[patoncastle]

This post may be obvious but would like to share the success I have had using scaffold boards in creating a raised bed for my carrots. This consists of 2 lots of scaffold boards to create a high raise bed deep enough for the carrots and not sure unless ive been lucky too high for carrot fly to reach them. It took me over 30 wheelbarrel's full of sieved allotment soil to remove all stones but it seems to be worth it. Even the small carrots are perfectly straight 5-6 inches long.

Have i not coverred the carrots so have I been lucky with carrot fly?

[arugula]

Nice job.

A couple of feet above the ground is generally high enough to put carrot fly off.

[Trillium]

Very nice crop. Definitely worth the effort. You'll be the envy of the others 

[compostqueen]

One of my scaffold board raised beds this afternoon 

The sunflowers were raised from seed. The large one is supported, along with a runner bean, by just unfurling a roll of wire, hooked into a cane and weighed down with a few bricks at the base 

There are veg in there too. Carrots and dwarf beans 

[compostqueen]

I filled a third of my new raised bed today with homemade compost. I sowed itwith various autumn veggies and covered it over with some trellis found when we bought the house. It was chucked under the hedge. I painted it up to make a cat/pigeon keeper-offer 

[BobE]

That looks really good.  Ive not got any raised beds because Im not sure if I've enough soil to fill them.  But that picture is very tempting.

[Sweetpea C]

That's a great idea, I have 8 scaffold board beds and some scaffold boards coming (hopefully today) so I will try that next year for the carrots 

[compostqueen]

I fill mine with everything I have to hand. If you make home compost then you've always got a use for it. This is all home compost, mainly from the kitchen. The bulk of it is spent hen muck and bedding which I've had in rubble sacks for a few years but it's still productive, having just reared a crop of garlic.  It's powers will be somewhat diminished now but it will be a good medium for seeds as will the spent compost from all the potato tubs I've just emptied from harvesting the Charlottes.   The soil in the base of the raised bed was in good condition but houses some huge tree roots which I had to chop out.  Normally I'd lay cardboard over the weeds but because of the tree and bramble roots I thought I'd have to do a more thorough job.  I prefer mostly compost in the raised beds as soil on its own gets too hard and compacted, it needs compost and/or sand to lighten it.  I wouldn't attempt brassicas in this light mixture though but it will be fine for the pak choi, lettuces and tatsoi I just sowed in it