[Jeanieblue]

How deep should I make my raised beds?  I've already made one frame, about 6" deep - using wood from dismantled pallets - silly, cos some folk make money fixing them and selling them on - but  it means my frames will be freebies!  Thanks fo your help, and may all your weeds be little ones!  Jean

[Digger Parsnip]

i dug mine 6' deep and put a hard core base in compacted down with 100mm of sharp sand

[muntjac]

was that a path you was putting in parsnip mate .   raised beds are just soil and manure in a box  just like jacking up ya plot basically .u lsot me why u need to do tha hardcore stuff?

[Trillium]

i dug mine 6' deep and put a hard core base in compacted down with 100mm of sharp sand

I wondered that too, Munty. And 6 foot deep! Where were you going? China?    

[ziggywigs]

Where you trying to improve the drainage with the sand and hardcore?

I just dug as far down as i could and then filled up the top with cattle manure and just add as much manure/compost as i can get every year, depending on what's going in the beds.  I made sure i had a couple of spits of good ground...that's how i gauged mine.

[Digger Parsnip]

Blimey, i think im getting a bit muddled here!?
maybe it was 6 yards then!

[Jeanieblue]

Well thanks for that discussion, guys. Perhaps I should have asked how HIGH to make those raised beds !!!  The council and local neighbours might get a TAD worried if I start digging six feet deep holes on the plot !!! Jean

[skywalker]

I am thinking of building a raised bed for my carrots filled with conpost off the heap. I want to put it over ground I cant really cultivate due to tree roots. Do I need to prepare a solid base as Ive heard that the roots can grow up into the raised bed if you dont?

[WG.]

I am thinking of building a raised bed for my carrots filled with conpost off the heap. I want to put it over ground I cant really cultivate due to tree roots. Do I need to prepare a solid base as Ive heard that the roots can grow up into the raised bed if you dont?

What type of tree please?

[Ice]

Six yards parsnip!!!   :shock:

[Jeanieblue]

That's AFTER the tequilas !!!!   Not only are they huge, but there's twice as many as you planted !!!!

[skywalker]

Not sure will check when I am down there. :oops:  :oops:  :oops:  :oops:

[ziggywigs]

Hopefully this will help.....

Deep beds (or raised beds) are a  series of areas about 5m x 0.9m (15ft x 3ft) used to grow fruit, vegetables and flowers, which are cultivated initially by double digging (i.e. 2 spades depth - hard work in a clay soil), incorporating organic matter into the bottom layer. Deep Beds are separated by narrow paths.  

Over a period of time the soil becomes much more user-friendly, friable, well drained and easy to work with and to plant into.

If you have clay soil this can be improved over the years using Calcified Seaweed or strawy manure  making it into a better type of loam (i.e. proper soil).

NEVER, EVER  walk on the beds - that's what the paths are for! This would compact the soil, destroying what you have worked hard to produce.

As crops are harvested, the areas are dug over to aerate the soil and break it up, and weeds are removed. Compost and well rotted manure is lightly dug into the 30cm (1 ft) of each bed.  Every few years it is necessary to dig a spade deep, and put compost or manure in the bottom of each strip as you dig, to help maintain the texture of the soil in the bed.

There will be variations on this but it's the basic principle and how i do it...luckily i've got nice loam now but when i lived in Lincs had lovely clay you could throw pots with!  

[Trillium]

Personally, I have never had a tree root that didn't go where it darned well wanted to no matter what I did to it, so I simply adapted to the huge underground monsters of acer roots by building up any beds as high as I could (sometimes 2 ft (60cm) or more) for main crops, otherwise, heaping the soil higher and planting shallow rooted crops like garlic, peas, etc. Conifers tend to have shaggy feeder roots everywhere and a bit of judicious in ground pruning helps.
As for double digging, try to find any Geoff Hamilton books or telly videos where he double digs, then breaks up the hardpan layer loosely with a garden fork to aid drainage before filling in with the enriched layers. It really does make a difference and far more efficient than laying in hardpack stuff, which rather defeats the purpose, don't you think?   :?

[WG.]

heaping the soil higher and planting shallow rooted crops like garlic, peas, etc.

Garlic roots to 12 inches or more Trillium.