[mebnandtrn]

does anyone know of a really cheap way to make raised beds please?

[william_wt]

If you're happy with small ones, get a few large used tractor tyres from a tyre shop and put them on their side. You can cut away some rubber to enlarge the hole.
William

[doganjo]

does anyone know of a really cheap way to make raised beds please?

Pallets, they're free mostly

[Fleecewife]

Do you have to have raised beds?  before the current craze with the things, veg were grown in the ground.  I can see the point on heavy clay and waterlogged soil, but for most situations, ground level is fine.   Or, you can make beds as Bob Flowerdew did.  He measured out the area for his beds and paths, then dug the good soil from the paths onto the beds, added a load of compost or manure each year and the beds became deeper from year to year.  He also used the channels between beds as an irrigation system.   It's certainly cheaper than buying in sleepers or other timbers, which bring their own problems such as weeds and slugs.

[mebnandtrn]

raised beds for us are pretty essential, heavy heavy clay that just gets solid if we walk on it at all. The plan is shallow raised beds just to keep us off the soil and the soil in better condition waterwise.

[Fleecewife]

How about Bob's method then?  However you do it, you need to break up the clay layer for better drainage.


We built two raised beds because in my dotage I struggle to bend over to work the soil.  We used old railway sleepers which are solid and allow you to sit on the top edge.  One bed is one sleeper high, the other is two.  Both are just as difficult to work as getting down to ground level  .  In fact more so      We did have the sleepers already so didn't have to buy them.

[Womble]

The plan is shallow raised beds

How shallow?  If you're only talking 6" high for instance, you could do that with four planks and some lengths of fence post hammered in at each corner and half way along each side. That wouldn't be free, but it wouldn't be desperately expensive either.

[Black Sheep]

You see damaged scaffolding boards suggested in lots of places - cheap to buy (loads on ebay or pop round the local yard) and a good size.

[pgkevet]

How about those grey building block..thermalite type. You can just lay one layer loose onto the clay and they'll hold the soil back. Cheap enough to buy and for this sort of job no cutting etc.

I used some more expensive rustic building blocks in my previous house as edging for the flower beds... made it easy to strim around the lawn. they were there at least 10years just loose-laid and worked fine

[cloddopper]

Four  damaged telegraph poles  three feet apart . Two poles high the top ones with the base to the point of the bottom ones .
 That should bring you up to a 2 foot high wooden wall . stake the poles well . Block off the ends .
Fill the trough to the top with cow muck & straw bedding , chicken muck & straw bedding . the add on as a  heavy layer that will compress the manures a well mixed mix of sand , peat & a little bit of mother earth .
 The first year you won't be able to grow carrots or parsnips in it  maybe even the second year as well , but after that if you practice rotation in the bed & leave an un manured section you will be able to grow them in the un manured section .

 Top up the bed with more of the same topping mix , by year three the growth medium lever should be level with the top of the poles .

 To keep the replenishment of decaying matter & nutrients in the beds going start making a decent compost system using the Berkley 18 day hot composting method so you can feed the beds with a gentle fertilizing compost.  Adding a small trowel full of this well finished compost to the same place spot as soon as you take the plant out
It's not recommended to do this form of replenishment where you take root crops out as it may be a bit too high on nitrogen for the rest next to the hole .. ... instead feed the area once it is totally cleared .

 Prices of used poles are about £ 15 to £ 20 each around here so it's not too expensive .

 Another way is to do some thing that I have guided my mates into doing ..it works well .

Using old same size scrap tyres ,  stack of five high used scrap car tyres .  Tied together via 3/4 holes cut in the tyre & tied securely with three or four thickness of 6 mm blue poly prop rope then fill with a similar contents as for the pole bed .

 The only thing we found a problem is that they needed two scaffold plank on to of the  tyres so they can wok the beds .
Had they made the beds just three feet across like I suggested they could have worked the beds from the ground ( but that would have restricted the size of the propagation table /bed )  for it's best to have at least a three foot wide walkway round the bed for ease of access etc .
We have one of these tyre wall bed set up in the polytunnel at teh Amman Valley men's shed group .
 it is about 20 feet long by 8 feet wide by 30 inch side& end walls .    It's a bit too wide to easily week & crop as we are all old bugger with spinal problems . The tyres themselves are also filled with the growth medium & have grown lettuces in the tyres as well as dwarf French Marigolds .

 The beds was given an imaginary split into five beds the width of the bed 
 all  roots at one end , then  salad stuff , then  brassica , next was  legumes & finally alliums .
We also grew a lot of pickling onions & shallots in the actual tyres as well .

 I set up an automatic time clocked watering system .. The guys said that last year was the most bountiful harvest they have ever known come out the bed.

[Womble]

How about those grey building block..thermalite type.

Great idea.  How about using the hollow blocks though?  That way you could plant things in the squares around the edges too  .

[pgkevet]

Or for the ultimate in cheap .. dig out some of the clay, make block shapes and wrap in old plastic bags to stop them drying out and crumbling.. build a low wall.
Or make your own cob .. clay, chopped straw and cow dung.. tread it all together

[Steph Hen]

Can I hijack this thread a bit please? (Delete if not)
I have 4 pallets of bricks, think they're meant for paving, that fell off the back of a lorry. Reading this got me thinking, that I could use these to build my raised beds 

I'd like them about 0.5m high, to give protection from toddlers, hopefully save my back and be a bit of a feature in the garden.

Would I need poured foundations for such low walls?
Would the wall need to be wider than on brick?

[pgkevet]

I think you'ld be pushing your luck going 6 bricks high just loose-laid with the weight of soil behind. Once you start using mortar then you also have to mortar under the lowest row so yes, you'ld need a simple foundation for them to base on.. then it depends on how deep to solid ground unless you want to get classy with pockets of deep foundation and a ring.

[Steph Hen]

Thanks!