[Ice]

Pallets will most certainly work well for several years.  Beds on soil can be as low or as high as you like.  I dug the soil under mine and then filled my beds half way up with compost, top soil and sharp sand.  You don't need to fill to the top as you will be adding material over the seasons.

[Claireb1]

Great stuff, at least we can get something started then! 

[Yorkie]

Just a word of caution about raised beds - unless they are pretty deep, I think that any perennial / pernicious weeds will in all likelihood simply grow up through the soil and appear on the surface, so you will need to deal with (break up and weed) the ground underneath to some extent before placing the beds on top, particularly if they are only shallow beds.

[Highfield]

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

Oops !! yep 13 feet long  ... d'oh....

[Dantheman]

Hi took on my plot a few weeks back now, i'm looking at have  6 to 8 raised beds 8" high.
The plot has just been cleared after about 10 years of no use,  i was wondering what a safe death would be to dig under the beds? there are a lot of roots from reeds. i was thinking a spades death maybe a little more.

 

[Growster...]

" have what I recently read is referred to as "Lazy beds".  Raised, but nothing to formally retain the soil.  Soil from the paths is heaped onto the beds, with manure / compost / etc.

Beds are 4' wide, paths about 18"
"

With you there Kristen!

We're trying just that on the patch, with about 34 individual beds about 4' x 9', each doing something different.

The plot (half an allotment), still has rows, as often used in the past.

I hoed several this afternoon, and it was a cinch from either side, and took just a few minutes per bed!

[sunshineband]

Hi took on my plot a few weeks back now, i'm looking at have  6 to 8 raised beds 8" high.
The plot has just been cleared after about 10 years of no use,  i was wondering what a safe death would be to dig under the beds? there are a lot of roots from reeds. i was thinking a spades death maybe a little more.

 

I was initially a little worried about the idea of a safe death  but then realised....

... sorry 
 

A spade depth would be fine. There will be some weeds deeper and you will just have to keep at them to win.

[Dantheman]

thanks a lot for the advice 

[MyAchingBack]

I have just decided to have raised beds in my new allotment and I was going to make them 12 – 18 inches high. Is that too much?

[AndyRVTR]

IMO, I would only make them that high if I was growing veg for Show.
Most people on my site, inc. me, use scaffold boards which are just short of 9" wide, plus the depth of the soil that you have below ground level that is normally prepared prior to erecting the raised bed.
That should give you a spade depth (8-10") pus your 9" of board, roughly 18-19" total depth to work with, that is more than sufficient for growing veg.
I have 1 high raised bed made up of 3 scaffold boards on edge that I normally grow my large carrots and parsnips in, but they are not for show, just for personal use. 

[Trillium]

But you must also consider what sort of soil is below the raised beds. I have wood sided raised beds in another section of my garden simply because the soil below is extremely poor, stoney, and edges my septic system. So, mine are not for show veg.

By having mine 12-18" high, there's lots of room for good root growth and I had splendid carrots this year as well - for eating. I also laid lots of cardboard in the bottom of the beds before I filled them and that seems to have taken care of the couch and other nasties I know were growing there.

[AndyRVTR]

Good point Trillium... I guess I'm lucky having deep topsoil to work with.. 

[sunshineband]

You also have to consider how you are going to fill them if they are that deep --- quite a volume of soil required

[Dantheman]

thanks for replies all good points to consider, i've dug down a spade depth and found lots of clay and roots. going to stick cardboard down to help keep the nasties away.  found a few people who are giving away free top soil so all good for a couple of beds.

[sunshineband]

Careful that it is actually topsoil Dan and not stuff dug from further down (sub soil) which has hadly any nutrients or organic matter and would not be suitable at all