[doganjo]

Thanks, Plantoid but at almost 68 I am not going to start cutting up pallets by myself.  I'm useless with a saw anyway.  I'll just wait and see what ideas Donald comes up with when he comes over at the weekend.  He can only spare a couple of hours a week, and he's promised to set up a polytunnel for me as well.

[Mad Goatwoman of Madeley]

Anyone got any ideas on how to make raised beds from pallets without too much work - so I can sit on the edge of them and potter.  Auld age is catching up, or rather two car accidents, so I can't bend or kneel anymore.  I made some years ago from planks of wood left over from building my house, but pallets are the only thing I can afford nowadays - because they are free.   My son will help but I can't leave him to do it all.

I've not tried this personally but I met someone who made raised beds with pallets.  She stacked several then put one on each side vertically to form sides.  This is all lined with heavy duty plastic with drainage holes and filled with compost, so you end up with a bed about a foot deep but that you can work from a standing position.  I think each bed took 8 pallets for a square one although I suppose you could make longer ones.

Hope this is clear.

[ellisr]

I'm not fighting the rotavator just going with the flow it is very wet here on quite heavy clay so every pass I end up a foot taller. The rotavator is very old and had a few quirks so it is slower than using a newer one but great fun and very satisfying. I suppose I would have got more finished if I hadn't usual chores like cleaning chickens and the stables out cooking lunch and trying to get the washing done as OH bless him can't move around to well just now but he did hobble up with coffees and directed me so my lines were straighter. I have no aches and pains so didn't work too hard. And the beds are about 20 meters by 4 meters each

[colliewoman]

Thanks, Plantoid but at almost 68 I am not going to start cutting up pallets by myself.  I'm useless with a saw anyway.  I'll just wait and see what ideas Donald comes up with when he comes over at the weekend.  He can only spare a couple of hours a week, and he's promised to set up a polytunnel for me as well.

If you can get him to just hack the pallets in half do so, then.....

scrounge some old dumpy bags/tonne bags whichever you like to call them. fix the pallets into a square with baler twine ( ) and bung in the dumpy bag. fold the excess over the sides of the pallet and fill. Ta da! instant raised beds that you can sit on the edge of.
Also if you have a sneaky early or late frost you can pull the spare bag back up and tie it over the seedlings for a few days to protect them.

Pallets, dumpy bags, baler twine and cable ties, you can build anything out of these!!

[doganjo]

I tried the dumpy bags last year - my fruit bushes produced loads of leaves, no fruit, then went brown and they needed an awful lot of watering.  Maybe they were just in the wrong place and I did use soil from the 'cowp' so maybe it wasn't very good stuff.