Building a tiered garden...help!

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OK, shit is getting real. Time to plant a victory garden.

Unlike my last house, this one has a patch of dirt. However, it's at a pitch. I'm gonna have to make a terrace to plant my tomatoes.

I want to build a short retaining wall. Fortunately, after the top 8" or so, everything underneath is basically chalk, so the issue of water weighing against the wall is minimal.

I was thinking of retaining wall blocks that lock together. It's gonna have be something home depot can deliver.

I'm thinking of scraping top soil off and setting aside and then digging out the chalk and trying to grade it to level, since it's probably better than any base I could manage.

Thoughts? Recommended tutorials? Products?

I'll take some pictures of the pending project when I get home. I have two house-bound teenagers for the grunt work.

Thanks!
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"Person, woman, man, camera, TV."

Re: Building a tiered garden...help!

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Sorry I did not see this before.

If you can, dig out the chalk and replace it with soil. You only need your terraces to be about two feet wide. Do a measure, then decide how many terraces you'll build. You'll need about four-to-ten inches deep of soil to grow most veggies, so start at the top and dig out the chalk so the first terrace has that depth available. Make the first treated-lumber 2x10 w/ cedar stakes terrace wall. Then go two feet downhill and make the next 4-10 inch deep two foot wide hole. Next and next and so on. Fill with soil. Pay the kid well who you hired to do the weak mind/strong back work.

Hopefully you have space for a compost pile. If so, start one. Next fall you can harvest it, sooner if you water it along with your veg.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Building a tiered garden...help!

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Marlene wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 4:15 pm how much rise over how much distance? what else besides tomatoes?
Yeah, see, there's rubs all over the place. Orientation, is another. Only radishes can grow anywhere. And ice plant, the crab grass of the Central Coast.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Building a tiered garden...help!

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I highly recommend green beans (half runner) Very nutritious, and prolific
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Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.—Aristotle

Re: Building a tiered garden...help!

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You going truly for a victory garden? Timing in CA means we can grow year round so I'd definitely grab a book. I've read that this style/spacing may not be optimal these days, as there are better designs, but it's a start.
victory garden.jpg
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: Building a tiered garden...help!

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I built a base for my pool in 2002/2003. The block at it's highest about 3' high, and no block at the lowest, Inside it's filled with, I guess it's called quarry mix--crushed stone and dirt. Super-high friction coefficient. The blocks are about 5" high, maybe 10" across, 8" deep, with a lip on the bottom to hold them to the one below, no more. So it's not a really complicated fancy, expensive interlocking block. The pool is 16x40 and hold at least 80 tons of water. The base has never moved. The idea MAY help you in terracing your garden. (I did all the blueprints and layouts, all the fencing and rebuilt it about 6 years ago...a LONG winter project--and it's solar heated)
Here's what it looks like.
P8310121.JPG
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Building a tiered garden...help!

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senorgrand wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 6:30 pm Do the blocks go below grade?
There is one course below what is visible (you can barely see it in the picture). The near end of the pool has a deep end that is dug out in the middle of the base...about 18" below the top of the base.

Since this was take, there's now an additional patio at this end covering the grass.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Building a tiered garden...help!

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3E6FC769-77D0-4017-977A-77F5D336E434.jpeg
ok, length is about 40'.

The slope is 11' wide from the bottom retaining wall to the fence. I estimate the drop is about 4' from the fence to the top of the existing wall.

I'd like to set my new retaining wall 4' back from the existing wall. I was thinking of making it about 3' high, with the first two courses below grade. I was going to try and do two tiers, but I'd probably run into zoning issues, so the upper tier will have to remain sloped.

I'd like to plant some kind of evergreen screen on my side of the fence as a visual screen. We have wisteria now, which provide great screening in the summer, but that's it. Any suggestions? I know dedonias would grow well here, but I hate them. Whatever it is, has to survive periodic frosts and also 100 temps. Maybe boxwood?
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"Person, woman, man, camera, TV."

Re: Building a tiered garden...help!

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senorgrand wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:13 pm I was going to use these bad boys:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Pavestone-3 ... /202274512
Those are nearly identical for what I have for my pool--mine have slightly different front face but that's irrelevant.
Be certain where you start your wall is far enough back. I don't remember exactly but I believe that you're supposed to be back twice the height of the wall. So if you want to go up 3', you have to be back 6'. I won't swear to it, and you should check, otherwise you'll need an engineer. Also check with your local building codes and permitting needs. If you were required to get a permit, and didn't, and there's an accident, your insurance won't cover you and the courts will back them.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Building a tiered garden...help!

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Mason wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2020 1:43 pm For your screen, pitisporum is evergreen and grows fast and well in CA. You will have to cut it into a hedge or it will get very tall.
Thanks!

I'm actually thinking about using ornamental grasses. I'd like something established soon, something I don't have to fuss with and something drought tolerant
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