Hail and well Met from Minnesota!

I was directed here in response to my initial intro on the facebook group page i joined tonight.   

Im working on a fair few projects this year.

+ adding a 3'x12' 3 stage compost area.
+ adding a 12'x3' bridge connecting the back patio and one of the garages.
+ building 2 4'x12'x30" and 2 4'x4'x30" sfg's that will be solid to the ground.  

I came to that group in a panic after having priced out 200 sq feet of mels mix.. with the stores only selling stuff in 2 sq feet bags.. i was looking at thousands.   The person on facebook said to use but 6" of MM.. not 30 like i was thinking..

Ive got a lake and woods on the other side of a train track that run behind my house near hourly, so plenty of vibrations.   This is a fairly new property to me. last year i just maintained the grass.    Ive been growing some grapes at my folks the past couple decades now that make a really nice wine or jam and want to expand my growing and hopefully find something that my girlfriends wheelchair-bound daughter can do that she enjoys and makes her feel good about herself. 


Ill make a posty over in the proper section of my plans for the tables and stuff and i know intro posts aint the place for that.

I chose this name as My beard and hair are dyed neon green/alpinegreen/huntergreen so that my hair glows in the blue or black lights my gaming room is usually lit by.

Hello from Missouri! 

Why are you planning 30" boxes? If you want to bring the height up (for you girlfriend's daughter maybe) you might look into tabletops. 30" seems unnecessarily deep. If you insist, I'd suggest filling the bottom with mulch or yard waste, and Mel's Mix reserved for the top 6-12". There's a vermiculite database on this forum. It might be worth it to check out Craigslist for compost sources. Keep in mind the peat moss nearly doubles in size when "fluffed" up. 

What kind of gaming are you into? My fiance plays D&D and Pathfinder. And our basement is full of Warhammer paraphernalia. 

Thanks for the welcome.  Im planing that height for two reasons.  first its comfortable height for her to reach from the chair.  im hoping it may give her something to help her feel better about herself by tending some of them flowers when they come over here.. instead of watching vlogs on her tablet (shes 21).    And i suffered a couple back injuries whilst in the navy so i dont bend over too well and that height also works for me so i dun have to lean to far over or kneel.  

i did look into some raised one that home depot sells. but the location im going to put them is about 60' from the train tracks.  at least hourly ive got trains going one direction or other hauling freight or oil or empty cars back north from the twin cities.   my house just happened to be at where the trains stop backing up to switch over tracks from the switching station bout a quartermile east on the tracks.  So i worry the virbrations will knock it over.   Also was going to add some bumpers to the sides so she can knock her chair into it as hard as she wants or needs to and not knock the thing over.

Ill check out the database and look on craigs for deals.  thanks for the heads up..

Far as gaming goes.  ive been defacto dm/gm/storyteller for my buddies since we discovered dnd back in 88.   last summer we finished up a modified version of iron gods from pathfinder. i added kingdom building to it.   right now were about halfway through dawn of definance d20 starwars.    

40k wise im building a whole dark angel successor chapter.  So far ive got about a third of the chapter painted (roughly 25k points).  ive got another 2 companies of marines waiting to find out what happens with cypher before i paint them green or black    over on Dakka if you search for Leonis Imperatoris, a Dark Angel Successor (WIP) you can find the blog that i suck at updating, but did a few weeks back.  Also have a 1850 guard w cypher leading them and 2500 space wolves as a flanking force (just missing bout 20 wolves to be full sized) and a pair of grey hunters and one blood claw pack.

Welcome, GreenBeard! We built a waist-high garden last year, with beds that go all the way to the ground. Check out "Butterfly Junction" to see how we did it. We had already bought the soil before I found out about Mel's Mix (I have the old book from the '80s) so I am definitely old school. We started out with yard debris, leaves, newspapers, horse manure, wood chips, etc. for the bottom layers. The only problem we had is that it sank 6-8 inches over the year. For annual veggies it doesn't matter -- we can just had more soil/mix before planting again, but I made the mistake of putting my perennial herbs in one of the boxes. They are now down about 10" lower than they should be.  Live and learn.

Greenbeard,  Welcome to the Forum from California!    It is super nice of you to think about the daughter's well being.  As we have already met, I'll keep this short.  Husband said my table tops wouldn't fall over if we had a train track 100' away.    You can start a new thread of your 2017 garden and keep us updated on all the work you will be doing.  Something like "Greenbeard's Minnesota Garden". PS  Thank you for your Service!

Hail from central Pennsylvania!
I can't help with tabletop bed design, but I've been experimenting with winter growing and cold-hardy plants to try to make the most of my growing season. I look forward to learning plants are recommended in your region and/or mentioning which ones did ok overwintering with protection for me.

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t21344-bryan-greenbeard-of-minnesota-s-2017-plans#261292

Thank you both as well for the welcome here.  Ill take a looksee over at the butterfly junction once i get my borders down on my map   I did go to the tech college out here in the mid 96's got certs in landscape design, greenhouse mgmt, turf pest mgmt..  but its been decades since ive done more then take care of some grapes and assorted flowers at folks house to help mom out.  and ive forgotten a fair chunk of what i learned back then from a good man named Chuck L.   Are you saying the fill inside or the whole structure itself sunk?   

Thats good to know.  I just am worried about potentual of them falling over w heavy train rolling thru and falling either on top of her.. or me when my legs give out randomly for that matter.   Thats the main reason i feel more comfy w them being solid to the ground.

The house lot itself.. owner 1 about 15 years back brought in 3 dump trucks worth of good black earth so the natural ground is amazing.. i just cant bend over to talk with plants on the ground level.

Far as thanking me.  aint no thing at all.  im 2nd gen navy on side and 3rd gen navy on the other.. and on of the other sides.. oldest son of oldest son has served his homeland for more generations then i can count without having to look in the family history.   Its a tradition, we serve so others dun have to.

Considering its still winter here.. techincally thats four whole seasons away.  But i do look forwards to seeing what you have learned that i can and use here..  Im in 4b zone up here.   ..and maybe what i can do to help you out too.   Seems silly to not grow for a good portion of the year so totally game.

Welcome from Coastal NC.
I started doing TT's a few years ago and I LOVE it.
Be sure to use the search box in the upper left side of the page and search Table (73 results).


Here are a few to get you started:

This is for my table tops: Adventures in Tabetops

Building a Table Top SFG

Table tops take SFG to a Higher Level