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  • Total newbie and raised beds

    Hi all. Been lurking for a few days and thought I would pick the brains of the very knowledgeable people here, if they don't mind!

    I'm a complete gardening newbie, but I'm keen and eager to learn! I've got a very small back garden and no allotments near me, so we've decided to build some raised beds to accommodate the majority of the veg, but some will also be in pots on the patio.

    We've decided to use decking boards (144mm wide) for the beds and line the sides with some kind of weed mat/black plastic to keep the soil in. We're hoping to fill in the beds with cardboard/newspaper at the bottom (they're going on previously planted, level, relatively weed-free ground), some bark and soil (soil to be removed from a patio extension we're also doing next weekend!), then some multi purpose compost I have lying around then a few gro-bags on top with maybe some sand mixed in. All three raise beds will be around 60cm wide (maybe a little more, but access will only be on one side of each!) in varying lengths - the shortest around two metres and the longest nearer three and arranged in a 'U' shape starting by the side of the shed, then along the back fence, then along the side fence. In the inner corners I intend to make some triangular raised beds for my dwarf fruit trees to go in with herbs around the base. As I said, the boards are 144mm wide (so high, for my purposes!) and I was thinking of using three per side, so a depth of around 44cm per bed - maybe we shall use four boards for the trees to give their roots more room.

    So does any of that sound like a recipe for impending disaster? I'm not planning on growing anything too exotic, I may give melons a stab this year as I have some seed, but everything else will be reasonably normal UK crops (with the exception of the Purple Haze carrot seeds I couldn't resist!).

    I already have two hanging baskets with three strawberry plants in each of them, I'm planning on adding more to my little strawberry family (more baskets, not more plants in the existing baskets!) and growing sweet 100 or tumbling toms and runner beans 'hestia' in baskets too as I can fit about 8 baskets around the garden. I already have some Kelvedon peas in a pot on the patio (not germinated yet though), a sweet pepper (or 20) waiting to germinate on the kitchen windowsill, leeks sown in a seed tray on the patio (again not germinated) and various herbs (some germinated ) on the kitchen sill. All of these were sown in the last week.

    Thank you in advance
    www.funnyfarm.me.uk - my gardening blog

  • #2
    Hi

    Sounds ok, although I would question the need for plastic around the edges, typically the soil would stay in unless there is a big gap at the bottom?

    On the layout of your beds, you will get about 2 rows of carrots per 60cm, one row of brassicas for example per 60cm wide bed, two rows of beetroots et al.


    Question, it sounds like they might be a bit in the shade (my assumption) due to them being by a fence etc? Is it south facing/north facing? I only ask as you have to consider the position relative to the sunlight before planting anything in.

    I also got some purple haze for my 5yr old, going to try and grow him a purple roast dinner, purple carrots, cauliflowers et al

    Dave
    Just an Office Guy trying to grow own food

    http://www.allotment13.blogspot.com/

    Comment


    • #3
      Question - why are you building raised beds? Is the ground unusable?
      Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it.

      Comment


      • #4
        Thank you both for your replies.

        DaveinBraknell (OH used to live in Bracknell!) I thought the plastic may give a little longer life to the decking boards. I'm hoping that there won't be big gaps in the bottom lol! As to the layout, I'm considering square footing the beds. I am a complete newbie and nothing is decided yet until I know more, but I have a tendency to cram things in, even in the flower beds, so SFG appeals to me. As for the shade, the shortest bed, next to the shed, would be the shadiest as it faces west and is surrounded on two sides, the longest bed, the third one, is the sunniest and would get sun for the vast majority of the day, were it to shine. The garden itself is south facing, but it is small.

        I love the idea of a purple roast dinner - I may pinch that from you

        Qwyndy - Raised beds for a few reasons. Firstly I have a six year old son who thinks he's handy with a football - lifting the beds a foot or so would offer them a little more protection, secondly I like the look of them and thirdly I have arthritis, primarily in my hips and knees, and have had since I was a teenager. It's not too bad now, but as age creeps up on me I'm starting to feel it more and more (and I'm only 34!) - getting up from sitting or kneeling on the floor is no mean feat anymore and it can be 10 or more minutes before I can walk normally again! I guess I could add in the fact that the house was newly built two years ago, so if you dig further than about 6 inches you start to find rubble etc a raised bed would help with the quality of the soil and the chances of root crops being successful (I think!).
        www.funnyfarm.me.uk - my gardening blog

        Comment


        • #5
          60cm is very narrow: can you possibly double the width of the shortest bed, to give you 120cm ? That would give you a bit more room for something big, like PSB or beans up canes.
          All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

          Comment


          • #6
            Hi Two Sheds

            The problem with making the width bigger is that access is restricted to one side as the beds are all against something - the shortest is against the fence on one long side and a fence on a short side. I'm hoping to grow peas in pots, courgettes in pots and runner beans in hanging basket (I've picked 'Hestia' as apparently they are good for that). Or rather I was planning on doing all this in pots - I notice this morning that my little Lineker (not his real name - I hasten to add lol) has decimated my azalea and my blueberry which were in pots on the patio.

            I will try and draw a to-scale plan and scan it and load it up later and maybe someone will have ideas on maximising the space I have

            PS - Whats PSB?
            www.funnyfarm.me.uk - my gardening blog

            Comment


            • #7
              PSB = purple sprouting broccolli

              What about a photo, it helps to see what you are trying to do

              Comment


              • #8
                It all sounds fab to me
                If you only have access from one side of the beds, you should make them the width you can reach, so it all depends on the length of your arms - you could measure how far you can reach at a stretch and maybe you could get away with a little bit wider. But it does sound like you've thought it all out, and planned what will work best in the space and conditions you have. Eventually, when the young 'un gets a bit older you'll probably find more beds popping up over the garden...

                Comment


                • #9
                  OK - Here's my very pretty drawing of my garden! I've only included the static things. I currently have 3 raspberry canes by the fence next to the gate, but hope to move them/remove them (I have 6 more canes which came in the post Saturday!).

                  The corners by the shed, garage and in between are currently flower beds, but they don't have much in so I'm stripping them and saving what I can to put out the front.

                  I would like to leave the area in front of the garage wall (by the gate) free for "football training" against the wall, and the children need an area for playing/swingball etc.

                  The picture has come up really big - I'll tinker with it in a mo. The big white area is patchy grass at the moment!

                  ETA - Woohoo! Today I learnt how to create thumbnail pics in messages!

                  Ignore the garden furniture - it can all be moved/removed if necessary.
                  Attached Files
                  Last edited by pollyskettle; 06-04-2009, 12:34 PM.
                  www.funnyfarm.me.uk - my gardening blog

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I hope that I didn't embarrass you by asking the question 'why raised beds'. A lot of people use them on our allotment site for no good reason. If you have mobility problems why not create beds to a height that eliminates all kneeling - perhaps high enough so that you could sit by them to do your weeding, planting, etc.

                    Good luck whatever you do. Keep us posted.
                    Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Hi Gwyndy! No embarrassment here at all. My mobility is manageable at the moment and I'm hoping it stays that way for some time to come - it just takes me a while to recover from anything out of the ordinary. The wetter colder months are obvious the worst.

                      I'm hoping that I can build the beds to about 45cm for now and then raise them higher if it becomes an issue in the future - mainly due to the cost of filling them.

                      Hi Zazen - photos added too! As you can see my little angel (tongue firmly in cheek) managed to get in every pic!

                      Hi SarzWix - As you can see from the plan, I could squeeze in a bed or two with all round access, but I'm falling down on the planning now and just can't see what is probably an obvious answer. I'm very taken with the idea of three smaller triangular raised beds for my fruit trees (dwarf apples x 2 and a dwarf stella cherry all on M27 (?)) I've also got two girls of 10 and 9 and my 9yo loves gardening and all things natural already, but my 10yo thinks she's waaaaayyyyy too cool!

                      Thank you all for your replies
                      www.funnyfarm.me.uk - my gardening blog

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Hi,

                        Looks like it might get some shade in there as per your last post. I would choose varieties carefully, one advantage of the raised bed is you can create your own soil climate, it looks a bit compact in the garden where the children have been playing.

                        On filling them look at getting some bulk topsoil delivered rather than using potting compost et al from the DIY shops, it will be cheaper in the long run and the spectacle of having a long arm reaching over your garden fence dropping a massive bag of soil in is a good one. Unless your terraced it should be doable.

                        Assume your raised beds are raised on all sides and not just leaning against the fence? One other thing to be careful of if putting them against fence is to make sure fence is in good order, if damp seeps in or across from the beds due to watering them etc you don't want a problem in 2-3 yrs.

                        Dave
                        Just an Office Guy trying to grow own food

                        http://www.allotment13.blogspot.com/

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Hi Dave

                          I'm planning on boxing the beds in on all sides - I think a good gust of wind would see off most of the fence panels so I'm not relying on them for anything. The ground is very compact where the children have been - the area next to the shed and in front of it, where the patio is being extended - also suffer with drainage problems and puddle up nicely in a good shower - the rest seems ok.

                          We're semi detached so top soil could be an idea, a local veg box scheme is offering 1m3 for £57.50 atm, but it's from a farmer and my understanding is that 'premium' top soil is often anything but. I've looked at the rolawn on wilkinsons but it is £100 delivered. Quite an amount of soil will be removed from under the patio stones when we lay them properly - I'm looking to sift that and use it as a start.

                          I should add this will be done in stages. The two beds at either end (the one by the shed and one parallel by the other fence) I hope to get in this weekend, the rest sometime in the next couple of months (although as soon as possible) and the smaller beds for the trees in very early autumn as I understand this is the best time to move them.



                          Edit to add:

                          Postie just came (early for here - normally about half 3), and he brought my seeds! I have:

                          Chilli Pepper Purple Tiger
                          Chard Bright Lights
                          Chives (more for windowsill)
                          Cucumber Marketmore
                          Sweet Pepper Californian Wonder (same as on sill, but I thought they weren't germinating. I moved them a little last night and they look like they are now!)
                          Aubergine Moneymaker (Too late for this?)
                          Carrot Purple Haze
                          Runner Bean Hestia
                          Melon Canteloupe
                          Carrot Little Finger
                          Melon Watermelon (lol couldn't resist but not betting a fortune on it doing anything!)

                          Should keep us busy a while - I should have an order arriving from Wilkos today with more hanging baskets, MPC, seed trays and propagators etc on it

                          Added two green blobs to my pretty picture
                          Attached Files
                          Last edited by pollyskettle; 06-04-2009, 02:27 PM.
                          www.funnyfarm.me.uk - my gardening blog

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Hi,

                            Maybe get some of the cheaper soil in as well, soil is what you will make of it to an extent, being raised beds you have more control.

                            Example of what would do:

                            1)You will need to break up the soil at the bottom of the raised bed with a spade/fork probably to about 1 spades depth to be complete.
                            2)Your patio soil will probably be ok, but compacted
                            3)The bought in soil is probably from a field a little bit better
                            4)Add in some horse manure from either a local stable, or well rotted from likes of homebase et al improves it, bear in mind fresh manure will need to decompose somewhere if straight from a stable, also bear in mind if growing carrots they will fork (Ie produce strange roots) if put straight into newly manured ground..

                            Doing it that way you'll get enough soil for most of your beds and you'll be on the way to improoving it yourself without having to spend a £100 quid on just top soil and then adding in muck.

                            Second thing you might want to get is one of those temperature gauges to stick on your fence, you know max-min, then you can see how cold/hot it gets, important for knowing when the frosts are coming/going.

                            Some of the things you want to grow there need slightly hotter temperatures, chilli's/peppers/aubergines to get large crops from, my friend around the corner had his chillis outside last year, got some small chillis, i had mine in my unheated greenhouse in summer and got bushes full. Just an example.

                            Anyhow part of the fun is learing..

                            On your purple crusade take a look out for the purple cauliflower F1 hybrid you can get from most seed outfits Mine is growing great guns..

                            Dave
                            Just an Office Guy trying to grow own food

                            http://www.allotment13.blogspot.com/

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by pollyskettle View Post
                              We're semi detached so top soil could be an idea, a local veg box scheme is offering 1m3 for £57.50 atm, but it's from a farmer and my understanding is that 'premium' top soil is often anything but. I've looked at the rolawn on wilkinsons but it is £100 delivered. Quite an amount of soil will be removed from under the patio stones when we lay them properly - I'm looking to sift that and use it as a start
                              Have a look on Creative Garden Ideas, they do free delivery and do bags of compost etc. We just ordered 600 Ltr of compost from them for £33. Which is great since we don't drive Plus with it being in smaller bags its easier to move around, instead of the big sacks!

                              Comment

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