Cheap but nice looking raised beds?

level200

HI Guys

I want to get started building raised veg beds once the snow clears. The beds will be placed at the bottom of the garden but in full view from the house so needs to look nice. Any ideas on the cheapest way to construct nice looking raised beds?

Cheers
John

esmf73

Use pallets?

TonyMMM

Buy some treated gravel boards (normally used for fencing) from somewhere like Wickes ....very cheap and easy to build beds out of.

Frugal_Mouse

Hi level200

I made my beds last year using old scaffolding boards. Cost £4 per board from local scaffolding company. These were boards with small splits etc which can no longer be safely used but make great beds.

I would post a pic so that you can see how they turned out but currently covered in snow :rotfl:

Good luck

fluffygrue

I know some people have success using decking boards as you can buy them quite cheaply.

Mine's made out of recycled bricks, because they were free. The beds aren't very deep, but they're ornamental enough.

foreign_correspondent

I built mine out of recycled bricks that my friend was chucking in a skip - they only cost me the price of a bag of mortar, and my time - you dont have to be a decent bricklayer, as especially with reclycled bricks part of the charm is the 'rustic' look!

DKLS

My option wasn't cheap but does look great, I used sleepers, and haggled a great deal of £12 each delivered.
However it took a hell of a lot of work to complete, and I spent £50 on special screws to lock everything together.

Fizog

Is it possible to use the large builders bags that sand and coal are delivered in? I was thinking of putting one in the garden for a bed. Would I need to line it and support it with wood?
I recall seeing a news item on inner city gardens with them being used and they didn't look supported. Any one know?

Davesnave

Fizog wrote: »

Is it possible to use the large builders bags that sand and coal are delivered in? I was thinking of putting one in the garden for a bed. Would I need to line it and support it with wood?
I recall seeing a news item on inner city gardens with them being used and they didn't look supported. Any one know?

They're a bit deep, but I expect you could fold them down carefully inside themselves. I don't think supporting them would be easy, practical or necessary. Depending on their age now, they could last a few seasons, but the polythene they're made from isn't UV stabilised, so when they fail they really do fall to bits.:rolleyes:

I must say I love these bags, but as alternative wheelbarrows. One day I'll have a tractor or ATV, but right now I get brilliant exercise dragging bags of hedge trimmings and weeds around!

On raised beds, my last ones were breeze blocks which I rendered, so they looked OK, but now I'd go for tanalised, I think. Then, they might even outlast me.

angelavdavis

We made some raised beds about four years ago and used tanalised timber in the end - having asked for old floorboards unsuccessfully on Freecycle. We actually bought the materials over a couple of months as I could afford it, but was restricted to the lengths of timber we could buy that would fit in the car, so no doubt they would be cheaper with longer lengths.

We used 2x2in timber posts cut down on each corner, with the planks screwed into each end. We initially made them quite tall, but we lowered them and merged them last year into long borders as I needed more planting space (as you can see here from my additional growbags!

Here is the original look, sorry the beds themselves are a bit untidy!



Distance view:



The garden is now more planted on the left hand side than in this picture, and as mentioned the beds are now long strips but it all looks good from the house now. I have also incorporated some reasonably priced arches going down the centre so I can plant beans and other climbers over the arches.

I needed to build raised beds because of tree roots, and wish I had incorporated rigid sheet plastic or similar to stop the roots coming up into the beds - I naively just used weed suppressing membrane which they have eventually grown through.

Just a couple of other tips on building:
1) incorporate a watering system if you can - something I regret.
2) If you are importing soil be careful of the source.
3) Ensure you build the beds so you can reach into the centre from all angles.

jollyanna

What a fab garden, thanks for showing it Angelavdavis.
I've been thinking about making myself some moneysaving raised borders and wondered about utilising used 4 pint plastic milk cartons filled with water and inverted into the soil. It would be a fairly shallow bed and possibly only last a season but packed tightly together, could this work ?