Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: -Cat- on March 06, 2008, 15:52
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sorry more help needed. Iwas looking at getting some of those linkabord raised beds, but have worked out it will cost me over £200 for the number I need. Seeing as this is my first attempt at veg gardening I think it better to not spend as much to start with and perhaps construct my own wooden ones to use for the first couple of years then if all goes well replace them with linkabords as making my own should be cheaper.
Iwas thinking about getting some fencing gravel boards and using them as you can get packs of 6 boards very cheaply from wicks (used them to make my chicken run) Do you think they will be okay or are they to thin?
Any other suggestions on cheap spart ways of making raised beds. This is going in my front garden so it needs to still look attractive.
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i used treated fence boards and 3x3 for mine, total cost was about £30
(http://www.andrewmogg.co.uk/pics/beds2.jpg)
(http://www.andrewmogg.co.uk/pics/beds1.jpg)
(http://www.andrewmogg.co.uk/pics/beds3.jpg)
i plan to replace them eventually with thicker and higher ones but they were over budget at the moment.
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I used gravel boards on mine and they were great!! :)
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moggy that looks perfect, just how Iwas thinking of putting mine together. I have loads of off cuts of 2x2 in the garage
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If you are lucky you maybe able to aquire some scaffold boards from your local builders yard for free or for a small price , these make an ideal raised bed, however as with all timber they will eventually rot. When i took my plot on it was full of raised beds that were well and truely rotting, i took all of them out and will eventually put some smaller (4'x4') beds at the top of the plot for salad stuff. I have noticed that other plot holders on the site have used 2x3 paving slabs on their sides buried in the ground to create a bed.
:) :)
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Cat did you look at the Allotment shop link above ? John has one or two deals going for us Raised beds (http://www.allotment-garden.org/greenhouse/Offers/) might be worth a look :D
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those gravel boards I got from Wicks were dodo and snapped like twigs :(
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those gravel boards I got from Wicks were dodo and snapped like twigs :(
concrete or wooden ? extra supports along the sides would help.
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Is there a building site nearby to you Cat?
It might be worth popping round, and sweet talkin the site manager, to see if he's got any spare pallets. (Particularly the longer one's they use for plasterboards.) they don't really mind getting rid of spare bits of wood. They have to pay loadsamoney for the skips they keep throwin it in!!
Try to make sure its not thinner than 1". and peg at each corner, and screw the boards together. I know it rots eventually, but you should get many years use out of it before then :tongue2:
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wooden :( I put a piece of timber in each corner and one half way along the length on each side. The timber was like aero :roll:
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We have 7 gravel board beds,OH used cut down routed timber posts to make the corners and join lengths and it has worked well.We used panel effect concrete gravel boards and although it was not that cheap we reckoned that it would only need doing once.
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wooden :( I put a piece of timber in each corner and one half way along the length on each side. The timber was like aero :roll:
:( problem with a lot of stuff these days
We used reclaimed decking boards from the local salvage yard
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There was an ad in my local paper offering old planks cheap. After a quick phone call i found it was a scaffolding firm just near me. They were/are selling there old planks off. 8ft - 14ft and only a couple of quid apiece. There good and thick, very heavy duty and will last a good while. They also replace them every few months so always have loads. They also have to replace them so it's a constant source. Worth the cash, check the local adds for scaffolders and give them a ring, there must be millions around.
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hi Annie i am new to this site but have stumbled across this thread....would you have pics of your concrete gravel board raised beds...thanx
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Welcome to the forums az. Don't hold your beath on this one - you've resurrected a thread that's over 2 years old & annie has not logged in for over 2 months. Perhaps there's others that can help - personally I don't do raised beds.
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thanx :) i think i might start a new thread
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Heres mine i built on fathers day, i used decking board from wickes, with fence posts in the corners. Its lined with old compost bags too.
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:) looking good , what are you going to grow in it ?
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Its my first attempt at growing veg, so far i have sowed runner beans, broad beans, lettuce, radish, carrots, spring onion, corriander and planted two bought chilli plants.
i have sweetcorn in pots in the grow house coming through but i have a feeling im too late for them to do any good.
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Great nice mix , not sure about the sweetcorn either, but you may get lucky with them