how to make a raised bed??

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how to make a raised bed??
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lettucewoman

Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 7834
Location: Tiptoe in the Forest!!

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 3:23 pm Post subject: how to make a raised bed??
hi folks, Has there been an article or a question about how to make a raised bed? We are just about to have a go but have no real idea what to do - whether one digs into the soil below the raised bit just grow stuff in the top bit...what? Any advice gratefully recieved!!

toggle

Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 11622
Location: truro

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 3:28 pm Post subject:

1. develop a complete inability to walk past a skip without looking in it. Unless you want a manicured look, other people's house renovations and loft conversions are a great source of wood to make beds.

2. completely ignore the snooty mums who wear makeup to drop the kids off at school and scrounge parts of several broken fence panels and an old bookcase out of the skip at the school. move on to scrounging old carpets for ground cover and then get the school caretaker help you half empty the skip into the car you have taken in after hours.

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 3:29 pm Post subject:

There are a number of ways but we used a permaculture method which basically meant you left the grass in place (you could turn it over but we did one and couldn't be bothered with the rest ! ) - then cover it with cardboard, then loads of well rotted manure and finish it off with top soil - then top it up each year with compost and more manure where it needs it - seems to work well enough - we've now got very dark soil in our beds and things are growing pretty well

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 3:32 pm Post subject:
I can post some stuff on the double digging method later, unless a quick google search finds anything...

lettucewoman

Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 7834
Location: Tiptoe in the Forest!!

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 6:05 pm Post subject:

how deep should the beds be? we have some lovely thick bits of wood which were part of that consignment that got washed up on the beaches(most missed us but we found a couple!) - they are about 10 inches wide and having been cut in half about 12 feet long...so thats how deep and long the bed would be.If thts not deep enough, should we use them as a base for the sides and build the sides up with panels etc??

Thanks folks you are brill BTW

Azura Skye

Joined: 14 Jun 2005
Posts: 2199
Location: Carmarthenshire

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 6:16 pm Post subject:

I found this article useful:
Kitchen Garden

I made mine out of old pallets. 4 ft by 4ft, and I made some 10ft by 4ft. They are about 30 cm deep.
They don't need to be too deep - but it's up to you. As long as you don't tread on the soil which compacts it then you've pretty much made a raised bed!
You can use wood, upturned glass bottles, slabs, windscreens! anything that keeps the soil in one place.
I'd say at least 15 cm deep, but you could build up to 4 foot and just lean over to garden.
again - up to you!

2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 6:31 pm Post subject:
I built the frames, put them on the ground and then filled them up. Mine are about 30cm deep I'd guess

lettucewoman

Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 7834
Location: Tiptoe in the Forest!!

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 7:25 pm Post subject:
OOh thanks folks - that is just under 12 inches isnt it? Ok our planks are not quite that wide so maybe we will build the frame and add some wood ...thanks for the link!! the bed will be about 12 feet long by 4/5 feet wide I guess...something like that. Can't wait to make it now...

holmecrofter

Joined: 30 Mar 2008
Posts: 5
Location: Wrexham

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 7:34 pm Post subject:
Hi We used scaffolding planks and 2ft posts. Marked out to 10 or 12 feet by 4ft posts banged in at the corners. We then dug the lawn up in the rectangle made. Screwed the boards to the posts and imported some organic soil and compost to top it all up. That was 2 years ago and we haven't looked back since. Hardly need to touch them with a spade. Good luck

Bebo

Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 12590
Location: East Sussex

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 8:07 pm Post subject:

lettucewoman wrote:

4/5 feet wide I guess...

Don't make them too wide as you want to be able to reach the middle from the path (having to stand in the bed rather defeats the object of the exercise). On our old allotment we went for 4ft 6in and (being a shortarse) it was a bit of a stretch hand weeding in the middle.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 8:11 pm Post subject:
We based ours loosely on a thread on here which I can't find, (but if I do, I will make in to an article). There were lots of pictures, added as the beds progressed. It was outside a white cottage and I think it was posted by a woman, but I can't think who. Anyone else remember it?

Rosemary Judy

Joined: 08 Aug 2005
Posts: 1215
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 8:16 pm Post subject:

Just finished putting mine in.......

put cardboard down over the lawn, put a mix of top soil and compost on top of that.
Will sow some shallow rooted roots - beetroot and turnips, and lots of courgettes and squashes this year, and then should be able to grow anything next year.

Mr RJ has spent weeks measuring, cutting, screwing and generally having fun making the beds.....

he has even painted the outside so they look lovely.
These are in the back garden, so need to be lovely.

The ones at the lottie are plain wood.

We put a 10" stake every 4' along the outside, to stop the wood bowing outwards....and in the corners......

lettucewoman

Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 7834
Location: Tiptoe in the Forest!!

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 8:54 pm Post subject:
wanna go an' start NOW...poo it's dark

Rosemary Judy

Joined: 08 Aug 2005
Posts: 1215
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 9:02 pm Post subject:
and very very cold !

happytechie

Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 408
Location: Surrey (at the mo.)

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 08 9:09 pm Post subject:

we've made ours using 6 inch boards and digging down underneath. I double dig the grass and heap compost and farmyard manure over the top.

To double dig I take two rows of turf off and stack it up out of the way, dig the first trench (and stick the soil out of the way). lay a row of turf upside down in the trench

Then you dig the next row and use the dug soil to fill the trench on top of the turf. And now you have a trench to put the turf from the next row in and so it continues. When you get to the last row you'll stack the turf from the first row in it and fill it with the soil from the first trench.

Now you can retire to a comfy chair with a brew and a smoke and sit down and admire your work and let your back recover!

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