Hey everyone, this is Dream from Where the YoCals Grow. As you can see on this very sunny day we
are sitting in my front yard, and that means only one thing, we are filling this large, raised bed
behind me. New gardeners this video is for you, and if you are new to this channel welcome, and if
you are returning, I am so glad to see you again let's get growing y'all. Okay y'all we're goanna
talk about this bed right here behind me. This is one of two brand new raised beds that my husband
built me he built as my valentine's presents for me. I was expecting one and he gave me two which
was a lot of excitement. With that said, these beds are eight by four by two what that means is
they are eight foot long, four foot wide, and two foot deep in case anybody didn't understand that.
So, you can imagine how much it would have been to fill these two beds with soil. I have
five other beds and I will show you in when I walk around, I will show you those five beds.
Those five other beds, two years ago, I bought soil by the yard, and it cost me $265 dollars
just to fill those five beds. If I was to do that again, it would probably be double that
because the cost of soil has gone up. But as it turns out these two beds and the way I did it
cost me $60 a bed which was $120 total. I didn't do them all at once. I did one and then I had to
come back to the second one and that's why we're filming this second one. So, let me tell you how
I did it. So, the first thing I don't use any of what is it called a garden cloth or garden tarp or
anything like that. I just get cardboard boxes. You can go to Walmart after 11 o'clock,
well you can here in Arlington, I don't know about other cities. But after 11 o'clock and
get as many cardboard boxes you want for free and free is good. That's how I got my cardboard boxes,
plus different items that I had bought that came to the house that I just kept the boxes from.
We laid the cardboard out, put the bed on top of that cardboard, then I took the hose
and I watered it in really good and what I mean by watering it in, I saturated that cardboard.
Once I had soaked the cardboard for a while, I got inside the bed and I stamped down on top of it,
pushed the cardboard down just a little bit more to make sure that it was saturated
through the whole thing. The water helps the cardboard to break down,
thus the soil that's in here, it'll kill the grass below it, and the soil that's in
here will become in contact with the native soil below it. I happen to know that this native soil
in my yard is very good, so I want that to happen. Once that was done, in order to
fill the bed up higher so we didn't have as much soil going in, I had a large tree stump
that had fallen on a job, and we cut it up and then I put that on top of the cardboard.
Once that was done I had some old cornstalk that I had dried, corn stock that I had left over,
and I just bent them, broke them in pieces, and I put that
in between the large stumps that were in the bed.
Once I was done with that, I had some old plants I had cleaned out of these beds,
some old leaves and other plant matter, so I put the bigger
pieces of organic matter such as plants and I put those in and filled in the cracks as
much as I could, then I took the leaves and I filled in the rest of the cracks.
Once that was done, I took eight bags of the timberlands cow manure
and compost bags and I spread that out in my raised bed.
Once that was done, I used eight bags of nature's choice, I believe it's called nature's choice
organic mushroom compost and I spread that out.
Then when that was done, it was almost full, I topped it with two, I believe they're 1.5
cubic feet bags of the miracle grows container topsoil, I'm sorry container potting soil mix
with yucca and core. It took two bags and I topped it with that. The purpose for topping
it with that is because it has moisture control but, it's also got a lot of good
nutrients in it. Once I was done with that the bed was full, the bed was full. Those organic matters
that are underneath the soil will continue to break down. As they break down, they will
of course, they break into soil, but they also continue to feed any plants that are in here.
It helps out in the long run. You still have to feed especially in North Texas
when that sun starts getting hot, you're having to water more often, and your nutrients are
running out the bottom, you have to feed a little bit more. But, in the beginning
it will continue to break down and feed your soil. The other thing that I have found,
I go get, I know you've probably heard people talk about worms, I don't go to a worm farm,
I go to Walmart, go over to the bait section and you can get a container for $4.58.
That container I can spread out between all of these, and they'll do just fine. So, if you
want to add worms, that's a cheap and inexpensive way; that's your garden tip as part of this video.
Hey, if you're someone who's watching this and you've set up a raised bed here recently, or
in the past, and you have some suggestions, drop them down in the comment section and let us know
us know what you did. What kind of soil did you use? What kind of dirt did you use?
How did you set it up? How much did it cost you? I think that's great information for any new
gardener or someone who's kind of been gardening for a year, and now they've got a new bed,
and they're overwhelmed by the cost of how much it's going to cost to put soil into these beds.
We need to stick together, and we need to help these new gardeners get out into the world. So,
if you have any helpful advice, please put it down in the comment section. Okay
y'all now that I'm up, let me back up just a little bit so you can see both of those beds,
so you can see just how big they are. I'll try to go slow as possible
sorry for any shadows my garden sits in the west, so it's very, very sunny.
So, here they are in their entirety both of them. Those two beds cost me $60 each to fill with soil.
Let me show you how small these other beds are they are six, by one and a half, by two.
These are the original five beds, those cost me $265 dollars to fill two years ago.
Let me turn, I'll show you what it looks like from this way.
Let me show you two more beds that I did a little differently.
So, these two beds are smaller, and what I did differently, these are the cardboard underneath,
and then these particular small beds took two and a half of the miracle grow organic
container top, I'm sorry container potting soil with yucca and core.
Now, I didn't put any debris or anything or any other organic matter in there. So, that's how I
did those differently but those bags only cost me $9.99 each at Costco, check Costco for soil.
OH neighbors coming! Sorry about that y'all had to stop filming for a minute. One of my
neighbors uh walked up on me and you guessed it, start asking questions.
But what I was saying before, if you all who are watching this, who may be a gardener,
and you have any helpful advice for those who are starting out, ways to set up their beds. or ways
to fill their beds, where to get soil, and you know where to get different things inexpensively,
please put them down in the comments section. And y'all, I will do my best to put everything in the
description, the steps that I took so that you can read through them, so you don't have to keep
rewinding the video and see it. It will be down in the description box for you. I will also put
where I purchased my soil at, so that you can go find it, well hopefully, you know not every
Home Depot and Lowes are the same in each city. If you all found value in this video,
please be sure to give us a like with a thumbs up, and if you are new please remember to subscribe,
new videos come out often, and don't forget to hit that notification bell so you know when that
happens. Until I see you in the next video, you all keep growing, you keep your heads up,
we're all going to get through this together, and i'll see you in the next video bye-bye.