2 Year Raised Garden Bed Update

Hey guys! In this video, I will be answering the most common questions from my original video, sharing my thoughts on possible improvements, and showing how the garden beds have held up after two years.
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Please do not attempt the processes in this video without adequate training and equipment. Proceed at your own risk. While we have made every attempt to ensure that the information contained on the video channel is correct, the Creator is not responsible for any errors, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. In no event will the Creator be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information on the video channel, or for any consequential, special or similar damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. Seek professional assistance should you require it. Please stay safe and be careful.
#SimonSaysDIY #raisedgardenbeds #Garden

[@daninraleigh]

I'll make a deal. I'll like and subscribe when you note in your description what your location is. It's very frustrating to listen to many detailed instructions from dozens of gardening youtubers when I don't know if they apply to me in the area I live in. If I know where you are, I can adjust my understanding of your procedures to fit where I am. OK?

[@jonathanhowell122]

I'm preparing to build this today. I watched the first video and now 2yr update. I've enjoyed both. Wish me luck!

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Good luck with your garden bed! 😁

[@mauricemcghee8765]

Thanks for all the tips.. I've built a copy of yours following the same steps, It's been 5 years today that I've had it. Still no problems with it, would recommend it 👌

[@payne7028]

In zone 5 - we need to paint the box black to gain some heat LOL Looks great 👍 beautiful work

[@ACunningLinguist]

Love all the respect you gave the keyboard experts!!! 👍🏻

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Haha thanks! :)

[@outdoorfrenzy]

He’s much kinder than I would be.

[@galacticbutterfly5590]

😮 Gorgeous ... functional... and modern👌.... also 2 years later i still found the original cardboard drawing of the garden bed humorous😂

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Haha Thanks!! 😁

[@mattl8457]

I'm buying a house with 5 acres of land soon. I'll be building a bunch of these. Thanks!!

[@1Tibs1]

It would be interesting to have a rain water harvesting system in the next update.

[@user-wo1xz9qp9z]

Nice set up! Don’t listen to the negative Nancys saying the metal will rust and will overheat? Silly, Would ppl install this metal on their roofs if it rusted? heat? 😂 Keep posting vids showing your work and showing this planter will last a long time

[@beebob1279]

That's a great point. The other comments are the pressure treated wood issue. Pressure treated wood is different than years ago. Maybe use cinderblock designs too

[@kayemoore]

THANK YOU for doing a real life update

[@SimonSaysDIY]

No problem! Thanks for watching!

[@rickyh527]

Looks amazing after two years!

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Thanks! 😁

[@Legacy_125]

Amazing, just needs a small table and chairs to sit and admire the garden.

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Thanks! 😄 that would be a nice touch!

[@beebob1279]

I love the design. There are composite materials available that could help. Line the bottom of the bed with decorator or one of the other products. No rot. As for the metal siding, it's going to last a long time. If it begins to rot in twenty years or so, then just cover the outside with a nice wood siding. Make it last even longer

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Thanks for the tips! 😀

[@beckycollins7930]

Appreciate the update!

[@andrewpantalones]

I’m glad you are updating your journey with this! Looks great.

[@blakemcneill2765]

Your initial video is the motivation to me building my own similar garden this year, thanks. The bulging problem seems like it is not as bad as people fear, but having put some thought into this and looking at all the different solutions (most expensive) I came up with using short galvanized strapping (say 9" for example Simpson Strong-Tie LSTA 1-1/4 inch x 9 inch 20-Gauge Galvanized Strap Tie, you can use something heavier if you wish) attached to the bottom of the vertical braces pointing into the garden and then with a 12" galvanized framing nail (or rebar however long you want) pounded into the ground through the large hole in the strapping is a pretty good and cheap solution. It will prevent individual walls from bulging without stressing the opposite wall, and it is totally hidden from view and doesn't require drilling holes through the corrugated metal like the threaded rod method requires and being galvanized should last fairly well. The garden I'm building is larger so I'm using 2x6 and 22 gauge corrugated metal. The other thing I did was use concrete blocks as a foundation to keep the wood frame up out of the dirt. Thank you very much for posting these videos.

[@user-em6ie2be7x]

Incredible.

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Thanks! 😁

[@evelynsandquist5302]

Thank you

[@SimonSaysDIY]

You're welcome ☺️

[@KickAssets]

Excellent video. I am wondering about a design that can be made in pieces and put together whereever needed...making the beds more flexible to improvement and change or design.

[@Cristina-we4im]

Just the boost of confidence I needed to hit complete purchase on my supply order! Thank you!

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Glad to hear it! Thanks!

[@Cristina-we4im]

@SimonSaysDIY lol thanks but this comment didn't age well. It came out HORRIBLY 😆

[@melodysmash]

​@@Cristina-we4im Oh no, what happened?

[@Epistuff]

Where did you get the corrugated metal panels? the economy kind that Home depot and Lowes sells that seem to be flimsily at 31 gauge thickness or did you use a more commercial type of corrugated roofing panel?

[@joebidendidthat5121]

Building this tomorrow

[@RogueSmithers]

Your raised bed should drain well which helps prevent rot and rust over the long term. Also, you actually want the soil of the rooting area to be warmer because the plants use soil temps to know when to grow, cooler soil prevents growth and makes plants want to go dormant or go to seed, hotter soil stimulates root and fruit growth which is why black or dark colored planters work so well, they absorb the heat from the day and insulate the roots with that retained heat over night.

[@LifeIsMessyImLearningAsIGrow]

👨‍🌾 🐝☀️I love your garden! It’s inspirational! I’ll defiantly be watching more to learn as much as I can during the off season. I make garden videos too and Id love learning more from each other as we grow!

[@inigomontoya4109]

Hey just wanted to point out some stuff even though i'm really late to the video. When you where talking about the siding heating up the bed, Black sheathing would actually work just as well as the metal. Both will heat up the soil directly in contact with it, at most 1/2 an inch into the bed, but not enough to actually effect the dirt as most the heat as you pointed out would be reflected and radiated out. If you want an example cover your entire garden bed in black tarp after you rip it up for a week, you'll notice maybe a 1/2 in of dry soil but once you stick your finger in it will still be cool and moist. Point being don't worry about it. The only "advice" i could give though on this design is if you don't have a ton of firewood to fill the bottom with, stones/brick/broken up concreate will work great, backfill that with gravel, then top off with potting soil and compost. I would avoid using as much dirt as you did as it can compact in an enclosed bed making it harder for the plants to really develop their roots. However the firewood decomposing at the bottom of yours causing constant voids and settling probably helps a lot with this. In reality though with how large this bed is as long as the top foot is mostly potting soil and compost you'll never have an issue except possibly with drainage if your soil has a lot of clay in it. All told the bed looks amazing and i wouldn't be surprised to see it around in 5-10 more years holding up pretty decent

[@slydog7131]

Nice update. Staining the wood is a great idea. I did that to mine, and it really helps with the weathering. Another option for the buried cross braces is to just wrap them with heavy weed cloth. Keeping the wood separated from the soil just with that will greatly extend the wood life. I've been unconvinced of the longevity of metal beds built with roofing panels. Those panels are super thin and the galvanized layer is almost nothing. That works fine on a sloped roof where it is only intermittently exposed to distilled water (rainwater), but being exposed to the much harsher environment of soil, its life will be limited. If you don't mind replacing it ever so often, I suppose it will be fine. But rebuilding a deep raised bed can be a lot of work. The dropping of the soil level is likely due to soil compaction. Depending on the size of the wood you put in the bottom, decay of that wood can take many years. Instead of just adding more soil, it would likely be better to double dig your soil once a year to loosen it. Take a wheelbarrow and a flat shovel. Remove one shovel-side "row" of soil into the wheelbarrow, then loosen the lower layer with the shovel, perhaps adding some amendments. On the second row, shovel the top layer into the first space and repeat. At the end of the bed, fill the last row with the soil in the wheelbarrow. This will allow roots to grow deeper and make use of that deep soil. You'll get healthier, larger plants and bigger yields doing that. Keep us updated in years to come how this works out. My pressure treated beds lasted 13 years. I've seen cedar beds last for about as long. Lining the interior walls of a wood bed with heavy weed cloth should extend the life by another 6 or 7 years.

[@beoriginal007]

How do you manage the weeds growth. Can you share some details on that? I actually would like to build something similar to what you have but very concerned about weeds taking over.

[@GarrysGarcia]

What do you think about using 5mm thick polypropylene sheets instead of galvanized steel sheets?

[@aloberdorf4579]

Here in N/W Montana, the metal heating up would be a plus, as at our elevation and aspect, getting the soil warm enough to grow decent cucumbers and such is difficult. Fine thought. Just got a 20x30 garden tarp, this, with your video have given me a mental template. I believe my growing season may be extended two weeks on either end, more with a wood stove.

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Awesome! Good luck 👍🏻

[@candlesbypurplerose1010]

Hi! I have a concrete pad that a shed blew away during storm. I want to use this concrete pad as the foundation to build my raised garden boxes. Since the floor will be concrete please do you have any suggestions? Or recommendations? Thank you

[@BJ04500]

Hello and thank you for this great video 👍 Can you give me the dimensions ? THANKS 🙏

[@salexxavier]

Hey, I said this on the original build too, but thought many who have already seen it might not see this, so... I don't know how much that roof rubber stuff costs, but what if you wrapped that bottom 2x4 that's in the dirt with it to keep it from rotting so quickly? Heck, maybe even do a good strip of it on the bottom of the bottom 2x4 (where you put the old boards) to keep it from directly touching the dirt? I dunno, but seems like a pretty OK idea to me. And, although cedar is better, you could go even one step further and hit up the Cypress wood man. All my Elevated Raised Garden Beds are made of Cypress, and they are rock solid even with the feet sitting in water a lot of the time. S/S Threaded Rod would work on the bottom too, and as long as you stay small (1/4" would be plenty if you make sure you get nice big S/S Fender washers and some S/S Acorn nuts for the outside. These options (besides the rubber roof idea, maybe??) are obviously fairly costly, but it depends on how long you are going to be around to use the things. If you are building them in your 30's and you own the house and don't wanna move, yeah, go for it like I did. Or, if you are retired and can't see yourself being ABLE to do it again, well, way cheaper to do it once than pay someone later.

[@dscott2nd]

I built one very similar but without the crossmembers and it has not bowed at all.

[@jfeljon7027]

How about central Oklahoma? Would this metal work, I noticed you said you live south. :). Thanks

[@billshepherd5090]

Be careful of using cow or any manure from the big box stores. The places they get the manure from fed them hay sprayed with Grazon which is a weed/broad leave plant killer that is extremely slow to braking down. If you get any in your garden beds you will have to replace the soil in the beds. I’m building the more traditional beds like you took up and to fill them I’m composting my own yard clippings and tree leaves. You have beautiful beds to garden in.

[@gurubhaikhalsa9337]

OMG! Thanks for the comment! Do you know which companies to avoid?

[@billshepherd5090]

@@gurubhaikhalsa9337 as I said avoid the box stores. Im going to set up my garden in February and Im going to call the local garden centers and bulk places that sell compost and ask where they get their compost and soil. Avoid HD and Lowes or anyplace that if you ask them does it have grazon in it and they say we don’t know. Mostly Im hoping to use the compost that Im making right now.

[@billshepherd5090]

There are some videos here on YT about this topic if you want to research it more.

[@HollyOak]

If you turned it into a wicking bed, it would take care of the rotting problem as the soil and water wouldn't come into contact with the wood or metal. It would also take care of watering, with you only needing to do top ups.

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Great tip! 😁

[@jeanniemilewski]

How do you turn this into a wicking bed?

[@EverGameStudios]

What state in the south are you located? I'm in Georgia and I was just starting to research about getting a veggie garden up in the backyard, but wasn't sure if that would work here with the weather

[@Spirit1951]

do you any problems with grasshoppers?

[@AV8ORinBoise]

Stop adding compost to the top. Just top with wood chips. You have lots of trees, use chip cuttings to top your garden beds. You will not have as many weeds and you will not be spending any money. The chips will keep moisture in and will slowly break down into your soil providing a large amount of carbon input into your soil. Just a tip. Wood chips are perfect and use early or late chips to top your soil. Thanks for the video!

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Thanks for the tip! I’ll have to try that. 👍🏻

[@wolfeyez77]

I'm totally lacking experience with gardening, but I've always found raised garden beds appealing. I may try to do this in the near future. If you don't mind a newbie question that's probably so basic it's embarrassing, it looks as if you pulled out most (if not all) of your plants after the harvest season. Is that correct? None of what you planted would carry over to the next season, or maybe you just pulled them out to replenish the lower soil level..? Thanks for the video update!

[@h0neymice]

If you live somewhere with lower temperatures, frosts will kill plants pretty quickly when it gets cold in the fall. Some kinds of plants (tomatoes are the one I know) can get and spread diseases when they're dead, which can really impact next year's garden. If you have limited growing space, you might also pull plants after harvesting them. I don't have a yard and just use a bunch of buckets and big pots, so I pull my spring vegetables after their harvests to make room for other things I want to grow that year.

[@tungatunga2282]

what if you cover inside and outside veggie bed and timber with HDPE food grade plastic.

[@rlhauk3715]

I guess I missed it in the build, How tall are the sides ? Thanks R L

[@darcenex14]

Those corrugated panels are typically 24". So, add that to the top and bottom 1"x6"s and it's probably around 25-26" high.

[@kimbercrafts]

I'd love to know an estimate on the cost of this project build. Just the build, not the gravel or rr ties. Looks beautiful! Thank you!

[@KoKnYurAzz]

Around 4.5 to 5 grand

[@tonirice7630]

I made beds very similar to these- they are holding up well, but I’m not getting the production I wanted. I was also wondering if the beds were getting too hot. The plants look good but just not much in the way of vegetables . The peppers for instance are teeny tiny - what could I be doing wrong?

[@slydog7131]

So many things. You might get a soil thermometer so you can know what the soil temperature is. But soil has a large heat capacity and isn't likely to be significantly warmed by the metal sides. Otherwise, many plants will do best if started early indoors, which gives them a head start. Soil health is important. I add compost every year and some appropriate fertilizer. Proper watering, making sure it gets watered to depth is important. I follow those simple rules and my plants grow big and productive. Other gardens in the neighborhood can do as well. But I see some gardens that look rather anemic, and I think they fail by neglecting one of those simple things.

[@Kitfoo77]

I don't think it's a heat issue. I live in Central Florida and my soil is burning up all year round, and my peppers were loving it. Jalepenos and bell peppers love heat. They were producing nice peppers in the summer where it was consistently 100F+. Just make sure you're not planting them right on the edge of the bed, as that is most likely the area where it's the warmest (as someone pointed out above).

[@martytriplett5327]

Not sure what your using in the way of fertilizer or what you used for the soil bed. But if you are not amending your soil well either by fertilizer or a good organic compost then your plants are likely not getting the nutrients they need. Whether raised beds or container gardens, every time you water, nutrients are being leached out and must be added consistently throughout the growing season. Nitrogen levels need to be higher during early growth and then pour the P, K levels to them when fruiting starts.

[@bonniecarlstrom6014]

👍👍fantastic!

[@SimonSaysDIY]

Thanks! 😁

[@doctonic]

I am concerned about the ice and water shield leeching into the dirt. Shouldn’t it contain toxins, the asphalt or the adhesive or the polymers it’s made out of? Anyone know if ice and water shield is safe? Thanks!

[@tommyfred6180]

all the concerns about this build seem to be over it rotting out. but you should be pulling it to bits every five years or so to do a reset of the soil. that is if you are interested in still getting good crops. so why are people so focused on a problem thats irrelevant to this kind of build is beyond me. the bed is perfect for what it is supposed to do.

[@mikemcfiggus8996]

Did you have any issues with weeds?

[@SimonSaysDIY]

No, weeds have been much less then my in my inground gardens.

[@kellydon2294]

Chemicals leaching! "Galvanized" roofing metal RUSTING!! I see you are catering to the lessor among us who are quick with the comments and concerns but not enough to actually do a GOOGLE search. lol

[@joseph-zr1xn]

Look all the negative Karen arm chair qbacking people need to realize if it was so bad you would have the results you got. As far as leeching chemicals that's false. I have never ever heard that esp when the wood isn't touching the soil. My garden is similar to that about 4 times bigger but im still alive

[@priscillaarbanas5125]

Do you know the dimensions of the roofing panels?