Do you dig ground before building raised bed

[furball]

Hi i am fine with the raised beds in lottie but want to make raised bed in my garden as well. Do you ha ve to dig the ground before making a raised bed?

[Eternal Sunshine]

Hi Furball. I'd like to know the answer to this as well. Our new allotment is full of weeds and tap roots, and we wondered if for some bits of it we could just hoe the weeds off at ground level, leave the roots in, and build a fairly deep raised bed above. Or would the perennial weeds roots below manage to come up through the bed eventually?

[TPeers]

I didn't!

According to all that I have read you *should* loosen the soil before filling the raised bed - my bed is 8'x16' and sleeper enclosed - I just couldn't face all that grass so I just buried it a foot deep - had a few problems with wire worm, which I expected, it was a lawn after all, but apart from that it all went fine!

So... if you want the excercise then yes, dig, but you will get reasonable results if the bed is deep enough without digging.

Having said that - I did not plant and carrots or parsnips in the first year. I thought the fill mixture too rich. I also had to walk the fill to firm it, at about 3" levels, or I would have had 'orrible problems with the brassicas. So not digging is not the same as no work!

Have fun


Terry

[Eternal Sunshine]

Thanks TPeers.

We were wondering if putting a layer of cardboard down under the bed would also help deter the weeds?

(sorry for highjacking your post Furball!)

[pigletwillie]

Nor did I. As all of the crops I grow in raised beds only have short roots I didnt bother and some actually have membrane underneath to stop stuff growing up.

I never grow parsnips, long carrots or potatoes in the beds, they go direct into the ground on another plot.

[dexterdoglancashire]

Yep, I did! Thats why it took me so long to get the lottie into some kind of shape! But having said that Im a traditional type of 'gal!

Dont think it matters, but I feel better knowing that the ground underneath my beds are "dug over" and hopefully, it will be easier for the roots of my plants to grow. Not sure tho'

Bernie aka Dexterdog

[Alice]

I didn't dig mine Furball but my raised beds are 18" deep. I'm not planning to grow anything which needs a deeper root run than that. I did line the bottoms with weed supressant membrane incase anything thought it was coming up from there. I suppose it depends how deep your beds are and what you plan to grow there. For me the object is not to have to dig.

[Nicos]

We dug and manured under ours ( maybe a bit over the top, but you never know!.....)
I like the idea of a membrane , but heard of this idea too late!

[Norm]

I just finished a raised bed this afternoon. It's 15 feet long by 3 feet wide and I put a membrane underneath before I threequarters filled it with potting compost for the rooties to grow in, so what's under it stays there and dies. Now where did I leave SWMBO.

[Fred Perry]

I dug down to Hard Pan about 1 shovel depth removing whatever was root like, then filled with anything that was at hand, twiggy stuff and leaves for drainage, sand, manure, waste peat, shredded paper, seived soil then topped up as nessasary till planted. Will top dress with manure to top up after harvesting this year.

Leave out manure if you intend to grow parsnips or carrots.
All the best
Fred P