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  • Help And advice needed with a raised veg bed

    Hi everyone i am David and i live in N Ireland i have put a raised bed 4 foot square on
    top of my back lawn to grow cabbage plants in and need some advice. First do i dig up the lawn inside the raised bed or do i put down a weed membrane. Next do i fill with a multi purpose compost or do i mix top soil with the compost out of the garden cente r.
    ****A day without a smile is like a day without sunshine!****

  • #2
    Lots of variations you can use I guess. I use cardboard over grass/lawn - keeps the weeds down and breaksdown over time - and it's free! I use a no dig garden - I put down layers of lucerne hay and compost, hay and compost. The hay breaks down and get's lower over the growing season but then you just do it all over again. The lucerne hay adds nitrogen to the soil too.
    Ali

    My blog: feral007.com/countrylife/

    Some days it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints!

    One bit of old folklore wisdom says to plant tomatoes when the soil is warm enough to sit on with bare buttocks. In surburban areas, use the back of your wrist. Jackie French

    Member of the Eastern Branch of the Darn Under Nutter's Club

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    • #3
      I put together two raised beds a couple of years ago. Built using decking boards. I just built them over the
      top of the bare earth (where there used to be grass). Then topped them up with plenty of good stone free
      top.soil. Each year (Feb time) they get a good layer of compost put on top.
      All my projects including my brewing adventures!

      www.make-your-own.info

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      • #4
        OK thank,s i will put down cardboard and the mix compost and top soil and see how that goes
        i intend do another raised bed sometime soon so any more suggestions i would be grateful as for the straw that would be good but cant get any.
        ****A day without a smile is like a day without sunshine!****

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        • #5
          There's also the lasagne method, which is laying green waste (veg/fruit peelings, grass clipps, hay etc) with brown (cardboard, thin twggy waste (shredded is better), paper, shredded paper, newspaper, etc) waste, which is essentially the ingreidents for compost. It'll rot down eventually, there's a few threads on it here - Two Sheds has had good success with it I believe. Anyway, you layer it in the bed, top it off with some compost/soil and plant into it then (or cut a plug out, insert compost + plant, and away you go). Much cheaper than buying in compost

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          • #6
            Thank Chris thank you looks like most of the thing,s i send for re cycling i can use for the garden but my wife won,t let me use the grass clippings as she insists that the grass clippings will grow through the soil again .
            ****A day without a smile is like a day without sunshine!****

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            • #7
              They won't, they'll rot down very fast (they get very hot too, which is great for a compost heap as it activates it (i.e. causes it to get rotting down faster!)

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              • #8
                If you've got any garden soil David, I'd suggest you mix a bit in with the compost. Cabbages like to be firmly planted and the compost alone may be a bit soft. Don't be afraid to use grass clippings, as chris says, they rot down quickly and tell your lady wife they definitely don't grow back
                Granny on the Game in Sheffield

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                • #9
                  you won't get many cabbages in the space: some of the big savoys are 3-4ft across, each.

                  Also, brassicas need really firm soil: they'd be better grown in the lawn, which will be compacted, rather than in a loose fluffy compost
                  All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                  • #10
                    i have downloaded a photo onto my album of my new raised bed and the cabbage plants i have put in if you,s would like to look at it i would have put the photo on here but have not found out how to do that yet.
                    ****A day without a smile is like a day without sunshine!****

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                    • #11
                      David,for pictures bottom right corner ..

                      Click .. Go Advanced

                      Click sixth button from the right in the second row of buttons ... Insert Image

                      Then follow the instructions

                      Oh yer,Welcome BTW

                      EDIT:
                      Or if you have loaded it to Photobucket then simply left click on the last box of the drop down list that will copy the [img] tag,which you can then paste into your post
                      Last edited by bearded bloke; 24-07-2012, 09:20 PM.
                      He who smiles in the face of adversity,has already decided who to blame

                      Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity

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                      • #12
                        OK thank,s bearded bloke ill have a go so here is the raised bed along with the Cabbage i planted to-day it worked
                        Attached Files
                        Last edited by David1949; 24-07-2012, 09:57 PM.
                        ****A day without a smile is like a day without sunshine!****

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                        • #13
                          Hello David and welcome. Congratulations on cracking the "How to post a photo" test. It had me foxed for months

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by veggiechicken View Post
                            Hello David and welcome. Congratulations on cracking the "How to post a photo" test. It had me foxed for months
                            It,s all down to / bearded bloke / without his help i would still have been in the dark and it could have taken me a few months like you to have figured it out.
                            Last edited by David1949; 24-07-2012, 10:22 PM.
                            ****A day without a smile is like a day without sunshine!****

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                            • #15
                              Don't praise BB too much or his hat won't fit

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