Raised beds

Evening all

i have several planters that i made earlier, they are approx 1ft wide x 4ft long but they are only arount 13inch deep
and they are on top of a patio so no soil under them.

What would be best to grow in them ? being only 13 inch deep, im making some more sunday which i can do at 20 inch but dont want to waste the lower ones

thanks all

thanks for the reply, the drainage is pretty good to be fair, the patio has a very slight run off to the back of the garden, you cant really notice it but the water runs off very well

i will try what you have said, would it be to late to plant any of them, i have them but only in seeds at the moment

mat

.........Would not suggest any plants that need support, like beans in there.
The support stakes will have trouble holding the crop, raised bed soil tends not to remain compacted and the soil will be too loose to hold up the stakes. But still I have seen many manage it.
............

You could put vine eyes or screw pieces of tube to the sides of the bed then insert canes into them to provide vertical support. Or attach some lengths of roof batten to the sides vertically and put wires between.

Good idea about the planter on a planter to make a deeper bit.  I would place this on an edge though and attach it to the base planter where you can.  A wigwam of runner beans puts up quite a wind break effect and the whole lot could go over if it is free standing.

I think your children will really enjoy growing things in these planters, so as long as they are having fun trying things, let them go for it.   Strawberries and tumbler tomatoes planted at the edges to trail over are real kid pleasers   

As well as all the ideas above, Mat, if you can get hold of an old (or new) bucket cheaply, drill a few holes in it, and stand it up a bit higher, you'll get the best carrots ever, and they'll be clean and free from carrot fly!

We're growing all our carrots this way this year, in four six-week sowings!

(The B and Q in Nursling may well have cheapo plastic buckets - I worked on that building all those years ago..;0)

Quote from: Growster... on May 01, 2016, 07:24

As well as all the ideas above, Mat, if you can get hold of an old (or new) bucket cheaply, drill a few holes in it, and stand it up a bit higher, you'll get the best carrots ever, and they'll be clean and free from carrot fly!

We're growing all our carrots this way this year, in four six-week sowings!

(The B and Q in Nursling may well have cheapo plastic buckets - I worked on that building all those years ago..;0)

thanks for the advice, im going to b&q tomoz and i know they sell builders buckets for 99p.

whith the carrot seed, do i still plant one in each hole or scatter them and thin out if needed?

I'd just scatter some seed thinly on pre-wetted compost. A good measure is to do this a tiny/little at a time, and then when you think you might want to scatter a few more, don't!

Just cover the seeds with a light quarter-inch layer of dry bog-standard compost, and leave them be!

You'll need to have somewhere high up to keep the buckets - say five ft off the ground, and hopefully in water trays. The height is important as it is to ensure that the carrot flies don't get near them, and you don't need to net them. Other than that, just don't let them dry out! You can get decent carrots to last the season this way, depending on how many you want, that is!

Like any other growing method, this certainly isn't 100% fool-proof, but it is easy to do, especially if you have limited space. Any carrots you have left at the end of the year can be lifted out, and just placed back in another bucket with some old compost around them, not too dry this time. They'll last for ages! We had some left up to a month ago!