Just starting my plot and want to put in raised beds. Any suggestions?? I read about cutting out "bricks" of soil to pile up on the edges, but I'm not to sure how that would work in reality. Any ideas of how to do raised beds as cheaply as possible?
I'm not a fan of spending more than necessary. We use second-hand decking boards for the edge. Very often you can get these free where someone is having their garden re-done, and is getting rid of an old deck. They're not as deep as scaffolding boards, but I've never personally come across scaffolding boards free of charge. You can always use a double depth of decking anyway.
It's good quality wood and rot-treated soit lasts for years.
Do you mean mud brick kind of thing?? Seems to time consuming and unnecassary.
Old pallets knocked apart and re-used works for me.
Theyre readily available, come in all sorts of sizes, by and large theyre free, and its not even worth treating them with preserver - if a piece rots on you, simply replace it!!
Happy raised bed building Yankee :wave:
Our first ones were made from free pallet wood, we treated it and now, 7 years on, we're replacing a bit at a time with scaffolding planks, 4.00 a go. Skips and where neighbours had building supplies delivered were a good start but we did have some help from a friend who worked in a factory where they broke up pallets and burned them. Good luck with it :toothy10:
Bookcases on freecycle works for me. The shelves joining two main frames to make another bed.
When I started my soil was pretty lumpy and in places had been driven over by a tractor. I did some kind of raised beds by simply piling up compacted sods of soil at the edges of beds and adding lots of manure in the middle. To some extent it worked well. The edges dried out and to start with that kept the rest of the soil in. But in the end it broke down and the local hedgehog got digging somehow it liked the raised edge. Everyday there was evidence that it had gone along the rows picking at the soil gradually wearing it down.
Actually the soil which had straw mixed in it lasted the longest. Though actually broke down into the best soil later.
After several years of adding more compost etc to the raised bits they are now still considerably higher than the paths between. Though I put straw/brassica stalks on those to keep the weeds at bay.
I do rather envy the neatness of other peoples wooden structures. But I am sure I would constantly trip over them.
Perhaps my greatest success with mud bricks was to put a wall of them and hide the courgettes behind to protect them from the ravages of the NW wind.
My site had had pigs on it and left behind a lot of mud/straw mix. I used to say that mud brick houses had been invented by pigs. I am not sure I would have made the mixture myself, it came with the plot!
Quote from: Yankee on February 06, 2013, 23:44:01
Just starting my plot and want to put in raised beds. Any suggestions?? I read about cutting out "bricks" of soil to pile up on the edges, but I'm not to sure how that would work in reality. Any ideas of how to do raised beds as cheaply as possible?
If you can dig out some bricks from really heavy subsoil it does work, but you have to 'batter' the edge at 45deg, not vertical.
If you dig out the paths (to fill with woodchip and put the topsoil on the bed - solve 10 issues with one job - see earlier threads) you will find lots of claggy stuff 30cm down.
If you keep old newspapers wet for weeks in 5s - 10s they become papier mache 'slates' that will stop the battered edges washing away. In winter you can leave the stacks as a mulch around trees and bushes until they consolidate properly, but you must wet them thoroughly first to get them to the weight where they won't blow away! Colour mags are even better at making slates though some people don't trust the accepted wisdom that they don't contain nasty inks (they don't).
Of course you could use actual slates or tiles or old hardboard held down with bricks - the more durable they are the better they work - especially if your soil isn't really heavy enough.
I personally prefer to have the long side of the bed made from upright boards (from skips) held up by old gas pipe stakes (hardly rust), and batter the short ends (less sawing to a fixed 4ft size!). The battered ends interfere less with everyone else's barrow movements etc.
I often use square 2L still water bottles filled with tap water to hold the batter - they work really well lined up like resting soldiers.
Sometimes I cut a bigger flap and fill them with stuff I dig up instead of water - awkward stones and old iron mainly but also broken glass - saves lugging it about to find a bin and cutting myself in the process - 100% safe for at least 10 years (just don't actually kneel on them)...
Cheers.
I like the idea of using plastic bottles full of water vinlander. They also warm up during the day and give out warmth at night. Dirity water is even better.
I do not have surrounds ... wooden or otherwise.
My beds are 4 feet wide. The paths between beds are 1 foot wide and are covered in strips of old carpet (I know that some people are against the use of carpet).
I dig my beds ... and once again realise that others may not.
When preparing beds in late winter / early spring I rest a wooden plank against a section of the side of the bed (at an angle) and pat the edges down with the end of a rake. I move round the bed, repeating the process until the whole bed is done. Finally, I firm the angled sides with the end of the rake.
Inevitably, a bit of soil falls off as the season progresses but this is negligible and it does help to camouflage the carpet!
Before the next season I simply tip the soil from the carpet back onto the bed and repeat the whole process.
Thanks everyone, alot of really good ideas :) Im still clearing my jungle but eventually, soon i hope to get some raised beds started.
I'm in the process of building raised beds due to the waterlogging on my plot. I do have a supply of free scaffolding boards - it sounds as though some firms have realised there's a demand, since if it wasn't for gardeners they'd have to pay to tip the old ones - and filling them is hard going.
I have a number of spare scaffolding boards but they are too useful for bench tops in the garden. On my allotment which I took over last April I simply marked out 18 inch paths and 4 foot beds and made the beds somewhat mounded. They are perhaps 4 to six inches high - I haven't measured them. I don't use edging. When I plant them up I hoe up a little ridge along the edge to hold rainfall and watering in. Edges certainly look neat but that is more about garden art than efficiency. I suspect edges make good hidey holes for slugs.
I'm desperately short of decent boards - the recession has meant a lot less skips and a lot less of my favourite lovely 8inch joists in them!
However I've replaced some horrible old twinwall polycarbonate sheets at home so I'm going to re-use them to replace the roof off my shed and draft the old planks into service. Needs must...
The downhill end of my plot has been under 1-10cm of water all winter so more raised beds are essential.
Sorry to repeat myself but 12"/30cm deep woodchip paths are brilliant - and all that lovely topsoil builds the bed up a treat.
Cheers.
People do use edging for the appearance, or because it's fashionable or they've seen it on the box. I don't see the point in breaking your back just for that. I need to raise the level because of serious waterlogging, and it won't work properly without the boards.