Here is a regular Ben Hur of a production, over 10 mins long, compliments of Gardenfork.tv and starring Eric the really informal gardener, his two golden retrievers, one frisbee and the spooky voice of the Witch Of The Woods. The average full-length movie is about 100 minutes long so you must know that this is a long, long video in internet video terms. You are going to get to know these people well, perhaps much better than you’d like.

In return you will be shown how to make a raised garden bed which, at the end of the day, is just a 2″ x 12″ x 12′ rough lumber box (treat the lumber with linseed if you must) and placed on the surface of the yard (with or without galvanized screening pinned to the bottom to keep out moles) and then filled with composted manure and suchlike. We are never told why one would want to have a raised garden bed (except the vole and mole problem we surmise) but we certainly do get to see Rover and Bonzo running for that frisbee as the Witch Of The Weeds chortles into the mike and black flies infest the lens….

Come back Robert Redford, all is forgiven.

Somewhere down in Texas one winter, a man looked at the camera to tell us about the two types of irrigation you can use for your raised garden bed. According to the man with the winter grass stretching out behind him, compliments of ExpertVillage and YouTube, you can have Precision Button Irrigation (for directing water to a specific area) and Laser Drip Irrigation (for soaking a wide area).

Button irrigation involves small pipes leading off a main hose with a button at the base to control the flow of dripping water. Laser irrigation is a long, thin pipe with laser holes drilled all over it allowing water to leak all over the required area. If you want a short visit down south for some contrasting visuals and some very basic information, spend 1 minute, 53 seconds checking out Mr. “Lone Star” Irrigation.

A 208 year old Invisible Gardener from Malibu, California (that’s how it’s billed, folks) takes us into an organic vegetable garden to look at a raised vegetable beds. It’s quite a skill making one. You need timber sides, two layers of 1/4 inch chicken wire placed on the bottom for the gophers and drip irrigation throughout. What’s more, ideally you need two of these giant beds so you can rotate crops, rest the soil, etc. The Invisible Gardener explains how the soil gets to rest and then earthworms (red ones from Africa) are introduced.

Then comes a layer of compost (not too rich) and finally mulch. Did you know that spreading coffee grounds around repels snails? That’s just one of the intriguing things you’ll learn in this quirky ten minute video.

And this is the first in a series so you’ll be able to follow the series as the season progresses, watching the raised beds develop and produce and the Invisible Gardener grow older. Nice concept.