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

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!

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 :)

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

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.

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

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

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 😀

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.

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.

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

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.🌱👍

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

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.

Love to see you and Kevin together in a video

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.

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

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.

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.

Thank you for your videos Mark! I started watching a few years ago when I had a garden in a sharehouse (but then I moved into an apartment) I've just bought a house so you're helping inform me to use best materials for a long term garden!

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

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 follow both you and Kevin and think you are both so amazing. I look forward to learning every day. Thank you.

It's so relaxing watching your videos. Always excited for a new video!

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!

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!

This video is so helpful! My husband and I are looking into starting raised beds, and this gives great insight on what to expect.

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

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

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

Thank you for showing us how well the different beds have held up over the years, definitely helps making a purchase!

Love the info!! And I love the collab with Epic Gardening. I think that’s so great and I aspire to make good connections in the gardening community as well. It’s so nice to see!

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

The more of your videos I watch the more excited I get to her you say "Lets...Get into it" thank you sir for all you do teaching and experimenting with different things and freely sharing your knowledge with the entire gardening community all over the world. From South Carolina, USA THANK YOU!

I am so glad that I have found an Australian home steader to watch who I can relate to when planting and weather etc

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

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.

Great channel, Mark. I've enjoyed it for well over a year now. So informative. Keep up the great work!

@Self Sufficient Me Thanks for the update as it is very much appreciated!

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)

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

So glad I went with Birdies beds. I put mine together before christmas and am very pleased so far! Your video gives me hope!!

Thank you for your channel and for sharing this Mark!! My boyfriend found your new channel and sent it to me. I've been trying to find similar raised beds here in the US based on the idea I got from your old videos and didn't know where to find this. God bless you! Keep growing.

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

You're so relaxing, thank you for being how you are. I'm having a shitty week, and you made my headache stop pounding as bad.

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

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

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

What a wonderful comparison. I just received two birdies beds and looking forward to trying them out this upcoming Spring.

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

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

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

Mark you and kevin is one i look up to when it comes to gardening thank you and keep it up

Just got our Birdie's beds from Kevin this week! (Thanks plenty for the discount, btw) So easy to put together, my 5 year old has been helping me put the nuts and bolts in. Glad to see yours are holding up so well! 😁

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 👍🏼

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).

I love that you and Epic Gardening collaborate. Funny enough, you are the only 2 gardening KZfaq channels that I subscribe to and follow.

I bought a few birdies beds from Kevin last year and I’m in love with them! They look beautiful in the garden and I love the fact that I won’t have to build new beds every few years because they don’t rot away like wood does.

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

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! All the pictures online are of brand new beds and it's really hard to know what they will age like. This is great.

Just ordered a few Birdies from Epic Gardening! Thank you for letting me know I could get them in the states.

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.

Lessons learned. Quality equipment lasts longer. Thanx Birdies

Thank you, Mark, as always you have so much to say and you don't waste our time. Guess that the old adage is correct, "buy Quality because you will only have to buy it once", or something like that. God bless you!

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.

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

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

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 .

Thanks. It is time to replace my garden beds after 20 some years and remembered your video. Back to watch it again as i decide what to replace my beds with.

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

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

My Husband and I are doing up our backyard in Western Australia and we had decided that we would put some raised garden beds in. We are definitely going to put the Birdies raised beds in. I am glad I came across this Video as now it is confirmed that it is the right choice :) Thank you Mark for putting out all these awesome Video's.

I did enjoy this video. Thank you, Mark!

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

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

Always enjoy every video Mark.

I love all of your videos! I watch them over and over again

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. 😄

Those beds seem reasonably priced for the quality of them.

Very timely. I was reviewing options to add some galvanized beds. Probably saved me some frustration, and money. Thanks

I love these and they look classy. It's good to know that at least you are getting quality for the cost. My husband and I have back and knee injuries from military and mechanics, etc. And I would love to have these. I am SO excited that you collab-ed with Epic!!!! He's so wonderful. You are still my favorite! It's awesome that we are in similar zones, so I get a lot out of your videos. Will be ordering through Epic as I want to get my hands on those seeding trays he has as well.

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

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

Thank you for the feedback and visuals. I am in the process of trying different raised bed construction materials for comparison myself. Based on this, i think i might coat the galvanized bins i have before i fill them.

Thanks for this Mark. I wanted some more beds as I only have a small one currently and hubby said we'd get some good quality bigger ones. Knew you used Birdie's but wanted to see why; this video explains perfectly.

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

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.

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

Good morning Mark, my partner Sue and I have been adding Birdies product to our garden this last 12 months and we are really happy with the product. In fact I just dashed out to plant the broccoli seedlings into our latest bed that we filled yesterday. And the rain is coming down in a lovely drizzle with more to come, hopefully. Love your channel, keep bringing out the content.

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

The garden beds are the same age as me lol 😂

Thanks for doing this video, Mark. Great comparison. I marvel at how well the Birdies Beds hold up after seeing how Kevin's have done over the years👍

thank you for always giving such useful information :) your channel is one of my favourites!

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.

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

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.

I really enjoyed checking this out. I've been thinking about making some raised beds from some left over roofing tin. I hadn't done it yet since I've dealing with a few health setbacks. Finally getting stronger, so hoping to start a little garden this year.