Grow Your Own Magazine

Got a 'Link a bord' raised bed for xmas. Finally erected it at the w/end but don't really know what to do next.It's 2m x 1m with a canopy thing over the top to put mesh/netting over. It's sitting on top of the soil, empty.Id like to have a go at growing some onions,carrots & lettuce. Do I just fill it up with multi purpose compost & plant into that or does that just make it an oversized flowerpot? 'Scuse my ignorance but that's exactly what I am when it comes to gardening. Ignorant.I feel like a total amateur in a potting shed full of professionals. Any advice would be made very welcome. ps have been given an unending supply of wooden pallets so will be making my own raised beds from now on, once I find out how to use them.

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Time flies like an arrow,Fruit-flies like a banana.

So this link a board is sitting over a dug up patch then? Just fill it with mixture of good quality garden topsoil, compost (homemade and/or shop bought), well rotted manure, bonfire ash, throw in some spare sand lying around etc. However if you're planning on growing onions and carrots, the soil doesn't need to be too well manured, go easy.

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Food for Free

Yes, thats exactly what it's doing, sitting on the soil I've dug over. Thanks for your advice, I'm off to do it straight away. Sorry to seem a complete plank.

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Time flies like an arrow,Fruit-flies like a banana.

There's nothing plankish about not knowing!!! Nobody here minds questions, which is just as well cause I ask lots!
Good luck with your new raised bed, what a great pressie!

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

i have recently made my own raised beds and i filled them with a mixture of organic compost, top soil and sharp sand. pallets are great for work benches and staging in greenhouses. i used several after breaking them up. i have also made wooden troughs out of them aswell

I feel for new2growing, i only joined the forum today, know how he feels. Nice reassuring reply Lainey lou. I dare say i will have my share of what i feel are silly questions and our Hmment has soothed my qualms.Hawthorns i too have used a mix of soil, only mine is solid clay in part, sand and home made compost for the bad part of one of raised beds i now have. Had to chop it up in the wheelbarrow and mix the sand and compost in. but oh boy it was worth the effort. Its now like working with compost and so much easier on the back.Wish i had the stamina to do the lot in the same manner.Still a bit at a time might have it all done like it eventualy.

Thanks to you all. I don't know if I'll manage to grow anything but I find it satisfying enough just pottering about on my little patch, though other half might have different ideas: Thanks again for your advice and support

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Time flies like an arrow,Fruit-flies like a banana.

I'm glad I'm not the only novice here. My soil is heavy clay too but late last year my neighbour built me some raised beds. I'm hoping to grow a mixture of salad, fruit and veg. He filled my beds with a mixture of top soil and some well rotted manure. The beds are fairly high - about hip height so I don't have to bend too much, and I can reach most parts of the beds without having to walk on the soil, so hopefully this will mean I can plant stuff fairly close together. New2growing, have you started planting yet?

Not yet. Have just re-homed 4 ex-battery hens last Sat & got them a lovely ark and run to live in so I've been restructuring the layout of the garden but I plan to start planting over the Easter w/end (unless someone tells me it's not time yet)

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Time flies like an arrow,Fruit-flies like a banana.

I was once told that the silliest question is the one you don't ask. Makes sense to me.

Hullo, new2growing! I'm new to growing too and I got a Link-a-Bord raised bed (exactly the same as yours) for my birthday in February. It's on the cobbled patio area outside my rented flat. I've no idea what I'm doing but I've put a few seeds in (possibly too early but I got over-excited one sunny weekend) and I've got more seeds in trays in my bedroom. I might just about restrain myself before planting the others. I've ordered some fleece to go over the hoops but it hasn't come yet. I've got potatoes in a large pot and garlic in window boxes too. It just feels good to have some "garden space" even though technically I don't actually have a garden. And seeds excite me so much it's daft!