Growing Together: Open Forum

Hello, 

I have been teaching an afterschool garden club at a local elementary school through a nonprofit for about a year and a half. 

We got a small grant to redo the garden and a friend drew up a plan for me to build beds from 8" cinder blocks. I wasn't looking at the materials list when I shopped for them and bought 6" instead. Ugh. I am now looking at concrete block raised bed plans and they're all with 8" blocks. 

Has anyone had any success building sturdy beds with the 6 inch blocks?

I feel like my options are either to lay mortar in between the blocks which would require power tools if anyone at the school had to move them for some reason or just use rebar in each hole but risk a wobbly bed. 

Any suggestions? 

You're dimensions of course would be different, but there is no reason that I can think of that it wouldn't work. We built raised beds from scrapped and broken cinder blocks and rocks and they've done just fine. 

I'm a Outdoor Classroom - Gardening teacher for about 2 years+ in my local Waldorf school in Malaysia.

We have used red bricks, cement bricks, woven sunnhemp (or woven wattle in the US), used HT pallets, rattans, bamboos, just any scraps laying around the school, giving these scraps a second life, instead of paying for new materials.

Cheers from Sunny and rainy Malaysia

I've built dozens of gardens with cinder blocks.  I don't think using the 6" is a dealbreaker.  Instead of mortar, we usually use the concrete adhesive you can buy at Home Depot that comes in a tube you put in a caulk gun to apply.  Just do a nice figure 8 of adhesive as you go along adding the second layer.  I would not go higher than two blocks high.  And it looks like those 6" blocks are still 16" long and 8" high so your original bed plan should work. Make sure you alternate your block endings so they don't line up between top and bottom layer.  If you're still worried, pound a rebar pole in the holes at a few places. 

Good luck. 

Bonnie

Cinder block raised garden beds are a great idea! They're super sturdy and can give your garden a cool, industrial look. Plus, they're pretty easy to set up. You can find some helpful tips on how to build one on https://www.mklibrary.com/how-to-build-metal-raised-garden-bed/ . First, you'll want to choose a sunny spot for your bed. Then, lay out your cinder blocks in a rectangular shape, leaving space in the middle for your plants. Stack the blocks two or three high, depending on how deep you want your bed to be. Next, fill the bed with good-quality soil and compost, and you're ready to plant! You can grow all sorts of veggies, herbs, and flowers in your new raised bed. It's a fun project that can add some charm to your garden!