I have been working to get myself back into gardening. I setup some wood planters and pots last year, and was not going to do any in ground gardening due to the many animals that borough in my small property. This year, I decided to look at setting up some raised beds, after watching many of the gardening channels on YouTube (its like crack for the brain...). Many of the channels talked about various vendors that manufacturer and sell the raised bed units. I was about to purchase one 2'x8'x17" from a competing company but I stopped and did more research. I found Vegega and for the price of one competing unit, I was able to purchase two from Vegega. I am sure the quality of the competing manufacturer was very good (at least I would hope so for the price they were charging).
After researching for a week or so (reading about the materials, other reviews, etc.) I pulled the trigger and did purchase two raised bed units (2'x8'x17") in the olive green color (that closely matched the siding of my home). I also wanted my beds to be very rigid and strong. With my purchase, it was easy to also order extra 2' strengthening bar, to make the unit as rigid as I wanted.
The units arrived about two weeks after ordering and I put them together. I was very impressed by the inside coating, paint, the metal (these were by far better than what my local big box stores had to sell at a far better price) and the stainless steel nuts and bolts. I was able to put one of the beds together in about 1.5 hours, so it was fairly simple and I was not in any hurry.
In my planning to put the units outside (I have my garden in my front yard, since my backyard it very small and is shaded by trees and the house), I followed the advice of many of the garden YouTubers.
1. I used chicken wire fence to create a protective barrier at the bottom of the beds. I secured that with landscaping staples. 2. I used cardboard to line the bottom of the beds, as a weed/grass barrier. 3. I filled the bottom of the beds with split oak logs I had. 4. I used some bagged topsoil to fill on top of the split logs. 5. I added a layer of seedless and non-pesticide hay. 6. I added a layer of composted cow manure (broken down and non-stink). 7. I added a layer of Peat Moss. 8. I then used a decent brand of bagged garden soil filled the beds almost to the top. 9. I added a final layer of best bagged top soil I could find (Yes, I know there are better sources, but I had no idea how much I needed for this project, so I went with bagged dirt) and I worked in some organic general purpose garden fertilizer. 10. I then watered down both beds to allow for settling. I will let the beds sit for a few days (have a rain storm on the way this week as well), so I will see if I need to add any more soil to the beds. No claims on any kind of success with the process, but its what I tried with the raised beds.
I have not planted yet (one more week to go), but I have many seedlings and seeds ready to go and will be planting all of my garden areas (these new beds, planters, pots, and fabric pots). I am very excited to see how this year's garden produces and continue to learn and grow my green thumb skills. These Vegega raised beds will be around for years to come and they do look nice in the year.
As a side note, I did have to work with Vegega customer service twice. Both instances were for additional orders of the 2' strengthening bar sets you can order from their website. Both times, it was CARRIER handling as they busted the packaging (both times) and one or all of the bars were lost in transit. The carrier dropped off literally empty and crushed packages to my door! Both times I reached out to Vegega Customer Service and explained the issue and provided pictures of the packaging. They responded within 24 hours and a day later, I had new bar sets sent out with tracking information. I was very impressed with their response time and how quickly they reshipped the product to me.
At this point, I am very happy to recommend the Vegega raised bed products. I found them to be a great balance of price vs. quality. I will absolutely purchase more beds in the future and look forward to many years of use for the units I currently have. Have fun gardening!