[Digger Tom]

 I have had a rethink about my plot. I was gona just devide it up and rotate, but have now decided to devote half of it to raised beds, The other half to be for spuds & sweetcorn rotated of course.

 So whats best to make the raised beds from. I am thinking of scaffold boards but what sort of size do i go for & what do i put in them soilwise.

 All help appreciated.

 

[Y.E.A.H]

So whats best to make the raised beds from ?

wood 

[DavidT]

Scaffold boards are perfect for the job. You don`t want the beds much wider tham 4ft, but you can have them as long or as short as you like. Turn over the soil in the bottom of the bed then top up with top soil and/or compost and/or well rotted manure.

[blackbob]

dont make them too long,ya'll get sick of walking around lol.

[1jim]

I think Ive settled on 8 foot x 4 foot beds......might have a couple of 12foot long ones as well though as the wood Ive seen is 12foot long

[whippersnapper]

I've just finished building a bed using 6x1 timber and 2x2 posts (had this left over from previous job).

I used pressure treated timber (Tanalith E) which having spoken to the timber yard and searched online is believed to be relatively safe.

Enjoy!

[sunshineband]

Gravel boards tend to be the cheapest option if you have to buy wood for raised beds 

[theakston_uk]

Gravel boards tend to be the cheapest option if you have to buy wood for raised beds  

Have a look here at these bad boys that Ice built, very good job indeed. The pic is at the bottom of this page

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=52152.270

Also saw and advert for Wickes today saying 1/3 off decking, it's not as wide as gravel boards so your beds will not be as deep, but it all depends on what you want

[digalotty]

if i were you i would spend a tenner and treat them first, and i dont mean to the pictures

[andtiggertoo]

I used scaffold boards, kept the 13foot length but cut them into thirds for the sides. I don't mind walking up and down them but I only have 4. I treated them with green wood preservative before use. I put little stone paths in between, which I admit are too narrow really but that's the only thing I would change. They are in my garden ( no allotment) and they look really nice from house and up close.

I filled them with contents of my old compost heap and any soil dug up from paths. They do take a lot of filling, 2 years on they are not full up but i prefer not to introduce anything into garden unless really necessary. Not much help immediately but you can throw in your used tomato compost in autumn ( best put in bed you had your spuds in this year as toms are same group for rotation )

[andtiggertoo]

Just noticed you are not putting spuds in them, so I guess the spent tomato compost might be ok in any of them.