Topic: raised beds

[OliveOil]

I've decided to slowly change over to RB's.  I've dug so much and dont feel i have touched the plot. even with paths i seem to be compacting alot of the soil... So at the weekend i made my son his own raised bed with some stakes and some skirting board... i need sooooooooo much more wood though.

Any tips on getting cheap wood - what do you all use?  So far the skip down the road doesnt have anything useful in it grrrrr

[Blue Bird]

Check any local factories or business and see if they have any crates - have found some large crates used to deliver large machinery.

also I use pallets although I do have problems trying to get them apart.

If you can get hold of floor boards from houses that are having the old ones ripped out.

on mine up to how have used laminate flooring / pallets /crates / old door and filled with mole hill soil and compost

good luck with your RB's

[manicscousers]

there've been loads of discussions about pallets on this site, just wish I could remember where   ;D
on them people said where to get them from, we've built ours from pallets, the thick pieces we use for corner posts and the long pieces, obviously, for the frame
maybe someone can remember where the threads are  :)

[pete10]

 Hi six foot gravel boards are cheap . I paid £2 per board from my local garden centre ,All in so far about
 £65 . That should make four nice beds .Plus some batton wood.

http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i90/peterfroud/?action=view&current=Picture007.jpg

http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i90/peterfroud/?action=view&current=Picture004.jpg

[Deb P]

I think this is the thread you want....

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,91/topic,26335.msg257998#msg257998

There are also a couple of photos of my raised beds and how they were constructed from pallets in the october-december 'allotment progress' posts in locations section. ;D

[OliveOil]

ThANKS for the thread referral... OH has big van this weekend so i will scout round the tile and diy places early sat morning and hope i can grab a great freebee.

[dtw]

Do raised beds dry out quicker than the same soil at ground level?

[supersprout]

Interesting question dtw! In theory yes - you're building a container above soil level. I think there's more to it, because the soil's handling of moisture can depend on:

1. Soil composition/structure
2. Weather
3. Evaporation from the soil surface
4. Height relative to the water table

I'd love to know which factors are most significant! ???

If you incorporate plenty of organic matter into the soil, never tread on or compact the soil, and cover the soil surface, the soil seems to do a good job of managing water (both under- and over-supply) - whether or not you have raised beds.

In practice, I didn't water our beds last summer at all, except for at planting-out time, whilst my neighbours were out morning, noon and night with their hoses. We were all happy with our crops!

[shirlton]

I tried raised beds years ago and they didn't work for me. They did dry out rather quickly in dry weather. I have got one on our half plot but its on some very hard stony ground where nothing would have grown anyway. I've put a few strawberries in it. I prefer deep dug beds (sunken beds) lol. You can still have them the same shape and put paths around them. Bunjy (my daughter has done that on her new plot because she wants to get stuff growing with the minimum amount of digging. Her beds are approx 6ftx 2ft. Apart from that you don't have to get the wood and the slugs dont have anywhere to hide away.

[supersprout]

I so agree shirlton, the term 'raised beds' seems all ... erm ... wrong somehow. If the soil is cultivated deeply, it raises itself by becoming more fluffy ::) My un-edged beds sound very much like yours and bunjies :)

Any chance of some more pics of yours and bunjies' beds in the near future? :D

[dandelion]

Hi six foot gravel boards are cheap . I paid £2 per board from my local garden centre ,All in so far about
 £65 . That should make four nice beds .Plus some batton wood.

http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i90/peterfroud/?action=view&current=Picture007.jpg

http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i90/peterfroud/?action=view&current=Picture004.jpg

I'm building some raised timber beds using various bits of wood found in skips. I noticed you assembled the wood first, pete10. I was planning to drive the posts into the soil (clay) first, then screw the planks onto the post. Any recommendations on which is the easier method?

[shirlton]

Going to Erdington tomorrow to do a bit. So will take some pics

[pete10]

I dont have clay .But i built that one on my own as was easier to build them 
 flat then ,The six feet planks first then screw the four foot on the sides , then i lifted the last six foot section on the top and screwed it on . Must have had my
strong head on that day.

[flytrapman]

I use a combination of scaffold planks & kerbs. For the kerbs I ring the council & they let me know where the flaggers are working, if its local they deliver the kerbs along with flags as it saves them taking them to the tip.

[Kaido]

In  my company we destroy hundreds of pallets monthly because they have been damaged through use and would love someone to take them away as many boards unbroken. The problem ,we are in N Ireland, so doubt if useful. On other hand there is a website called 'Waste Matchers' which works on the principle one man's rubbish is anothers raw material.

[mokanoo]

Kaido my grandfather used to take unwanted broken pallets off companies, take them apart, put them back together and sell them to anothe company for £2.50 a go. You should try that.

As regards raised beds (whatever the meaning), I have raised beds kept together with wooden planks in my back garden and the only problem I've found is that the planks have now rotted after 2 years. So make sure you use something very thick. In my allotment I'm raising the beds by just digging them and adding more organic matter. Hopefully by just walking on the paths will compact them enough to be below the bed. Not sure how it will work with drying out as has been mentioned but I will let you know how it goes.

[louise stella]

Personally I have chosen to steer clear of edging my beds - the soil raises itself in time and tends to stay there as you dig less.  Wood etc can make nice hidey holes for slugs and bugs and weeds can be hard to get out if they root under the boards.

I have just defined the beds and laid weed suppressing membrane inbetween on the paths.  In time the soil will become more raised - helping drainage and it also warms up quicker!  It makes it easier to crop, you can reach into the beds to till etc without compacting the soil!

But each to their own I say!

Louise

[Tin Shed]

I have some raised beds made from scaffold boards [find a friendly builder or scaffold firm] They were very good last year for carrots, french beans, aubergines, salad veg and courgettes. Took a bit of watering in the very hot weather, but we could have eaten veg for breakfats, lunch and supper and still would not have run out!

[Normie]

there've been loads of discussions about pallets on this site, just wish I could remember where   ;D
on them people said where to get them from, we've built ours from pallets, the thick pieces we use for corner posts and the long pieces, obviously, for the frame
maybe someone can remember where the threads are  :)

I posted a request to my local Freecycle group and was inundated with offers of pallets - worth looking up your local group on http://uk.freecycle.org

Also managed to get a free Dalek compost bin and a few other bits and pieces.

[Marymary]

I love my raised beds in my garden.  They are made of old floorboards from when we replaced those in our conservatory.  They are made [by my OH] by banging in corner posts then screwing the boards to them.  I do agree weeds can be a pain when they grow along & under them - such as creeping buttercup but we have put down membrane & gravel on the paths so hopefully less of a problem this year.