Raised Beds

Minnie26

Hi,

I've just been given a little corner in my dads garden yay!! Does anyone know where i can pick some raised beds up from fairly cheaply or any other money saving way of getting/making one?

Thanks x

jaxx46

Hi Minnie, There was a thread about these earlier ah here it is B&Q raised bed £12 hth

Minnie26

ooh thanks I shall have a look now

Out of stock online and in all stores that I've searched oh well I keep a close eye out in case they get anymore in stock. Thanks very much Jaxx
x

NoelleV

I think Argos had some too! Otherwise I think you'll be able to buy decking board cheap at this time of year, that way you can diy and specify the size you want!

Bunnygirl

I am using £2.50 decking boards from b&q for my next set of beds and before that I used gravel boards from whickes

Argos have some on offer at £9.99 for a raised bed 100cm x100cm

Andy_Davies

Here's some inspiration for you....

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/Raised_bed_building.html

Minnie26

Thanks very much for this. My hubby is quite handy so perhaps I'll wave this under his nose lol!!

docij

We've used old house bricks found in the garden to make some raised beds (or from freecycle in your area if you haven't spare bricks). We've made them 4 bricks high and different widths. We've lined them with weed suppressing fabric and in a couple of them we put polystyrene packing under the fabric to make them warmer in the winter and to reduce the need to use so much compost. Shallow rooting herbs and veg will go in these.

jimbo_the_jetset

Old scaffold boards. I got some 13 foot long ones from a nice friendly scaffold man who even delivered them and all for the pricely sum of £0.

I was going to give him a few quid for his trouble but he delivered them when I was out!

Lotus-eater

docij wrote: »

We've used old house bricks found in the garden to make some raised beds (or from freecycle in your area if you haven't spare bricks). We've made them 4 bricks high and different widths. We've lined them with weed suppressing fabric and in a couple of them we put polystyrene packing under the fabric to make them warmer in the winter and to reduce the need to use so much compost. Shallow rooting herbs and veg will go in these.

Personally I don't think bricks are a good idea. For one because they break down and then you have bricks fragmenting everywhere. It doesn't happen to all bricks, but when it does, it's a bloody mess.
For two, because the bricks will draw an awful lot of water out of the soil, drying out the bed.

You shouldn't need weed fabric under a bed, you should have dug it out properly when you started, then removed all weeds as they grow, making it weed free anyway.
Weed fabric will also restrict the depth of a bed, making growing deep rooted veg difficult and stopping your plants getting deep roots to bring up nutrients and moisture from deep down. I understand you are only putting shallow rooted herbs in them, but you might want to rotate sometime and I'm just pointing it out to anyone else reading this.

Polystyrene is never a good idea in the soil (or in pots, despite it often being advised) because it breaks down and then you get tiny little bits everywhere.

And I'm not sure about this, but I can't see how polystyrene under the soil is going to keep it warmer in the winter.

docij

Thanks for your advice Lotus-eater.

I didn't make it clear that these particular raised beds are on a side brick path. We would, of course, have dug out the soil if they were in the garden. Also the bricks we've used have been buried in soil for at least the last 50 years and haven't any signs of disintegration so hopefully they won't fragment. To me, the uncertainty of gardening is exciting and so if we're wrong in anything we've done then we'll learn from it and try again.