[lottienewbie]

we have a half plot that we have put raised beds on and would not have it any other way,other peeps just look on in envy at our plot,but it does make it low maintenence, and easier to weed too.


hope this helps


regards neil

[Tinbasher]

I've been busy as you like over winter and spring creating raised beds all over the plot.  What I've used is 2nd-hand, unwanted, scrap....... concrete panels, the type used between concrete posts for typical fencing, sometimes used just as a base panel or two and topped with waney-lap wooden fence panels.  You must know the type I mean.  Standard 6 feet long, 12 inches deep.

Admittedly it is much harder work than using planks or boards, but once done.......

I have a mate who has a fencing company and who is prepared to put aside concrete panels (and posts) that would otherwise go into a skip.  Most of them are chipped, maybe even a slight crack in them or are discoloured with age.  They have either been renewed by customers of his, or torn down entirely and replaced with something different.  There's always loads of them about if you look hard enough.  Enquire at fencing companies.  They're happy to get rid and save on mountainous skip costs.

So obviously you need a van to transport them, enough muscles to lift them and carry them onto site and serious hole digging equipment.  I've been  cutting the posts (petrol Stihl saw) into 4 foot lengths.  I got enough posts early as many 6 and 8 foot posts are reclaimable if you only need 4 foot lengths - you just cut off bad ends and can always usually get a good 4 foot out of the longer lengths.

I haven't concreted the posts in - hold on a minute, there's enough work with them as it is - but have dug them all in 2 feet deep, leaving 2 feet protruding above ground.  You can then slide in 2 panels, giving a genorous 2 foot raised depth.  Probably this is overkill and 1 foot raised would be enough.  You can always just slide in 1 panel to start and put a 2nd panel in as and when you come by them.  Once the panels were in place I packed some excavated pure clay against the outers to help retain them, not that any have really moved much anyway.

Hard work, but once done, it's done for ever - they won't rot like wooden panels eventually will.

[Trillium]

I also do raised beds due to clay soil and shallow depth. But I do most of mine as mounds each year. this way I can take the rotovator to the lot and then reform the beds to the width, size and shape I want each year. All the path soil gets tossed onto the mounds and the mounds flattened a bit to hold water. It's a bit of work each spring shaping the beds but a lot cheaper than wood sides if money is an issue.

[Bombers]

Agree with above. I had to have raised beds in certain areas.

I took this picture this afternoon. The rain had cleared 24 hours earlier, yet the grown (Next door) is still waterlogged. The beds don't suit all crops (Potato/Sprout/Broccoli etc.) but I like to have a combination of open ground/'layzee' beds, and raised beds. Werks for me! 

[Harry Flashman VC]

I put raised beds in my plot as 2 inches and the ground is solid clay luckly enough a mate had an extension built late last year and got rid of all his decking.  Also a cousin got rid of all his from his backs a few months back so managed to aquire that also.

 

[Highfield]

Think I put this somewhere else but we bought old scaffolding boards from Deborah Services Ltd - branches all round the country - £2.50 per 13" board delivered ... but we did buy quite a few so they threw delivery in. Just google for their website

Hope this helps

[Trillium]

2.50 for 13" ? That sounds pricey, unless you meant 13 ft.

[sunshineband]

Glad to hear from someone who has managed raised beds for so long, MIcky 

Ours were only put in this spring and are very productive. benefits to us (in as school) are that;

- children don't tread on the veg
- it is easy to organise weeding and planting
- close cropping makes them very productive
- soil warms up quickly in spring
- netting crops is a cinch

Having said that, if I had a whole lottie I would go mainly for lazy beds because they have similar advantages but you don't have to pay out to make them 

[Dirty Fingers]

Hi all - A newbie here and found your comments very useful and interesting.

I have just made one on my plot from scaffolding boards obtained from a local company (using 2 x 3.9m boards and a 2.5m cut in half for the ends).

I notice some reference to using raised beds for 'smaller plants' but can anyone say which vegetables benefit particularly from being in a raised bed. (The time has come to 'fill this beast!') 

[SalB]

We've put raised beds on my brothers plot as a lot of the soil is terrible and no amount
 of back breaking digging has turned it over

We've got 3 smaller ones and 3 larger ones and they seem to be doing OK at the moment.

Did have to spend an awful amount of money on compost as the soil on his plot really is not good at all

[mark.carline]

.....can anyone say which vegetables benefit particularly from being in a raised bed. (The time has come to 'fill this beast!') 

I am not 100% sure which vegs like raised beds but the approach I am taking is to use raised beds across my whole plot because as you rotate your veg they'll all get mixed anyway.

The question i would ask is - what veg DONT like to be in raised beds - Are there any ??

[Ice]

In mine at the moment, and doing very well are:-

carrots
peas
cabbages of various types that produce tapered heads
garlic
onions
beetroot
chinese cabbage
mangetout
various lettuce
herbs, lots of them

I don't bother to grow things that take a lot of room like potatoes but I pop in a few earlies. 

[Dirty Fingers]

Thanks for that...a good selection of plants by the look of it - I have found that allocating a portion of the bed to being a 'seed bed' seems to be a good idea so far - much more manageable and less stress on the knee joints! 

[Ice]

I'll repeat my mantra

In a raised bed system you plant much closer together and use an equidistant spacing.

[Claireb1]

Newbie here! my hubby fancies raised beds when we get our plot next week....how high/deep should they be?
He is getting pallets from work and hoping to use these, will this work?