The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: tizaala on April 27, 2013, 07:10:17 am

Title: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: tizaala on April 27, 2013, 07:10:17 am
you could uses membrane instead of burlap.


http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/five-raised-beds (http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/five-raised-beds)
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: spandit on April 27, 2013, 08:52:43 am
Although it's a bit ugly, I do like the concrete block idea with the integral pockets!
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: Lesley Silvester on April 27, 2013, 09:37:32 pm
I need to know how to make raised beds about three foot high.
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: bloomer on April 27, 2013, 09:42:46 pm
MGM for that height see if you can find someone  rid of old scaffold planks, you need something with a bit of thickness to it to hold the weight of earth.


We have supplied and fitted large raised beds for school growing projects and they insisted on life expectancy of over 15 years and no old sleepers so we used 2.5 inch thick 8ft oak planks bolted to oak posts on the corners, they were awesome, they are now 4 years old and I saw some photos of them a while back and they still look great. (They were expensive though)



Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: spandit on April 27, 2013, 10:06:37 pm
I made a raised bed about two feet high - looked like a large coffin and took a lot of filling. It rotted in about 3 years and trying to dig it out is taking a lot of effort...

For higher beds I'd go with sleepers, the softwood ones are cheaper
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: Fleecewife on April 27, 2013, 11:09:51 pm
I need to know how to make raised beds about three foot high.

Can you get a builder to make you some of bricks MGM?  He would need to leave small gaps at intervals for drainage, esp at the bottom.  These beds would be everlasting, just about, and wouldn't cost as much as you might think, if you choose your builder carefully, and compare the cost to the finite lifespan of timber beds.  You could fill the bottom half with free draining rubble or Type One, then there would only be the top half to fill with growing medium.
In a previous house we did this to make a raised alpine bed in a giant curved shape.  We got the bricks from a dismantled Victorian factory chimney, and used the same bricks to pave the area.  It looked very smart, but I can't for the life of me remember where we got the soil from.  We built it ourselves, back in the days when we were young and fit  :innocent:
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: spandit on April 28, 2013, 06:55:26 am
You can quite often get soil on Freecycle/Freegle
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: Fleecewife on April 28, 2013, 11:18:14 am
You can quite often get soil on Freecycle/Freegle

But you would want to be very careful that you were not bringing in a load of pathogens and weed seeds with it   :garden:
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: Carl f k on April 28, 2013, 11:27:13 am
I need to know how to make raised beds about three foot high.

Have sent you a link on FB how to make raised beds from pallets :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: happygolucky on April 28, 2013, 12:30:43 pm
My brother  used an old wardrobe on its back, with the doors off of course but you could use smaller chests of draws etc then they do not look too ugly and are high, just drill some drain holed around and there you have it!!! :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: Lesley Silvester on April 28, 2013, 09:28:18 pm
Some interesting ideas.  Carl, I couldn't find that link on FB.

I might look into getting some quotes from builders but I'm a bit concerned that anything too permanent might put people off if and when we sell up.  At the moment the lawn is converted to veg growing, in my opinion a far better use of the ground.
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: doganjo on April 29, 2013, 09:48:28 am
Here's a video on youtube

How to build a raised bed garden from pallets. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvwMP8xnOxo#ws)
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: Plantoid on April 29, 2013, 11:47:45 pm
 
My raised beds Rolls Royce style made as :-
Class B engineering brick built beds on 300 mm x 300 foundatiomns of concrete  three feet high on the path side two feet three on the grass side . Each bed  has a functioning free soil drain in the middleof just over 1 foot square  , the walls have weep holes incase of down pours . The cross walls are fully keyed into the outer walls from top to bottom for strength .
It serves two purposes,  I can reach the middle three foot width from either side but prefter the three foot hight  to do the gardening from the paths ( bust up back etc)  .They are the retaining wall for the lawn to be level as we had a 28 inch fall of land over the 40 feeet width of the plot ( most of it  in the area of the beds  , it also sloped back some four feet from the road.
 There are 12  beds giving appros 120 sq feet of cropping space .
 At the front of the bungalow there are 8 beds also giving almost 120 sq ft of flower beds .
 These beds should see me turn my toes up and some .
(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y507/misterplantoid/compostampspringflowers023_zps0acdafd6.jpg) (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/misterplantoid/media/compostampspringflowers023_zps0acdafd6.jpg.html)
 
 

 
(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y507/misterplantoid/compostampspringflowers024_zpsce62ecaa.jpg) (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/misterplantoid/media/compostampspringflowers024_zpsce62ecaa.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: tizaala on April 30, 2013, 07:50:51 am
Brilliant job, have you made some glass frames to fit over the top for soil warming in the winter ?  :thinking:
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: happygolucky on April 30, 2013, 07:52:05 am
 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Plantoid (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=14041), they are beautiful, I know they are due to your disability but all of us would benifit from having some beds like that, I know I would, you can get to your plants with ease and not get stuck in mud. :thumbsup:
Disability effects a lot of us eventualy, its not being unable to do things its just finding a solution so you can do things
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: Carl f k on April 30, 2013, 01:26:07 pm
Some interesting ideas.  Carl, I couldn't find that link on FB.

I might look into getting some quotes from builders but I'm a bit concerned that anything too permanent might put people off if and when we sell up.  At the moment the lawn is converted to veg growing, in my opinion a far better use of the ground.

Sorry it didn't work for some reason :(
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: spandit on April 30, 2013, 08:39:36 pm


(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y507/misterplantoid/compostampspringflowers023_zps0acdafd6.jpg) (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/misterplantoid/media/compostampspringflowers023_zps0acdafd6.jpg.html)
 
 What's the tall plant?

 
(http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y507/misterplantoid/compostampspringflowers024_zpsce62ecaa.jpg) (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/misterplantoid/media/compostampspringflowers024_zpsce62ecaa.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Useful tips for raised beds
Post by: Lesley Silvester on April 30, 2013, 10:04:37 pm
Plantoid those are exactly what I need and just the right height. I could work from a sitting position there. All I need now is someone to build them for me who won't charge and arm and a leg. I need to ask a few bricklayers. I have someone dismantling the old ones and now dealing with the problem of where to keep the soil out of them until the new ones are built.

Spandit, they look like curly kale to me but I could be wrong.