Tomato Raised Beds

I found this idea on Facebook at The Unintentional Urban Farmer, they are full of great ideas.

First the Shopping list for 5 of these.
2 X 8 X 16 Concrete Blocks 20 @ 1.27     $25.40
Caulk Gun                                                      2.67
Heavy Duty liquid Nails                                  2.40

40lb Mushroom Compost                              3.97
50lb Cow Manure                                         4.97
1.5CF Organic Soil Conditioner                     2.97
3CUFT Sphagnum Peat Moss                       11.97
Left over Vermiculite from other bed              Free

Total Cost for 5 raised bed pots with soil     $54.35  
That is $10.87 each (You can't even buy pots for that)

NOW TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

First I went for the graveyard look, though I tried laying them on their side and clamping them it didn't work out very well.  The clamps were too short and I had to rig two together to squeeze one side, so I could only do one at a time, I found the weight of the blocks was enough.  Plus I couldn't work on the patio where it is level because then I would have had to carry these down to the lawn...way too heavy for that.  I left these overnight to dry and they held very well.

                                                               
Then I went for the modern art look, the graveyard was scaring the kids. I got in a hurry and only let them sit a few hours,The liquid nails did say it would set up in 20 minutes...it didn't hold.  But this turned out to be good, if I wanted to move these it would be hard to do and having two L shapes that rested together on the ground very nicely worked.

Child labor is always a must when doing yard work, plus its free.  Alex is using my new yard toy...that I love!  Its a plastic cart wheelbarrow thing.  Its light enough to carry, if you have more than one they stack and you can wheel it around the yard.  I have used it so far for mixing soil and picking up all the darn sticks to take to the road.  I can see me getting another as I keep my soil in this to pot plants.

Here is the end result with the tomato seeds all tucked away.  Its still a bit cool here, I found a roll of plastic in the garage with vent holes already in it, so Alex help me cover them up and anchor them with rocks for now.  You can see our garden beds in the background, they are doing really well.