Putting 3 ft high raised beds over 4 month old pine tree stumps

Hi,

I tried to get an answer doing my own research first, however I found conflicting answers.

I had 5 pine trees cut down at the beginning of January.  I am building 5 tall raised beds right now and I thought it would be a good idea to rot the stumps down (and capture their nutrients) by placing the beds over these stumps. With the added benefit of removing the "eyesore" of having a bunch of stumps in my backyard.

I read that coniferous stumps will rot quickly, and it should be fine. However I also read that it should be avoided unless desiging a hugelkultur bed.

Is this a reasonable idea to try or should I make other plans for my beds (though my area between these stumps is limiting to where the beds can go)/

on another note, I cut down crab apple trees in my front yard very recently, if I split the logs, can I even out the bottom layer of the bed with this new wood?  Currently half of the "floor" of the bed would be stump, and half would be the ground, I can also use the smaller brush if that would be a good fill as well.

Thanks for your time!
Mike

Hi Mike. If these stumps are cut low, I can't see a reason not to build tall beds over them. Your plants won't even know the stumps are there.

We use pine and fir logs as the base for all of our raised beds. It's been two years since we built the first one and they get better every year. So I think building a bed around a stump would work nicely. Adding other wood around the stump should be fine too.

Edit: I've added a picture of the raised beds built with logs inside and along the edge. We've avoided using plastic or metal in making the sides because we don't want leaching of anything into the soil. When the logs used as siding break down we will replace them and use the rotted wood as mulch or part of another bed.

Here in the Pacific North West we have what are called "Nurse Logs" and we've also got some plants that are known for starting on stumps and downed logs. I have put a lot of dead tree in the bottom of my 30" tall raised beds.

Things to consider:
1. The bottom of the stump and the roots will take longer to rot than the trunk of the tree from my experience because the wood is denser. I consider that an asset.
2. Too much wood, and people get concerned about it competing with the plants for nitrogen. In healthy soil with lots of compost mixed in, I've found that some of my raised beds were too rich and for example, my tomatillos grew like crazy but didn't set fruit. If you do think your plants are low on nitrogen, water with 10% urine in the water and that will likely be enough. I've got lots of healthy microbes, and some nitrogen fixers mixed into the beds, (peas or bush beans) and not had to do that.
3. The crab apple wood might be more likely to sprout - I put some bits from a local tree in my bed and even though it had been pulled up for some time, it was clearly not dead! I just kept pulling off any sprouts that made it to the top or out the sides and that was enough to finish it off - the point is to watch for Crab apple sprouts. This is *not* a reason not to do it, just something to watch for.
4. 3 feet is tall! I thought 30" was a tall bed! Just consider your own height, what you plan to plant, and how you're going to pick it.  I don't consider myself that tall, so a 30" bed with a 30" tall plant in the middle of it, is pushing my reach. My raised beds are made of pallets and are really solid, so if I get desperate, I can stand on the edge. I certainly had to stand on buckets to reach some of the tomatoes last year. Again, I don't see that as a problem, just something to plan for. I haven't once caught a bunny in my 30" tall beds, but they got every single pole bean I planted at ground level last year.

Thank you everyone for your responses, it's close to 30/32" tall on the beds. I am using solid core doors that I'm wrapping in 6 mil plastic. I hope to get 3 years out of them.

In the mean time I want to collect free metal so that I can replace the beds as the doors break down due to the elements

If you live where they pour slab foundations. They pour small samples of the concrete for testing purposes for the building inspectors.  When I was starting here I was able many of these concrete test cylinders and have happily used them around the garden. In this picture they are stacked as temporary seating next to where we installed aluminum flashing as a root barrier this year.  I think they are technically a kind of construction waste, they were certainly happy to let us haul them off for free. Someday I might see if I can get my hands on more as we've found permanent homes for most of ours at this point.  

They one thing they didn't do, that we hoped for was slow down underground grass runners.

Sorry, looking at that it may not have been clear that I was trying to suggest another cheap option for building solid raised beds with.

Casie Becker wrote:If you live where they pour slab foundations. They pour small samples of the concrete for testing purposes for the building inspectors.  When I was starting here I was able many of these concrete test cylinders and have happily used them around the garden.

My neighbours have tons of these, using them as retaining walls. I've always wondered where the heck they came from. Thanks!!