Raised Beds and Worms

[Purple Marauder]

So, I have been designing and planing what I want my raised beds to look like when I build them and have been doing a lot of research into how many ways people build them. I have decided that when I build the ones I want, I am going to use landscaping fabric on the bottom to help control weeds and kill off the grass I will be sitting them on. I have seen that earthworms are a great thing to have in a garden, but I fear with the landscape fabric I will be blocking them from coming into mine. So, I was wondering if you guys thought it would be a good idea to buy nightcrawlers like they sell at a local bait shop for fishing and adding them into the soil as I fill the raised bed?

 

[karstopography]

I put my 2 raised beds (actually 3 now) right on the grass. I did remove by shovel most of the grass with one bed and the other 2 left the grass intact. None have any added barriers. No grass or weeds have come up from below with any bed. All are essentially weed free. I’m not clear why you need the barrier? Grass won’t penetrate several inches of soil from below. I have a minimum of 8 inches of soil depth in one bed and 10” in the others.

One bed where I scraped away most of the grass, the one I put in December, is absolutely loaded with earthworms. The bed I put in March is not, but that may be more related to the soil used there. Haven’t checked the April installed bed yet.

 

[oneeye]

I agree that landscape fabric is not worth the money and is a waste of time. If you got worms you got a super bed already.

 

[lasunshine]

Love the gardening but hate THE WORMS.

 

[trail twister]

I just layed down news paper then filled the beds with dirt.
The worms eat their way thru the news paper pretty quick.

Al

 

[Purple Marauder]

I have actually reconsidered my plans. I have moles in my yard that I can't seem to get rid of. I wanted a bottom to help keep out weeds and moles. But, I have decided to go with a hardware cloth across the bottom. I'll probably line it with cardboard and then fill the bed. This should keep out the mole and let in the earthworms. The cardboard should help kill off the grass and any weeds. My intentions are to build and fill the bed in the fall so that the soil can sit over the winter and it will be ready to go in the spring. I still have some cleaning to do to get my yard ready for the beds (removing a few bushes and small trees) but I want them to be ready for next year.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Hi
Purple,
Your going completly agains nature ref trying to block out Moles etc, (I'll write a mole and what its about later as a seperate page)

You'll not stop moles from digging through material, their main food are worms, Now worms can dig 1 mile under ground, they air the ground and through their defication (poo to you and me) make a thing called humus and this is what makes the food in the soil,it breaks down clay etc, you dont need to go to the fishing shop for these non garden insects to get worms in your raised bed, just mix soil and compost and the worms will come up via the un-touched earth under your raised bed, And the worms pull down leaves etc under the soil and as ive said eat these and make humus,
Ref weeds,
Just leave the grass we're it is on the bottom of your new raised bed, all plants (weeds are a form of plant) and all plants need Air, Light /water /food If you remove any of the four plant needs they'll die,
Covering up the raised bed ground with soil/compost removes the light provided its deep enough,
If you put turf upside down on the floor area of your raised bed you'll stop that grass from growing and you're making a start at a weed free
base.
ref MOLE hills caused by the moles pushing up the soil, this mole hill soil is ideal for potting on plants as the mole has done a fine job of airing this soil and the texture is just great for plants.
One of the best raised bed frame are the old railway sleepers (the wood the train tracks sit on) they are treated to stop insects etc, & are solid,

 

[trail twister]

I had a mole problem also and tried a bunch of stuff to get rid of them. they would get in the wifes prennieal beds and push plants from the ground and if yoiu didn't get them back in the ground ASAP they died. More wasted money along with the rid of mole stuff.

Milky Spore seemed the way to go and I checked into that and found the cost very high per square foot of yard and flower bed.

Then a friend told me to grab my small push mower and remove the muffler buy some black pipe and screw it in place of the muffler , add some sections and go to thr nearest move hill clear the dirt away place some of the black pipe in the moles run. Start the mower and push dirt back around the black pipe in the moles run, he also told me to add some used oil to the gas so it smoked and I could see the smoke excapeing from other holes and to stop the smoke from excapeing.

I let the mower run the full tank of gas out that day and never seen another mole hill in that area of the yard for about 5 years.

Seems moles can not live on CO2 and better than humans.

A you tube explains it.

gassing moles youtube - Yahoo Search Results Video Search Results

The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web.

video.search.yahoo.com

Al

 

[Peace perfect peace]

AI,
dId that Mole hit route 66 on a Harley?