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Working on beds requires a lot of physical strength and time, and the harvest does not always correspond to the efforts. Therefore, more and more gardeners are arranging high beds in the plots, which allow them to significantly reduce labor costs and grow a good harvest.
Advantages of high beds
A high bed is a box with a height of 10-15 cm and up to half a meter, which is filled with earth, compost, and manure. The dimensions and shape of the box can be any. Most often it is made rectangular. The width must be planned so that it is convenient to take care of the plants. The usual width is 50-80 cm. Passages between beds are planted with lawn grass, covered with sand, sawdust or concrete. As a result, the weeds do not grow in the aisles, the mown grass is used for mulching, and the whole garden looks beautiful and tidy. This is not the only advantage of high beds in the country. There are many advantages here:
- for the device of the garden is suitable for any site, even completely unsuitable for farming;
- tedious digging and weeding replaces the easy loosening of the top layer of the soil;
- high beds quickly warm up in the spring, which allows you to harvest much earlier and plant crops that are not ripening in the area on ordinary beds;
- on a high, wrapped garden, the weeds barely grow, and the water does not spill over into the gardener under the feet when watering;
- it is not difficult to make drainage on it, it is necessary when growing garden crops that do not tolerate high groundwater;
- on the sides it is easy to strengthen the covering material to protect the plants from frost;
- if moles or shrews are planted on the site, cover the bottom of the bed with a plastic mesh with a frequent mesh, and the voracious pests do not reach the plantations;
- the garden can be easily disassembled for transfer to another place, changing the size or repair.
The convenience of a high garden will be appreciated by all gardeners, because in the process of work you will not have to bend almost to the ground level.
Fix a broad cross-board at the ends of the bed, and you will have a comfortable bench, on which you can put inventory or sit down to admire the results of their labors.
How to turn the flaws of high beds into their virtues
The most useful device of such ridges brings in a damp, cool climate. But in the arid southern regions, their advantages are not so obvious: the land in the elevated box overheats and dries out faster. This is their main drawback. Nevertheless, even in such conditions the device of high ridges will be justified, if on a site a ground infertile - stony, clay or sandy. The box for protection against overheating is built of light materials and filled with imported earth. In the midday heat over the box, a white cloth or a piece of agrofiber is stretched. This canopy lowers the temperature of the soil and air in the bed and reduces the evaporation of water.
In the southern regions, construction from inexpensive natural stone - shell rock is widespread. If you build it from the side, the bed will last a very long time, and the soil in it will be cool in any heat. Looks such an exceptionally beautiful building.
See for yourself how attractive are the high beds in the photo, built on the dacha with their own hands made of natural stone.
What materials are suitable for construction
High beds do not have to be so monumental. For their device, almost any construction materials are suitable. The main thing is that they do not pass water and keep the form.
High beds of slate are popular. The slate does not rot, it is water resistant, it does not get very hot in the sun. To equip an elevated ridge, it is not necessary to buy a new slate, it is quite suitable removed from the roof after its repair.
Even easier to make high beds of plastic panels. Unlike slate, plastic does not crack from a light blow, and installation will not require great care. Border of light plastic on the edges of the garden bed looks neat and attractive.
Very comfortable high beds in the greenhouse. In April, the first harvest of radish can be harvested on them.
Crop rotation in greenhouses is always difficult, as they are usually used to grow a limited set of vegetable crops - tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant. Therefore, they often have to change the soil. Doing this on high beds is much more convenient.
How to make high beds of boards with your own hands
If the idea of building high beds with your own hands inspired you, step by step instruction will help to make everything without errors.
To build a wooden box for a high bed size 4000x60x30 cm we will need:
- edged board thickness, cm and a width of 15 cm - 1, running meter;
- galvanized pipe of square profile or corner 2х2 cm;
- self-tapping screws.
Also need to prepare tools - saw, screwdriver, Bulgarian, drill, square, pencil.
We measure 4 segments of 4 m for long sides of the box and 4 pieces for, m for the end sides and cut off.
Sawn boards should be covered with antiseptic from all sides and wait until it dries completely. Suitable funds are "Firebio "Senezh "Pinotex" and others. Without such treatment of wood, high beds of boards will not last long.
We cut the metal profile with the help of the grinder into pieces, m, for the corners of the box and, m for the screeding of the long sides. Screeds must be done through 1 m, so that the bed does not burst with the ground. For a single box, you need 4 segments for, m for corners. For screeds you need about 4 pieces for a vertical screed and 2 more for a horizontal screed. Horizontal segments are held together with vertical pieces at the level of the upper board.
Drill holes in the profile for self-tapping screws. There must be at least two for each board. After that, fix the profile to the end boards with screws. Next, you need to connect the end elements together with the long boards in the same way. One side of the profile will be longer than the width of the box by 10 cm. It will be recessed into the ground for the stability of the box.
On each long side, at the same distance, we mark the places for screeds. Short segments are screwed to the boards, and long fasten fast. Each screed is similar to the letter "P vertical bars screwed to the long sides of the box.
If a high bed is planned to cover with a film or other covering material, the design is complemented by arcs. The most reliable - metal, to withstand the weight of tied tomatoes or cucumbers. For this purpose, an iron rod with a diameter of 8 mm and a length of at least 3 m is used. Each bar section is shaped into a semicircle in its central part, leaving the ends straight. The arches can be connected to the couplers in a constructive way, by fastening them with clamps.
The finished structure is transferred to a permanent place, which was previously released and leveled.
The tops of the arcs can be joined with a strong twine if desired. So the covering material will be better to keep and tie the plants easier.
Now you know how to make high beds in the country house with your own hands. By the same principle, it is not difficult to manufacture them from any other suitable material.
How to make a high bed warm
We have already made sure of the usefulness of the arrangement of high beds in the country. But this bed can be twice as effective, if you make it warm. All heat-loving crops grow on this bed faster and better fructify. The device of a warm bed resembles a layered pie:
- Down lay coarse organics - branches, leaves, bark;
- on the middle layer there is semi-overgrown compost or manure;
- on top of the pie is covered with a layer of garden land.
Under the top layer of organic begins to decompose with the release of heat, that is, warms the plants from below, from the cold earth. If such a garden is covered up after planting, care for it will be reduced to rare watering and harvest, which will always please you, because all the plants love the warmth and abundance of organic matter in soil.
