[fred-quimby]

Just spent the morning down the plot.  Yet again it is under water.  I am relatively new to this lark and I have had most of the plot covered after rotavating about 5 inches of horse muck.  Was going to turn the plot and let the elements at it over winter but every time I put the spade in the hole fills with water.  The plot did dry out a little in August but now it is back again.

I have seen on here that perhaps the only way around it is to go for raised beds.  Going on the size of 3.6m x 1.2m x 0.15m I will need a minimum of 6 raised beds.  That is £100 for the wood and £180 for the compost to fill them.  That is a no brainer no way can I afford that.

Anyone got any suggestions before I throw in the towel??  Please 

[surbie100]

I've gone for freecycle for wood or bricks for the bed edges, digging the paths around beds slightly lower and filling up with free woodchip from local tree surgeons and using the soil from the paths to raise the bed height...plus as much manure as I can find. And I'm digging a narrow trench along the slope to see if I can drain off some of the water.

Good luck - don't give up just yet...

[allotmentann]

And you can fill the bed with card board, grass clippings, leaves, vegetable scraps, green  stuff off the plot etc (that is only what fans of 'lasagne' beds do anyway) and just top with a little compost. As Surbie said bricks are great for raised beds (they don't rot either - well not for years!) and it is quite easy to get hold of free ones

[carlrmj]

  I made my raised beds from used scaffolding boards.

 They were 3 pounds a board (2011) 3.9m long
 
 If you do 2.7m (8ft) x 1.2m(4ft), 2 boards will make one bed  6 pounds

 The cost for 6 beds is then 36 pound.
 
 The price may be different by you but you could haggle,scaffolding firms are always getting rid of old boards which are no longer safe to use.
 As for filling ,compost on its own would be to expensive ,or as said before ,people getting rid of topsoil .

Cheers Carl

[grinling]

Is it not possible to put drainage in? Are the other plots in a similar way?

[TerryB]

Mark out the beds, dig out soil from the paths and put this on the beds, then put wood chip onto paths.
This will raise the beds and aid drainage.
You can usually get wood chip from local tree surgeons.

[fred-quimby]

Lots of good ideas here.  Many, many thanks.  I was feeling really down yesterday.

[NorthEast Old Newbie]

Hi Fred

One thing I have learnt is it is best to get the "word" out anyway you can, and keep on asking. Something always seems to turn up. Did you manage to pick up the old scaffolding boards?  I asked around for weeks and visited scaffold suppliers and left my name and eventually I ended up with a load of boards. Some for free, some for a couple of quid. Hardest thing was transport but it got sorted eventually

Right through the winter I got my hands on a load of horse manure so that brought in and was stored. I also looked around for free/cheap soil, not rubbish but good top soil.  That was the hardest and as yet I have none and time is fast approaching to build 3 long beds. I have just missed out, when a house at the end of my street got an extension built. By the time I noticed the bit top soil was in the hopper with loads of builders rubble grrrr

So good luck to you and good luck to me.

Hope we get it all stored away in time to get them built and planted

[Annen]

You don't need edging for raised beds, the edges just make the plot a bit neater and easier to spot the weeds, you can just do as has been said, dig out paths and pile the soil on a marked out bed.  I think also the theory is that you can grow things on the sunny side of the sloping edges as well as in the beds themselves.(presumably things that don't mind getting wet! )

[compostqueen]

Yes that's true. No wood needed you just heap the soil/compost up into a long, flat topped heap (imagine you've just dug a grave  )  I've got a couple of them and they work fine. You can always edge them with something as you get it

Bricks, breeze blocks, etc, it doesn't have to be wood

I have some Link-a-Bord beds which have been given to me on various birthdays etc and I love them as they need no painting (ever) and are maintenance free. I collected mine to save postage, as the place is near me.  (see Armillatox, Morton, Derbyshire)  I can put them together myself too with just a bit of wood and a hammer 

My husband and I worked it out buying the wood, nails, etc treatment and they worked out roughly the same

[Mrs Bee]

OH made our raised beds from free wooden pallets.

He made some really nice planters for strawberries too.

We got them from a tile warehouse.
We asked the manager and he was delighted for us to take them as he had to pay to get rid of them.

[fred-quimby]

Many thanks everyone.  Like the idea of digging "graves"