Cheap but nice looking raised beds?

WestonDave

The ones I made are 6ft by 3ft and consist of 6 B&Q 6ft gravel boards (2 for each side and 1 cut in half to make two pieces at each end) screwed into a 6ft fence post (only needs to be a 50mm one) cut into 4. That gives you a 1 foot high (30cm for the metric generation!) bed with 15 cm on the bottom of the corner posts to dig into the ground for stability.

Wickes prices for gravel boards is £14 for 5 + £3.26 for the extra one (obviously if you are doing more than one bed you can buy more packs as its cheaper!), and a 75mm square fence post is £8.79 (I'm sure B&Q do a cheaper one at 50mm) so on that basis you could do each bed for £25ish. With a bit of juggling you could probably get that down for more beds.

I wouldn't call mine ornamental but they are neat and tidy.

level200

I love the ideas of showing photos of raised veg beds to give me ideas... any more anyone??

angelavdavis

jollyanna wrote: »

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 ?

The garden isn't exactly at its best in these photos to be honest! It is usually a bit more tidy than this!

I'm all for recycling - hence trying to get used floorboards, but I'm not sure this idea would work, I would be concerned about the whole thing holding together under the weight of the soil behind them. I was initially surprised when I built my beds how much pressure the sides are under, you need to ensure they are fixed well. Also, the pressure that the lid would be under would be pretty high too.

mazinmouse

I was impatient and bought four raised bed packs from Wyevale. The packs make a 6 x 3 ft bed and come complete with stakes, screws, treated wood, 8 ins deep. Cost £30 each. I know I probably could have waited and made them cheaper but am just too impatient.

I would post pics of mine if I could.. not sure if I have that privilege yet.

wallbash

gravel boards /pallets / old floorboards :rolleyes:

quote ,, but in full view from the house so needs to look nice.

Go with decking boards

Alison_Funnell

We built a small one against the end wall of the garden using recycled old groyne wood. We were able to get hold of some when they were replacing some locally a few years ago. Great stuff but if you get splinters boy do they fester.

angelavdavis

wallbash wrote: »

gravel boards /pallets / old floorboards :rolleyes:

quote ,, but in full view from the house so needs to look nice.

Go with decking boards

To be honest, if you treat them with a wood treatment as I did (albeit with new timber in the end), you wouldn't guess where they originate from. I used old floorboards in my old house - they looked fine once painted, as long as you keep them maintained.

Once they are full of produce, you barely see them anyway.

Optimist

I decided to build some raised beds and when I totted up the cost of wood and my time I found http://www.linkabord.co.uk/home.page was the better option for me plus they will last me out !

ixwood

You don't actually need raised beds, unless you have drainage or tree root problems.

Otherwise, just go for beds instead, or slightly raised beds. Much cheaper/easier.

Moneybag

............. or back problems, as I have !!!!! :rotfl: