Prepping

[Redneck]

The dilemma here if it's total grid down is wood. Have a years worth split and stacked and close resupply available, but that is because nobody needs it now for heat, cooking, boiling water. If it comes to that, wood is going to be in short supply everywhere here!

Sorry, but this made me laugh & brought back memories of being stationed in Minot. Back then the joke was, the state tree of North Dakota was the telephone pole.

[Redneck]

So I am thinking about doing raise beds this year versus my traditional garden. And I’ve got a question for every gardener on here. Should I use treated lumber, concrete blocks, Cedarwood, or regular lumber? I guess the reason for this question is I don’t want to use anything that’s going to leech chemicals into my food as this will be used for canning purposes.

Thoughts?

In the old days, when arsenic was a component of the treatment, it could be dangerous to use treated lumber. The new treatment is much safer. I use treated lumber in my raised beds and am still kicking. If you were still concerned, you could add a plastic barrier on the lumber.

[Redneck]

Who do you buy from and are/were you satisfied with the seeds?
I've never bought from catalogs or online; any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Thanks!

I probably get most of my seed from Eden Brothers & Fedco Seeds. I like that they offer small packs, that I use for trials, but also offer large, bulk quantities too. Their online stores are easy to navigate & their seed has always been top notch. I usually order at least 40 lbs of seed a year for storage & use.

[paulag1955]

So I am thinking about doing raise beds this year versus my traditional garden. And I’ve got a question for every gardener on here. Should I use treated lumber, concrete blocks, Cedarwood, or regular lumber? I guess the reason for this question is I don’t want to use anything that’s going to leech chemicals into my food as this will be used for canning purposes.

Thoughts?

We have raised bed gardens that were put in at approximately the same time using untreated wood in two different climates (one very dry, the other very wet). The beds are still in fine shape in the dry climate garden, but are in very, very sad shape in the wet climate garden. So depending upon your climate, you may be able to use untreated lumber. If I were going to put in a new garden, though, I would use concrete blocks as long as I could confirm that the blocks didn't contain fly ash.

[paulag1955]

We had a hellacious wind storm here last night. Lying in bed, listening to it blow, I was so grateful we'd had all those trees taken down in October. At some point during the night we lost power, but it was back on when we got up this morning. I was almost sorry that it was, because we missed out on the opportunity to try out our Duracell PowerSource 660.

We did have a dead western hemlock fall well away from any structures and a tree from the greenbelt fell onto the corner of our shop. It doesn't look like there was any major damage, but my husband hasn't been out to look yet. Hopefully it will just be the minor damage that can be seen from outside.