gift
Collection of 14 Permaculture/Homesteading Cheat-Sheets, Worksheets, and Guides
will be released to subscribers in: soon!
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ransom
  • paul wheaton
  • Jay Angler
  • Timothy Norton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Tereza Okava
  • Nicole Alderman
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • M Ljin
  • Megan Palmer
  • Pete Podurgiel

Shou Sugi Ban boards for raised garden beds--how well would they work?

 
Steward and Man of Many Mushrooms
Posts: 6225
Location: Southern Illinois
1981
transportation cat dog fungi trees building writing rocket stoves woodworking
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I am establishing new garden beds and I need some type raised edging that will be positively rot proof.  At the moment my plan is to use cement block.  But I am not 100% sold.  The certainly will not rot, but they are very thick and a touch unsightly.  I am considering Shou Sugi Ban for some boards.  I think it will be cheaper, definitely thinner, and probably look better.  I have never done this, but it certainly looks easy enough.

So does anyone have any pointers on how to do this?  Is this even a good idea?  Keep in mind that the bed will contain wood chips being broken down by Wine Cap mushrooms and therefore this had better work 100% or it will fail pretty catastrophically.


Thanks in advance,


Eric
 
master gardener
Posts: 6933
Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods
4360
8
forest garden trees books chicken food preservation cooking fiber arts seed woodworking homestead ungarbage
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Even if you go with blocks, you should do one small bed that way and report back on performance over the years. :)
 
steward
Posts: 19657
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4939
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Are you going to use the Shou Sugi Ban technique on all sides of the boards?

That might work to keep the soil from degrading the boards.

For folks that might be interested:

https://permies.com/t/217521/Yakisugi-time#1840355
 
Posts: 254
52
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Cool stuff. I hope you do experiment with it. My guess is that mycelium eventually wins with direct soil contact. Eventually even with concrete blocks.

Probably the blocks last longer than the charred woods. You can plant cool sprawling ground-covery things in the block holes that could eventually be quite attractive when they cover the blocks. Strawberries and purslane maybe?
 
Stop it! You're embarassing me! And you are embarrassing this tiny ad!
Contemplate spending the next 20 years building a better world in montana
https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic