What Happened to My Steel Raised Garden beds After 12 years? 

G'day Everyone, Go here to get Birdies Raised Garden beds in the USA: shop.epicgardening.com/ and use SSME2020 for a 5% discount. In Australia & New Zealand go to birdiesgardenproducts.com.au/ or birdiesgardenproducts.co.nz/ and use Code SSMEbird for a 5% discount. Also, just a bit of channel news, I'm close to going LIVE for the first time soon here on this channel - I've been wanting to do this for a long time but always had "tech" issues to deal with but hopefully, we can get into it and chat in real-time, answer some questions, and have some fun. See how it goes! Cheers :)

This is such a good experiment Mark! Love the transparency of showing after over a decade. for those who are struggling to pre-order, trust me I feel the pain! I'm getting as many of these from Birdies as I possibly can as quickly as I possibly can, but we are dealing with a crazy global shipping and logistics crisis right now that is causing delays. I will honor Mark's code for anyone who asks for it from this video, so make sure and sign up to the email list so I can notify everyone of more pre-orders! Lets... GET INTO IT!

Good show, Mark. My father said, "You can buy quality once or cheap many times."

Good grief, what a difference in deterioration (or lack of) between the coated and uncoated beds! Another fab video Mark, thanks for sharing your wisdom with us 😀

The Amish in my community use large, square clay chimney liners for growing tomatoes. They plant the seedlings so the tops are just under the top edge of the clay liner. If we get a frost or freeze warning, they cover the tomato seedlings with a cotton sheet to protect them. Where I live, most people wait until the day after Memorial Day (May 31st) before planting. I would like to replace my brittle plastic pots for growing tomatoes with those Bridie's galvanized raised beds. I'd get more years use out of them than those plastic pots that crack and break after a couple years of use. Kind regards from the States.

I was starting to think this might be an insect documentary in disguise.

Boy it sure seems worth the time, effort and money to buy the coated galvanized metal ones. Thanks for showing how yours are holding up.🌱👍

Why you are not sponsored by Birdies is a mystery to me. You are the sole reason I bought their product. USA

When I see bugs in australian videos I ask myself if gardeners risk their lifes every single day?

"Rusty thumbs up" I see what you did there Russell i mean Mark.

After 12 years of use, those Birdies garden beds look impressive and in great shape!

I wish that I could afford these. I started using old freezers and refrigerators as raised beds.

Easily my favorite channel to watch while making coffee. Gets the morning feeling positive.

I bought a birdies bed based on your channel. I dare say that I’m not alone. I wonder how many people also have. It might be worth doing a YT community poll.

We use discarted truck tires to plant in them. I know, the process in which they are made and chemicals, etc. but we live in an island and used tires overall are becoming an environmental issue, so we use them to plant root vegetables in them and they last decades.

Golden missed opertunity: "Lets...... dig into it" =P .

Picked up my Birdies bed yesterday from Bunnings. Of course now I've got to source some half decent material to fill it.

Thanks much for the update. For 12 years old, these Birdie’s beds appear to be extremely high quality! I’m impressed!

My neighbor was shaking his head yesterday at how much we spent on Birdies. Between the cost of lumber and the amount of use we'll get - I feel like it's a solid investment. This video is such a great review and makes me feel lucky to have them! We are setting them up today and will be able to plant this Spring.

im in love with that basil Raised Garden Bed, it's the perfect height so i don't have to bend over. Thanks for showing your beds off! I definitely want to get a few in the future

I have 11 raised beds now (7 are Birdies, 4 are from Stratco) and just couldn't imagine gardening any other way. I have 2 large areas that are ground level which I use for growing pumpkins, melons, onions, etc but i find myself planting in the raised beds more and more and couldn't be happier.

Is there a coating that can be sprayed on the inside of those galvanized beds that is also non-reactive/non-toxic?

When he was showing how well the Birdies Beds were holding up I thought "must not be made in China". Had a good laugh a minute or so later when he showed the ones rusting out were made in China. 😄

Wow. I’m impressed they lasted so long. I hadn’t realised they were coated inside. I didn’t want bare metal touching my soil so hadn’t considered them, but will now. It seems to be much harder to find the timber I used last time so these might be the solution. Just need to figure out the best way to add seats which were built into my old timber raised beds. Food for thought that’s for sure! Thanks Mark!

Birdie's is definitely benefiting from your channel. It would be great if you could develop some kind of more direct relationship with them.

its funny because I started watching you first then reached out for others and found Kevin , which I have been watching him for awhile before the two of you linked .. its a small youtube world..lol

Clearly birdies are a good buy..love there look too

Wish I'd watched this 20 minutes ago. I literally just ordered my raised beds and it wasn't from Birdies

Good morning to you my name is Claire. l live in Barbados. l watch your video alot. You are very down to earth, and I love that. Some of the seeds and things you can get over there we in Barbados can't get like the sugar cane mulches and seed potatoes and the dragon fruit and even those raised beds by birdy's. Our country is a very hot place not alot of rain. Some of the things we call them different name. We can't get blood and bone like you. I wish l could grow some lime or orange trees.l look forward to hearing from you.

Be interesting to see under the soil in the 12 year old beds if you started it off with branches logs ect if they are all broken down

Thank you for showing this. I received 4 Birdie's beds as an amazing Christmas gift this year. I'm glad I can look forward to them lasting a long time.

I'm impressed with the Australian Birdies raised garden beds after 12 years.

Those beds seem reasonably priced for the quality of them.

Great vid mate! Tony Wood's earlier comment on the sacrificial nature of galvanizing is correct to a point BUT- what you have is an example of tissue thin, P Poor Chinese galvanizing! I have worked with Gal steel sections and sheet for some 50+ years along with zinc alum and colorbond. I have found the Chinese gal to be inconstant in its coating thickness and overall far thinner than we have been used to in the past. In many cases it is merest coating of zinc to deliberately give the appearance of a galvanized surface when in fact it is so thin it is often virtually porous and like your eBay beds it will rust out in no time! Galvanizing is sacrificial but it's how thick the zinc coating is, that really affects how long it lasts. I suspect the Birdies beds are just heavy gauge Colorbond which is zinc alum steel with a tough paint coating. The paint is what really increases its lifespan. If the eBay gal beds had been given a coat of paint prior to being filled they would probably last 10 times longer! Therein lays the secret! I just watched your vid on making the hardwood beds out of your deck’s leftover hand rails. You mentioned being unsure of how long the timber would last and that you might paint it. There should be no might about it! It’s so easy to apply with a roller before you set them in place and it doesn’t matter how you slap it on- thicker the better! I usually go down to Bunnings and buy any quality exterior acrylic that has been left on the mark down trolley due to incorrect colour mix or dented can. The colour doesn’t matter cos you’re going to bury it anyway! Would have been so much easier to paint the timber lying flat across the top of saw horses than in situ and you get all the surface including the parts overlapped by the posts! My advice, no matter what the material, paint it before you bury it and dramatically increase the lifespan- it’s so easy! H

Are you using car window rubber "U" shaped gaskets for the top of those containers? Thats what im using for mine! :))

Just bought and put together 2 of the Birdies beds. It's great to know that they will be around for a good long time. Thanks for everything you do. Good job.

Hello Mark! I absolutely luv your videos and learn a hole lot!!! Your so awesome! I olny wish you would have posted/did this video about a month ago! As sadly I just bought $2500 worth of the cheap Chinese beds off of ebay a month ago 😥.. I was really thinking hard which to go with I didn't think the bare galvanized would rust that fast.. Because the old galvanized aroumd here lasts 30 plus years easy.. I guess its true for everything these day you get what you pay for. Anyways thanks Mark keep doing what your doing! I really have learned a ton sence I started watching your videos I try to watch and like everyone.

My good lady persuaded us to invest in brick built raised beds a few years ago. They are two paving slabs wide with a slabs width path between them. Expensive at the time, but bar a few needing to be re mortared after hard winters they are as good as ever.

Do some soil samples on the chinese steel version, see if there's more siderophilic bacteria in the soil?

Did i watch too many Self Sufficient Me videos if Mark is now also gardening in my dreams at night? 😂😂😂

I think birdies owes you a commission. I was introduced to them through your videos some years ago. Actually ordered one this year as well. Not sure how epic gardening pulled off the exclusive distribution deal.

It could extend the galvanized steel beds life sheeting them with a plastic before filling them with soil. Some plastic like the ones used to cover the soil and garden plants on holes (it stops water evaporation and weeds. Here in my town I am in middle of farmland Argentina, so I get to have unlimited used plastic storage silos (they look like a white long giant saudsage) that are discarded after use (they are cut by a machine as they empty them).

one way to reduce the metal reaction to the "soil" in the raised garden bed is to line it with a heavy polythene sheet or (preferably) pond liner. Also, using vertical drainsage cells helps (and moves water reserviour to the bottom of bed) as well as providing an insulation zone (warm and cold climates)

These Birdies beds are really great, but shipping to the UK on top of their deservedly premium price keeps them out of my budget sadly! Plastic pots and planters it is for now :P

Excellent Videos MarK 5by5. How funny is that those sayings are almost the same al over the Planet. For example In the other side of the World [South America], We say: " If you buy cheap, you buy twice... Cheers!

You're always so helpful and friendly, real easy on the ears. I appreciate your channels and gardening wisdom.

Love to see you and Kevin together in a video

I thoroughly enjoy all your videos Mark. You do a wonderful job of helping us beginners...basic, simple and uncomplicated. Please keep them coming :)

G'day Marc! I absolutely love these raised beds, but I guess galvanized beds are way too expensive for most of us. Of cause it depends on many things mainly a monthly wage and cost of fruits/vegetables, I think. I live in Sicily and honestly would not spend 150 euros for one 3 m bed... We have loads of local fruits and vegetables all year round, and it's just doesn't worth spending so much when a 4 kg bag of fresh carrots costs me 1 euro at a local market, for example. Instead we are building our first beds with pallets that we get for free from a local potato storage, paying just 20 euros for transport for a whole truck of pallets. And then little by little we build our beds. They last about 5 years, according to my previous experience, and it fine. 'cause one bed 1 mt wide, 3 mt long and 80 cm high (20 under ground with rocks around) costs us less than 5 euros and two days of working including preparing the surface, manual digging, building itself and filling it with soil and rocks outside. It's hard, bit it's fun and it's free 😁

Now that’s a very good decade long review of a product.

Opinion on OLLE? These look exactly like OLLE'S which are less expensive.

I whish they would sell those Birdies beds in The Netherlands. I would definitely buy a couple

You have me convinced! I was gonna build my own but now I see that Birdies are far superior in every way. Thank you for taking the time to show these things, and share your knowledge and experience!

Lessons learned. Quality equipment lasts longer. Thanx Birdies

On large metallic underwater structures such as actively controlled dams they sometimes use replaceable zinc nodes mounted onto the side of the metal. These zinc nodes will essentially give electrons to the iron when it goes to corrode, causing the zinc node to degrade rather than causing the iron to rust. A coating isn't needed, just a nearby repository of zinc to pull from. I assume we coat metal in zinc because its just easier to work with coated metal than have to install anti-rusting nodes. And with modern underwater structures they probably use plastic coatings or something. But the method is still used to maintain older ones. I wonder if you could increase the longevity of your garden bed by having a mounting point for a zinc bar. When the zinc bar degrades, you know you're protecting the metal, and once the zinc is out you can put a new one in and keep going

Im thinking on build raised beds with bricks and cement, those should last forever

For that bed to be going for nearly 15 -20 years and not rupture anywhere? I think its safe to call that a win.

Mark :) Watching your videos brings me such joy!!! It's easy to see you love the garden, the pets and your family :) I'm inspired now to try and overcome the family curse of plastic plants and get a small container garden going. Keep sharing your enthusiasm. Smiles are contagious.

I got some vego garden beds. Not birdies. They are all still in good condition. Is been a year and a half or so. But the coating inside on the vego is not as durable from what I can tell. In my case within a year the coating inside was starting to turn to powder but no rusting on the metal itself as of yet. I bought 10 of the large 10 in 1 vego beds and I hope I can get 20 years of use out of them.

This video was great. I just bought a “Birdie” and now I feel so confident that I made a wise decision. Thanks buddy!

Personally don't like them they look too industrial and don't blend in with nature much rather have some treated hardwood raised beds will last just as long if not longer.

Glossy enamel grill spray paint is good for touching up anything that might rust. Heat and water resistant, doesn't put out toxins once it dries, good stuff 👍🏼

I'm interested in something like this but would love to know what any coating or paint on the metal is made of for peace of mind.

12 years is a good life. I was getting 7 to 8 years out of raised beds made from untreated 2x6s. 👍👍👍

great video! super informative! i am very interested in getting 2 new garden beds (i only have one cedar bed thats 7 yrs old right now) are birdies garden beds sold in canada?

The garden beds are the same age as me lol 😂

I just ordered some Birdies here in America that arrive this week, looks like I made a great purchase!

Makes sense you get what you pay for! Thanks for showing us after 12 years Birdies growing strong. 💪 💪 💪

Thanks for the video, was very interesting!

What I'd like to know is how much zinc oxide, especially from the heavily rusting beds, is being soaked up by/ into the crops being grown in the galvanized beds.

Hello! I love your channel

This was interesting, we originally looked at Birdies but couldn't justify the extra cost, so went for the other beds from the big boxed store we all love in Australia. The same ones you didn't like except ours are single highs and think they are better that way. But same metal as the Birdies. No rust, no defects. Would always use an Aussie steel product.

No concerns about using zinc plated metals? What if it leaches into the soil?

So the cheap China ones are more "well draining". 😁

I am so happy Birdie's is selling in the USA! I can't wait for spring. Enjoy your channel. 😁

First here.❤❤

Greetings from Washington state, USA. Mark, could you apply a thin coat of silicone sealant on the obvious rusted out holes? It won't hurt the soil and it will keep your beds going for a long time. A thin application is better a lot as it won't lift around the edges. It's a good weather repellent for all kinds of outdoor products. The clear coat is what I use for outdoor products. Good luck with your beds. I love watching your videos since you are a scientific minded guy...just like me. Love your experiments.

Thanks again. I hope there's birdies raised garden bed here in the Philippines.

I did enjoy this video. Thank you, Mark!

Almost as soon as I get an email from Epic gardening that they have more Birdie's Beds.. they're sold out darn it!

Very useful information, I was looking at the equivalent ones up here in Canada and we just simply don't have the cash for them. But we can get used galvanized steel for really cheap locally, and paint it with an inert epoxy coating after cleaning up any rust spots. Tom has lots of experience with that sort of thing, having been in boat restoration, aircraft maintenance, and general repairs all his life. If he can't fix it, he doesn't want it.

when did the crocodile hunter get reborn into a Gardner. Im down with it.

A bearded Australian Alex Jones that gardens...works for me.

Am looking at metal raised beds for my own place. This was perfectly timed! Thank you for the feedback!

I love how alot of youtube gardeners have their favourite garden tool. They don't ever necessarily say it, but it just shows up alot. Mark, your hand shovel always shows up! Charles Dowding, for example, has a dowel he uses for making holes for transplants that showed up in a lot of videos.

Thanks. Been thinking about these from Gardeners Supply in USA. Do you know if they are as indestructible as Birdies?

I have my first Birdie bed sitting in a box in my livingroom. I plan on setting it out Monday. My one concern is what a week-whacker with nylon cord would do to them if you hit them regularly. I want to mulch around the bed, but my wife wants grass running right up to the bed.

Bang for buck is difficult to evaluate, particularly with very cheap options at Bunnings (avoid the clip-in plastic joiners, they are hopeless, pick the ones that bolt together). I picked up a couple of 1.2x0.9x0.3 Saxon beds on the weekend for $29 a piece. By area about $27 per m2 of bed. A small Birdie 1.2x1.0x0.385 unit, on the other hand, costs $152. That's $126 per m2 of bed. That's quite a difference in price but even replacing the Saxon 4 times still brings you out ahead. I would definitely agree that the Birdies products are far superior, but it's also really a product for someone that wants to get 20-25 years out of it. For small or casual vege gardening, cheaper options are going to be cost effective. Alternatively one could possibly argue that Birdies range is over-engineered, and there would be a market opportunity for them to introduce a sub-professional range (or even a budget range) that is more cost effective for the average gardener, but still provide a good return on investment. At any rate, lining the cheaper beds with builders plastic would give you a few extra years out of them. Would love to hear some extra advice on using shorter raised beds. I'm thinking of digging out 300mm to add my Hugelkultur layer, including the walkway between the beds. Then sitting my raised bed on top of that, half fill with chip then fill to the top with premium soil. Thoughts?

Very nice! Love coming upon a quality product! I’ve been wanting to get a few to try but price prevented it. Have a friend who has cows and had something similar for watering troughs. So this year I have 2 new beds for the garden season.

Wow sold out EVERYWHERE! I need to pre-order it from Suttons (in the UK) to make sure I do get a pair of them for my new garden renovation project!

I wish I had seen this video last year. I would've built my raised bed from scratch. But, I'll be looking to Birdies for my next bed.

Is your us code still good for the birdies raised beds?

On the onset, you could have them painted with paints against rust to make them last longer. And re-apply every year.

Imma use my stimulus money to get me some Birdie Garden beds. Thanks American taxpayers😃

Very good to know given that I just bought my first Birdies bed last night. We recently moved onto 5 acres here in Western Australia, about an hour south of Perth and I'm really keen to get started with it all. 8 fruit trees planted a few days ago. Hopefully they all survive. Cheers for all the great info

Hey Mark can you tell us the price difference with the beds that you shown? The question that is running in my head is if to spend let say 300$ on a raised bed that will last you 10 years or buy 3 raised beds for 100$ that will last you 5 years.

Something you can do is contact a local plumber and ask him to save any bathtubs and you can pick them up at his place of business. They might have small holed near the drain or overflow but that doesn't really matter for gardening, they are free you just gotta pick them up yourself.

Talking about your land....do you have a video where you planning the layout, starting raw?

Great video Mark , always full of interesting information . I used black foam water pipe lagging to cover the top edges of my metal beds . For the children's raised beds I used those colorful foam pool noodles , but I had to slit them open first to fit . A little silicon or instant glue at either end helped to secure them . Three years on and still looking good .

I love how you 'dig' into it. I also love my Birdie's bed.