Raised beds bordering lawn?

sylar

Hello,

We moved into our first home last October, and the garden, aside from being landscaped by the previous owner has remained larged untouched. The other gardens in the street all slope down towards the back fence, however, ours has had a patio installed with wooden planters and steps down to a flat lawn. We had grand plans to dig out a border around the lawn and plant it up, but what little we planted in didn't do very well. We're thinking for next year we'd like to create something a bit more structured, and create a similar effect around the lawn to the planters on the patio with railway sleepers. Our biggest worry is even the grass doesn't grow very well down there.. so will anything grow in the planters? Would putting in the sleepers and digging a load of compost etc into them allow us to create some colour and variation down in what is a very boring area of the garden? Any ideas (preferably as cheap but effective as possible) would be very much appreciated, we're at a bit of a loss as to how to make the bottom area look as nice as the patio!

I don't seem to be able to figure out how post a picture as I'm a new user, so if anyone can advise on how to post one so that I can show you how things look at the moment that would be fantastic!

arbrighton

I wouldn't use sleepers myself, they are very very heavy and pretty expensive. Still trying to get rid of the past it ones that are sort of edging a bed along our drive.

As to why things don't grow, it's hard to tell without more info, e.g. is it clay/ sand, is it acid, does it drain etc

Badrick

sylar wrote: »

I don't seem to be able to figure out how post a picture as I'm a new user, so if anyone can advise on how to post one so that I can show you how things look at the moment that would be fantastic!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=61173345&postcount=10

andygb

I put in raised beds this year, and dug down a further foot into the ground. I then covered the inside with black membrane and then filled it up again with an even mixture of pea shingle (good for drainage), multi purpose compost, fertiliser and good soil. For the lime hating beds (planted with Azaleas etc) I used ericasious compost.
I have also kept it well watered and fed once a week.
It looks pretty good, even if I do say it myself.

I_have_spoken

All things being equal, raised beds should be better for plants as you can get good soil, control the fertilizer and watering (to a degree).

However, shade may still be a problem. Need to see the pics really