

They've since built 8 more raised beds.

 

[The Heretic]

Several things I got from vids:

1) Fill in the blocks with something or spiders/etc. will take over the holes. Most people fill them in with dirt and plant something in them.

2) Line the inside edges of the blocks, between the bed and the blocks, with plastic (or something impermeable) so that the bed doesn't dry out so fast. Do not put plastic under the bed.

3) These beds dry out faster because they drain better, so mulch on top and water more frequently as appropriate.

4) You probably only need one layer of blocks to have a decent raised bed, If you have more than one layer, then leave on end open (until filled) when filling the bed so you can get the dirt in - two blocks high will prevent a wheelbarrow from dumping dirt over the edge.

 

[thorborg]

Plenty of recipes for squirrel... stew, fried, slow cooked etc.

Get her used to it and you'll be filling the freezer and canning your veggies

Living with me she has had her share of squirrel meat (Her favorite id slow cooked in creamed cabbage) but the grays in our area are survival meat only and not good eating. she also has had bear, rabbit, snake, frog, elk, deer, etc, etc......

 

[thorborg]

Been there done that. Leaves a boggy lawn and eventually doesn't scare anything.

 

[Devneck]

Been there done that. Leaves a boggy lawn and eventually doesn't scare anything.

That's unfortunate. Wasn't my experience. The spray only lasted about 2 seconds each time it was triggered, and didn't get triggered often enough to make the lawn or garden soaked. It was 100% effective for me, but I only had about 40 ferrel cats I was dealing with.

 

[The Heretic]

All of the wild animals here on the mountain are wild.

Not only are they skittish because they are not used to humans (encountering much less often), but they encounter predators (including human hunters) more often. Also, they wander more, are less crowded, less used to human food sources, and there are other sources of food.

So they would be less likely to get acclimated to something like a directed intermittent sprinkler.

That said, I intend to use netting and fencing. Otherwise the deer and other animals will get into my garden just as they do my landscaping and my apple tree.

 

[Lesliet]

I built quite a few out of a bunch of 8" red clay bricks... not the standard ones, these were from somewhere in the 30's to 50's, and had ~ 2" holes X2 in each one. 8" high, 8" wide, maybe 12" long. Free, for my labor and gas to haul them off, and a masonry chisel gets the mortar off pretty easily. As previously stated, there are a few issues with weeds and mowing, but a weedeater gets the outsides pretty good. I'd plan on needing to rebuild them every couple of years, just to clean up the beds, so on mine I didn't bother staking them in. A mulch of mint compost works wonders; probably the best onion crop I ever grew was grown in a bed like this with heavy mint compost mulch. Drip irrigation is a nice touch, if you're as lazy about watering as I am.

 

[Lesliet]

Hey, Heretic, you ever have deer get drunk off fermented apples?

 

[The Heretic]

BTW/FWIW/FYI

Most of these "cinder" blocks are concrete blocks, not made from flyash/cinder. I should not have used the word "cinder".

The only "chemicals" concrete blocks leach are lye, very little at that, and only in the immediate vicinity (within an inch or so) of the block itself, if any - so it does not permeate the bed. As known, lime is a soil additive, not toxic. I intend to put a plastic barrier between the blocks and the soil to reduce drying out of the soil.

 

[The Heretic]

Hey, Heretic, you ever have deer get drunk off fermented apples?

Unknown. All animals around here don't tolerate human presence for very long. They avoid us, and/or stay hidden.

I don't think the apples stay on the ground long enough for them to ferment. The animals eat them up quickly, often right off the tree.

 

[PaulB47]

I have used blocks. They work OK, but I don't care much for the looks. Also, I think the bed soil dries out too fast with blocks, so they maybe need a layer of plastic on the inner surface (which deteriorates over time from the sun).

The best bed I ever made was built from plastic 2x6 decking 16" long. 2 for the sides and one on top (horizontal) for a seat. And yes, those beds were expensive...