Raised Beds

Hi Tim, welcome to the Vine. Please add your location to your profile as this helps no end when giving advice. How big is your small back garden, and what would you be looking to put your raised bed on (concrete, lawn, shingle etc).

Hi Tim,I have raised beds in my garden, and because my kids wont let me dig up the lawn they are in 2 areas. One gets full sun for about 8 hours a day, the other area gets 5 hours sun if it shines. There are 4 4'x6' beds in the sunnier side, 3 4'x5' beds on the shadier side. The beds are this size to allow access to crops without treading on the soil, which I add compost and mulch to the surface of, but have avoided digging since I set them up origionally, when I dug deep and added loads of compost. It is rich and full of worms, but was once heavy clay you could make pots from. I use decking boards to make my beds.

The sunny side is great for hot weather crops, such as corn, squash, tomatoes, and most other things, but by this time of year many plants are suffering from too much sun, especially salads. The shadier side gets just about enough sun, but stays moist longer, so is great for beans, salads, and the squash planted here stay productive for longer, although perhaps produce more slowly. Im really glad to have my shadier side of the garden. Its lush and green now, where similar plants in the sunny side are coming to the end of their lives. I do however find it impossible to grow winter grops on the shadier side, as it gets no winter sun and things just sulk and rot.
I rotate crops each year, which is easy as each bed has one type of crop in it. I always follow beans with brassicas if I can, as beans fix nitrogen in the soil and brassicas need it. I too am waiting for an allotment. I dont grow potatoes now as space is too precious. I dont devote a bed to onions for the same reason, and fit them in in odd corners.

If you are only going to have one raised bed, have a look at the square foot gardening posts on this site. I loosely use this method and find I can fit loads into each bed, and can use each bed for at least 2 crops each year.
I also sneak wigwams of beans, the odd tomato, and squash plants in the flower borders. It works because they cope with the competition from the perennials i grow in my borders.
Hope this is of some use to you.
Dawn.

Hi Tim & welcome to the vine, below are a couple of threads regarding raised beds that should wet your appetite.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ets_43666.html

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...eds_45586.html

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ing_44388.html

Thanks for all the helpfull replies. I have updated my profile to include my northern location

I think I will look to build to two 4' x 5' raised beds. They will be going on top of soil/lawn area.

Thanks,
Tim

My partner built my raised veg beds last year out of decking boards which i think at the time cost £2.99 each.So there wasnt a huge cost involved & they were 8ft long The total area i think is 8ft by 16ft and we can fit quite a lot in really. Herbs are grown in pots & we have had huge success with potatos in pots.The turf was laid upside down in the beds and we placed top soil on top.