[Ruby Red]

Can someone please tell me what the minimum satisfactory depth is for growing veg (not pots) in a raised bed.

[Aunt Sally]

Quite a lot of people on here use raised beds Ruby (not me though).  Someone will be along with info soon  

[richyrich7]

Depends what's underneath Ruby, I've got one with about 9" of multipurp in it sitting on crazy paving and we get lovely salads off it, but it has to go this year  

[paintedlady]

My raised beds were a spade depth of the original soil level and doing this alone brought the soil level up inside the bed frame (incorporated air), to which I added and mixed in compost and manure.  As some of my wood comes from skips, the frame height varies from 3in to 9in .  I think if you just wanted to grow summer crops (lettuce, tomatoes, radish, marrows etc), then the depth isn't that critical as say, trying to grow root veg or plants that take a long time to grow to maturity and the need for space and depth for the roots to obtain water and nutrients over a longer period.

It might also depend on why you want raised beds.  My original plan was to have isolated beds to make it easier to cope with (just looking at a single bed covered in weeds seemed easier to tackle than a whole plot!) but last summer's rains gave my raised bed crops a better advantage over waterlogged plots.

[Ruby Red]

Thanks for your replies. Last year we planted several fruit trees and bought more hens but this year I really wanted to grow some veg but. . . as the hens have the run of the top garden the only place is a patio that we never use. I ts very sunny and as my partner doesnt want to dig it up, then I was going to put a raised bed on it. Thanks to Rich I now know it is possible. The other bit of garden we have is round the house and is cobbled with brick beds so not much joy there as we have flowers in them.  :oops:

[richyrich7]

Go for it Ruby they need quite a bit of water, I thought about adding some of those water retaining granules, but then it rained all last year  :roll:

[Ice]

Do it Ruby.  I had a raised bed for the first time last year and despite the awful weather it was incredibly productive.  I grew loads of salad veg and some great beetroot on it.

[splodger]

yeah - give it a go

there are lots of things that are quite shallow rooted - so don't need much depth

and if it's near the house on the patio - you don't have far to go to get your lettuces  

all the alliums will cope, salad leaves, small round beetroots, radish, peas and dwarf beans, etc etc

if you don't try - you won't know  

[richyrich7]

New pots & early carrots go lovely in them too.