My neighbor called my raised garden bed a 'glorified coffin' and I changed the whole design

So I'm out back last Sunday building this 4x8 cedar bed for veggies, and my retired carpenter neighbor Bob walks over. He takes one look at my framing and says "that thing's gonna rot out in two seasons, you're trapping moisture against the wood." I figured pressure treated lumber or cedar would be fine, but he pointed out how I had the boards flush against the soil with no gap. So I tore it apart and redid the whole thing with a half-inch gap between each board and a plastic liner on the inside walls. Cost me an extra $40 for the liner material and another Saturday afternoon, but now the bed sits off the ground on cinder blocks too. Has anyone else had a neighbor totally change how you approached something in your yard?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookep2720d ago

My buddy Mike had this whole elaborate plan for a koi pond in his backyard, spent months researching filters and pumps. His neighbor came over one day and said "you know them raccoons are gonna eat every single fish, right?" Mike laughed it off until he saw a raccoon family living in the storm drain down the street. He ended up scrapping the whole pond idea and built a raised flower bed instead... just put a little bird bath in the middle and called it a day. Cost him way less too.

thomas.piper20d ago

Oh man, that raccoon thing is no joke! My neighbor @brookep27 lost a whole koi population to a family of them that figured out how to lift his pond cover.