[rowlandwells]

 i always said i wouldn't build a raised bed but her indoors said she wanted a raised bed down the Lottie i said who wears the trousers in our house so needless to say raised bed it is

as this is a new venture on my part because and i like to think ime a traditional gardener by hart i need to ask the following how deep would one need when the raised bed its just the depth that ime unsure of  

once the raised bed is built it will be for the governor to use  i am definitely keeping well away on my  plot i know raised beds have become more popular but to me they are a complete waste of good ground wood nails and effort but that's my opinion  

[Ice]

The best things about raised beds are that you do not walk on them and you therefore do not have so much heavy digging to do,  Also, you can plant closer together if you choose varieties that do not sprawl.  I would not be without mine as I have back problems and they have made life much easier.

I assume that your bed will be on the lottie soil so needn't be any great  depth to start with.  It will fill up over time as you add compost etc.

[Kleftiwallah]

I'm an advocate of raised beds made from paving slabs (or flags) on edge and held in place around the top by a welded angle iron collar.  Yesterday I heard of another, (possibly better) material, look at freecycle for anyone dismantling the old concrete pannelled garage.  The panels are 6 foot by 18 inches, just the right size.

Cheers,    Tony.

[rowlandwells]

thanks for your replies i note what your saying Ice regarding you back problem and that really makes sense to use a raised bed i suppose i have an advantage with tilling the ground by the equipment i have at hand to make things easier

i could be just me that ime not a raised bed fan neither do i like grass paths on the Allotment but i will take your advise regarding the depth needed from the start i thought about filling the bed with horse manure with a bed of compost 

sounds like you are well into raised beds Kleftwiallah so ime not saying anymore good luck with your iron collar

[sunshineband]

Our raised beds are only six inches high and they are edged with decking boards.

At 1.2m by 2.4m they are just the right size to be abl to reach the middle without walking on the bed and not too long to walk around either

[Trillium]

I made mine deeper simply because I have such terrible soil, they edge the septic weeping bed, and I too have back problems. Mine are about 12" deep, some a bit more, some a bit less. All depends on what I intend to plant in them. I did have grass paths between but it meant I had to drag out the  gas mower rather than be able to get the lawn tractor through there so I've now sprayed the paths with glyphosate and will put down a thick bark mulch. Anything that reduces the work 

[allotmentann]

I just wonder before you go ahead and build the raised bed, has your OH tried working on one? I know lots of people say they are great if you have a bad back, I don't have a bad back. I can work all day on my plot with no raised beds and never an ache whatever I do. When I work on someone else's plot with raised beds I get dreadful back ache. I very much suspect that whether you find them better for your back or not depends on height of person to depth of raised bed ratio. 

[Trillium]

I've built a specific sized bench chair just for this job. My bed, sided in 2x6's, is high enough to sit on but uncomfortable.

[rowlandwells]

the more i read about raised beds the better it gets i had quite a lot of decking given me and  the wooden planks are all good i thought they would be ideal for the construction :happy:

will have to be a bit careful building the raised bed as it will sit on a slight slope but its going to be interesting to see how things grow in comparison to the traditional way that's down to my OH but i have to say she has better green fingers than me [creep] 

ime the same as you allotmentann i can work several hours without a bad back it only catches me if ime bending for long periods say planting out i usually put my knee pads on and Neel on a board to set my onion sets and brassicas 

as most of my seeding is done on the greenhouse bench then transplanted on the Lottie 

[Trillium]

My raised beds are all on a slope and I highly recommend that you take a bit of time to set the bottom layer of boards level. It takes only a bit of digging the outline then moving that bit of soil to the lower end that'll need a bit of raising. This will keep the soil within level and not prone to 'flushing out' in heavy rain if you leave it sloped.

[rowlandwells]

 thanks Trillium  your advise is much appreciated RW

[Sideshoot]

Earlier on in the year i had problems with the comittee on our site, and me being new didnt realise the 50% cultivation ruling in place, it all got very messy but to cut a long story short during this time i took a great deal of interest in other plots to compare to my own.

What i found was that alot of plots were being converted to using raised beds, i have a live and let live view at the site, but with the comittee going on about cultivation it did get my back up seeing a plot full of raised beds, with at least 40% being covered by slabs for paths, add on to that the odd shed etc and you have a plot that is 50% non cultivated from the start.

It just seemed strange that if you choose the traditional route our comittee takes the 50% ruling serious but if you cover your plot with slabbing it gets ignored.

[Ice]

Sideshoot, a properly planned raised bed plot will produce the same as a traditional plot as you can grow more per square metre, which makes up for the extra pathways.  But, that really does mean properly organised, not pathways plonked everywhere.

[mumofstig]

It may produce the same amount of crops, if well managed - but it still think it means a lot of the plot is uncultivated

We've had a few people, who didn't have the time to cultivate even their half plots, reduce the available growing area even further by putting in lots of narrow beds with very wide paths.

When they decide that even that's too much the new tenants have to sort it all out 

[Ice]

We've had a few people, who didn't have the time to cultivate even their half plots, reduce the available growing area even further by putting in lots of narrow beds with very wide paths.

Well that is just extracting the urine and ought to be clamped down on.