Marine ply?

[chefgage]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but,I have just been & measured my parsnip tubs they are 2'8" to the top edge & I still have fly damage

i think i may have been lucky then as my beds are that high and i have had no problem
i usually grow onions next to my carrots as i read somewhere that says this hides the smell of the carrots??

[Snadger]

Suffering with a back problem I have had to raise most of my containers.

I made my pea beds about 10 years ago from tantalised timber and they are still going strong.

Potty

That looks tidy Potty! Would also make a good salad bar!

[Snadger]

Sorry to tell you this but low flying carrot fly is a .......................myth. They get blown everywhere.

Potty

........and have been found clustering in high trees methinks!

[Bill HH]

I have been asking around and I have been offered 16 x 150 x 4.8m boards for �3.90 a piece, the price of marine ply, as has been said on here, bl...y dear, so I think I will go with the boards @ 2ft height ,measured it out and I will build 8 ,it will mean no more worrying about carrot fly that far off the ground level.. thanks everyone for the advice, all we need now is for the rain to stop for a few days...

It looks like this wood is 16mm thick, that is thinner than kitchen units which are 18mm, they will easily bend under the weight of soil at the depth you intend to make them. The decking I used is 38mm thats nearly an inch and a half thick and made a sturdy proper job. Old scaffoldig boards are ideal too.
It may cost you now but you will be more satified and it will last a lot longer. Even at that thickness I have cross braced it every metre. I make them one board high as seperate units then stack them as high as I want, two high is about 10 inches and sufficient for most purposes but for carrots or parsnips i go 4 boards high, not to beat the flies but to give them the depth they need. As each unit is seperate i can move the top two onto another raised bed for growing roots next year. This means of course they all have to be the same size. Stacked up like this they could slip so I screw battens in the corners to stop that.

[BUFFS]

what ever you use i would suggest some sort of strengthening across the width to support the weight of the soil. my raised beds which are about 2.5' high made from thick decking boards have slightly bowed in the middle. in retrospect i wish i had put some sort of chain/wire rope anchored across to keep it from bowing.

I bought the boards and as the beds will only be 5ft long I shall use paracord(as used in chutes but can now be bought by the packet in diy stores) tied to some metal bars, or old worn out drillbits either end, this will allow some flexibility but stop a lot of the bowing, thanks to one and all for the advice as it means I am not just speaking to myself, agreeing with me and making daft decisions,i would end up as a politician, which one is your choice.......I just go to try and build them now......