hey guys retired at 40 here today we're gonna build an elevated planter
box but this planter is different
this one's self watering
today we're building the low tunnel the self watering system and a hinge so I
built these planter boxes this last summer and we just grow our leafy greens
in there I kind of starting to die back a little bit now that's getting cold out
but I kind of wanted to make them self watering and put hoops over them so I
can put plastic on them and grow for a little bit longer to the season kind of
like these low tunnels that I built and I have a video on those if you want to
check those out anyway I wanted to put a hoop on these with a hinge and then I
can lift them up and they will have a leg on them so you can vent them also
I actually already had my planters put together but I'm just going to give you quick dimensions of them
i used all reclaimed material that's why i have stacked 2x4's
you could just as easily use a 2 by 8 or 2 by 10 by 12 and gain the
same amount of height this way but not have to stack the 2x4's
I made mine 3 feet by 4 feet so these right here are 36 inches and then you lose
three inches by stacking them this way so these pieces are 45 inches they need
two of each of those depending on you might need more if you're gonna stack
them like I did or if you're just doing it by 12 then you'll need two of each
there's four legs and the legs
go all the way up to the top of here just to give you some extra support and
some extra stability since they are sitting 4 feet off the ground but it's
nice because they're chest level and you can weed them real easy you can water
them easy you can really get to everything real easy so the legs
are 45 inches and there's four for each side and then to
really make it stable otherwise this little top-heavy you're gonna want to
put these cross supports in the one cross support here is 38
so other side is 38 as well and these right here are 33 inches and then taking
a look underneath I have four across supports on the bottom and there's those
are just holding up a layer of chicken wire which I have just stapled to the
bottom here and then above that is landscape fabric about four or five
layers of landscape fabric and I just allows water to come through but doesn't
let that dirt seep out onto the ground first thing we need to do is build
another box just like this to go on the top that we can throw a hinge on and
then we can build our hoops on top of that in my case my planter box is 4 feet
by 3 feet so I've made these sides 4 feet and then just to you take off 3
inches these are an inch and a half apiece so instead of 36 inches you'd cut
this one at 33 inches you can adjust yours to whatever dimensions you make
your box but I just wanted to lay it out on top of here make sure we're all good
so now I'm just going to screw these together and make a frame and then we're
gonna sit it back on top and put hinges on
alright our next step is to make a leg that will hold up the hoop so you can
have access to the inside my leg is cut at 22 inches you'll need a bolt and a
couple washers and a nut I will need to be longer than three inches so three and
a half to four inches would be good cuz you have to go through two 2x4's
i like to just set mine in place before I drill the hole
okay so last part is putting the hoop frame together and you're gonna need
four five foot sections of CPVC so just cut the 10-footer in half you'll need
six pieces to go in between these joints mine are about 15 inches a piece you'll
will have to probably adjust yours for however long your bed is and then you'll
need 6 tees 2 elbows and then if you are hooking water up to it you need
a side to hook the water into and then I like to have a valve on one end in case
I don't I'm hooking two together so but I want to be able to turn one off if I
need to so let's get them glued together
just need to attach these clamps onto the PVC it'll hold it onto the frame the
next thing I like to do is hook all this up to water pressure just to make sure
that we don't have any weeks before we drill holes to make this self watering
okay last but not least just take a the smallest drill bit that you can find and
just kind of strategically place your holes where you want them I typically do
five across the arch and then one on or three across the sides once the warmer
months are done you can blow this out and throw some plastic over this and
you'll have a hinge that you can lift up and access in the winter time and get a
few months of extra growing out of it looks like my works all done this is
retired at 40 signing off reminding you to live life simple and we'll catch you
next time