Topic: No allotment. Raised bed.

[fishamble]

Hi. I live in Ireland and as such do not have an allotment and cannot get one.
I do have a cobbled back yard but it only really gets direct sunlight around midday as it is surrounded by a high fence. I was thinking of building a table consisting of a 6*4 ft plywood sheet about 2 feet off the ground.
The table would have a depth of roughly 2 to 3 feet of soil.
What do you think of this idea?
Would drainage be a problem?
Could i grow much in such a confined space?
I cannot remove the cobbles and have no other real option.
I am a complete novice to this so any opinions are appreciated

[springbok]

Hi there,
Try Square foot gardening... just google the term.  Great way to grow in confined spaces.
Advice I have been given here is the above, plus you can grow in large pots and buckets.

[Lauren S]

Hi Fishamble and welcome to A4A.
I don't see why your high rise raised beds would be a problem. It sounds like the idea Geoff Hamilton built in his cottage garden. He built what he called a table top raised bed. As long as you have drainage holes in the base and a good depth of soil or compost you will be amazed at what you can grow in a small space.
Oh I just googled and found this for you. I hope it's of some use.
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/RG111.pdf

On this second link, click through the pictures and you will also see more table top raised beds, plus it's also the link to square foot gardening.
Good luck and don't forget we'd like to see your pics when you have finished. (We are very nosey)  ;D
Lauren  :)

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

[Baccy Man]

Another possibility to consider would be straw bale gardening.

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/straw-bale-gardening.html
http://www.carolinacountry.com/cgardens/thismonth/march06guide/straw.html
http://www.beginner-gardening.com/straw-bale-gardening.html

[fishamble]

Thanks for the great replies.
The square foot garden method on a raised table bed is definitely the option i would go for. My dog would have great fun trying to tear up a bale of hay. :)
The only problem i have now is a lack of direct sunlight. My house almost completely shades my small yard and i think my garden may only receive about two hours direct sunlight a day. I will have to wait for my next day off to work out exactly how much. I have read elsewhere that plants need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight a day. On the other hand i know nature is resilient and plants will still grow if only given a few hours of our temperamental Irish sun.

Do you think i can make it work?

[Jeannine]

We are doing a mini project in out tiny gardens this year, we have the lotties but this is an experiment for a project next year.We are all paved but for two tiny borders and we don'[t get a lot of sun in the front one, but I do have trees in huge pots, we have had cherries , peaches , pears and blueberries from them. The lack of light in the front made the  5 blueberries that were there about 2 weeks later than the 5 in the back. We also grew runner beans in the front in a huge pot with an obelisk in it, they were behind the lottie ones but they did quite well.

I would go for it, try to give toms and peppers the sunniest bit ,pick your varieties carefully and you can use big pots for them.

I would use the raised bed for other things.

This year will be a real test, so I will be interested to see how you get on.

By the way, I grow salad greens all year round in a small greenhouse and they do very well even without the good light that winter robs us of.

Good Luck

XX Jeannine

[manicscousers]

hiya, fishamble, welcome to the site, don't see why you can't grow some good crops, some veggies, like lettuce, quite like some shade  :)