Newbie: advice on raised beds

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mike scott

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Newbie: advice on raised beds
« on: May 26, 2009, 21:45 »
Hi All, just joined the forum and new to gardening, I would love some advice on prepping two x 8Ft x 4ft beds, I have used pressure treated 2" thick by 9" high. My question is do I need to dig any further down or can I just fill to the top with top soil/fertiliser. I have put the beds where my shed used to be so at the moment I have chippings down. Any help would be very much appreciated. PS I would like to grow all types of veg.

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Ice

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Re: Newbie: advice on raised beds
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2009, 21:49 »
I would dig down as far as you can and only fill the beds quarter to half way up.  You will be adding material over the seasons and fill it that way.

What type of soil do you have?
Cheese makes everything better.

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Trillium

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Re: Newbie: advice on raised beds
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2009, 21:51 »
It would be better health for the plants if the soil was a bit deeper. Either dig down another 3", clear and loosen, or raise the bed another 4" or so. Depends on what soil you've got under the beds. Some of us have wretched clay, others have great soil and simply like the orderly look of raised beds. That should be your determining factor. The chippings can get dug into the soil and they'll eventually decompose, but as the soil has been stagnant for some time with the shed on it, you'll need to add lots of nutrients like manure, compost, bonemeal, etc to bring it back to life.

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blackbob

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Re: Newbie: advice on raised beds
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2009, 21:55 »
Hi All, just joined the forum and new to gardening, I would love some advice on prepping two x 8Ft x 4ft beds, I have used pressure treated 2" thick by 9" high. My question is do I need to dig any further down or can I just fill to the top with top soil/fertiliser. I have put the beds where my shed used to be so at the moment I have chippings down. Any help would be very much appreciated. PS I would like to grow all types of veg.

break the bottom 6 inches up, and incorporate some grit along with manure.then fill to the  top with the best you can afford.
the bed depth will settle during the season.

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mike scott

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Re: Newbie: advice on raised beds
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2009, 22:04 »
many thanks for the replies, I have clay like soil but was gettinf some good topsoil brought in, and will add a good fertiliser and bone meal. I will now dig down and get rid of the chippings. many many thanks again.

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Ice

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Re: Newbie: advice on raised beds
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2009, 22:06 »
For clay soil I would throw in a few bags of sharp sand as well.



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