[Beanzie]

Drop kerb system - easy to draw but explain? here goes... you mark out the shape of your bed. you drive your spade down about 8 inches vertically all round the border and chuck it all to the middle so that you have on one side of the trench ( the outside) a vertical drop and the other side of the trench (the inside) on a 45% slope up to the top of the bed which you make level. The trench only has to be a foot wide at the top and a few inches at the bottom. Slugs are defeated by the drop and then the long climb up loose soil. It seems to work, and also there is nowhere for them to hide. Of course not so easy to work as bordered raised beds as you have to stand in the trench to reach over and its harder to get any height to the bed, but anything that defeats slugs is OK by me even if it means more work. Bob Flowerdews idea.

How wide are your beds Jackie?

[jackiestagg]

four and a half feet from edge to edge - I've got short arms - and 16 feet long

[Ice]

Because of recent problems I need raised beds that require less stooping and effort in general.  I have spotted some breezeblocks on my neighbours pathway and wondered if they would be an easy cheap method of building them.  Any thoughts?  Treated wood is incredibly expensive at the moment.

[Annie]

One of our first  raised beds is made of breze blocks and has been going for  5years,the rest of the veg plot gets developed and each year we say we will sort this one out,it has potatoes in this year.Some beds are made using railway sleepers and then because of cost we used some reclaimed gravel boards in 6x12 foot beds.

[Ice]

Was it cheap?  that's the thing.

[Annie]

The breeze blocks were in the garden when we moved in, apparently the previous occupants had fallen out and so separated the house,the breeze blocks were used to block the doors!We keep them just in case.....

[jackiestagg]

I wouldn't use treated wood anyway. The chemicals leach out into the soil - nasty. Always use untreated, I got oak floorboards from the tip, gave the man a tenner for a huge load. Some of my beds are pallet wood, it lasts about 3 years then you have to replace it but its free. Another reason for the drop kerb beds, less work to get them installed, but as I'm using square foot methods in the garden I don't have the space. Wish I did, I'm having a HUGE slug problem this year.