I've filled it with branches. Next step is to fill in the gaps with leaves and soil.
@jesuisatire The metal panels are just cheaper than any naturally rot-resistant wood, at least right here and now.
I know someone in the permaculture guild who builds beds like this and then covers the outside with wood reclaimed from old fences, to make them look nice.
New raised bed in place! I'm doing hugelkultur in a raised bed, so I dug out the bottom of the raised bed to make room for more sticks, starting with this stump I had to dig out to make space for the new raised bed.
In permaculture, you always have to ask "How come?" as well as "What for?" I do hugelkultur in order to put carbon into the soil, and to hold extra water, and also because I have too many sticks.
I'm replacing an old 8'x8'x6" raised bed. The landscape timbers it was made of are decayed and splintery, and have a lot of nails. Dutch, who loves to chase squirrels and dig, often injures her toe pads, so I'm trying to Dutch-proof the yard. The people who lived here before me raised eight kids in this house, and I find broken glass wherever I dig. Look at all this glass and metal I found digging out the old raised bed:
My next raised bed is going to go east of the shed. I want a place to stand between the shed and the bed, so I dug out a couple inches, lined it with bricks, filled it with sand, and covered it with tiles. The bricks, sand, and tiles were all freecycled leftovers from someone else's projects.
Smartphone Photographer
Susan Ramirez