Raised beds on a slope

Emma_Hancock

Hi,

This is my first question so please forgive me for waffling.

I have been reading this forum with great interest over the last few weeks and my house mate and I are very excited about starting to grow veg this year. Last year we grew cherry tomatoes (but don't like tomatoes!) and strawberries but this year we have packets of seeds galore and all episodes of the How To show are saved on my Sky+ box!

I am starting with seeds on my windowsills and currently have:

Leeks
Onions
Radish (doing very well 3 inches high!)
Chives
Parsley
Mint
Coriander
Strawberries
Lettuce (several types)

My housemate has been very organised and made a file for the seeds so we know what to sow each month so I think the windowsills will fill up very quickly. There is no room for a greenhouse.

My eventual plan is to plant some veg in big pots on the patio (Buy 1 Get 1 Free from Wilkos) so I brought some of the container veg range (round carrots and the like) but I was also considering building some raised beds.

My house is a new build in Northamptonshire which has heavy clay soil on an upward slope. One side of the path has full sun but the other is mainly in the shade of the fence (perhaps I'll grass this side). At the end of last year I weeded the area and covered it in bark so it looked a bit better but I need to decide what to do next.

Can I build raised beds on a slope? If I do this do I still need to dig the clay soil underneath?

I am very new to all of this and usually get my mum to do the heavy digging but I would like to give it a go myself.

Any suggestions very welcome!

WestonDave

You can build raised beds on a slope - your best bet is to form them as terraces/steps up the slope. Ideally you want to have beds which are long in the direction which is level, and short in the direction which is sloping - you can then dig the back end in a bit, and use the back panel of the bed to support a path in between (you may need to build them quite strong to do this - perhaps double skin filled with gravel if you are building from timber). This way you will have level beds in which to grow your crops. Normally you wouldn't make the beds any more than 4 foot across as you can reach this - but on a slope it might be better to make them smaller so you can reach most of it from the downslope side rather than trying to reach down from above.

I would dig the soil if only to break it up, and to encourage worms up into the beds - if you don't you risk having a hard layer under your beds which will fail to drain. Clay soil is often quite rich in nutrients so mixing some of it into the beds along with organic material and some grit will give you a good growing medium. In any case you will need to do a bit of digging to get the backs of your beds into the ground to have them level.

angie_loves_veg

WestonDave wrote:

You can build raised beds on a slope - your best bet is to form them as terraces/steps up the slope. Ideally you want to have beds which are long in the direction which is level, and short in the direction which is sloping - you can then dig the back end in a bit, and use the back panel of the bed to support a path in between

but on a slope it might be better to make them smaller so you can reach most of it from the downslope side rather than trying to reach down from above.

well said Weston Dave - we are in the process of building raised beds on our sloping garden, and this is precicely how we are going about it!

Just ensure that you make the vertical posts (that hold your retaining planks in place) deep enough to properly hold your edges - else they may make a bid for freedom......downhill!:rotfl:

ariba10

I must say the title of this thread intrigued me

Debt_Free_Chick

We've just had raised beds built on a sloping clay slope too! Must be the "in thing"

You may find that the depth of the edge at the higher end of the slope needs to be more than that at the lower end. So, looking up the slope, our beds are three sleepers deep at the top, but only two sleepers deep at the bottom.

You need to factor this in to the amount of sleepers (or whatever you're using as retainers) you buy.

HTH

Emma_Hancock

Thanks everyone very helpful. I shall get planning!

sindersoot

I know this is an old thread but I have just been reading it due to our garden needing some raised beds on slopes.

If making beds like the above do you need to put drainage in at any point to prevent water running onto lawn?

pineapple

I am resurrecting this thread as it is exactly what I want to do. I want to replace my bit of lawn (sloping + clay soil) with terraced raised beds. Has anyone done it, got any links to pics?
Unfortunately I'm not fit enough to do the work myself so will have to pay someone.

rhiwfield

Pineapple,

one or two photos for you

Turfstripping second bed
Turfstripping last bed
Last beds under construction
End result

As you can see the beds are built in groups with internal paths. Used 2' stakes for corners and 6" planks for edging. The last two bed groups had 2' internal paths, lined with heavy duty ground stabilsiation fabric from wickes, then covered in woodchip. The stripped turf was laid upside down in built beds, covered with weed supressant and planted through. The external paths are whats left of lawn except for original bed group, where pea shingle was used.

The largest beds were 10' x 4', the smallest 3' x 4'. In addition, there are narrower, longer beds around the perimeter used for soft fruit and trained apples.

valk_scot

rhiwfield wrote: »

End result

Looks fantastic! I don't have any slope at all in either the garden or allotment but neither looks anything like as good as yours.

ginvzt

Great - I am planing to visit a timber merchant today to get some timber for my beds! Unfortunately, I don't have such a big space, so they are going to be in my back garden, and I have planned to put 4 beds of 2.4x0.8m and one 1.2x0.8m, all will go along the fence. I am planing to use timber of 150mm by 50mm, as sleepers are coming up way too expensive for my budget and besides, I am not a heavy weight lifter, neither is my OH.

My garden is slightly sloping, so I am going to use 2 planks in height for most of the beds, and for the one that is right at the front of the garde, where the slope looks to be the 'steepest' (ok, it is not much, but you can clearly see on the fence gravel boards the height difference), I will be building it at 3 planks high.

Then will just have a fun task of getting some top soil/compost/etc to fill them in. Any suggestions on that?