Raised Beds - Soft or hard wood?

[peter]

As an allotment site, site agent, I absolutely 100% agree with and endorse Tony's comments.

Done properly they work but require substantial investment of time, sturdy timber and masses of soil, cubic yards of it in fact.

Richard, you are in a very small and VERY lucky group, you have access to piles of well rotted fym and (I think from previous posts) also people with heavy machinery prepared to dump stuff where you can get at it,


Repeatedly I get new plotholders making low level corrals of flimsy timber instead of getting the couch and bindweed dealt with. Then they try filling these corrals with bagged multipurpose compost, a car load adds about an inch to one of their beds and costs more than their annual plot rental.

I'd add another circumstance that they DO work well, for the disabled and less able, provided someone very able does the construction. Wheelchair gardening does work, but the bed needs to be 3' high at least, with hard paths each side and about 4' wide at most.

[Ricard with an H]

Yes Richard people are getting very lazy. As we know how much better freshly picked home grown produce is and that we are eating it at its best without tons of chemicals and no loss of vitamins. Also don't you find home grown is much more tender and cooks faster than bought stuff?

.

The few neighbors I have make an effort on either growing something too look at or no effort at all because the effort isn't worth the end product, in their opinion. Opening ground suited to growing anything takes a lot of effort and the mostly stony soil around here means by the time you removed even 50% of the stones you've lost 50% of the cubic volume. I'm still buying in composted material and using composted cow poo to mix with what's left of the suited growing material. Four of my raised beds are now full, three are 60% full. Each year I remove more stones as I add more composted material and those raised beds can produce good crops though my inexperience shows even though those few neighbors I refer to think I'm an an expert.

I'm still taking two steps backwards for every three steps foreword,

If I had to work at the daily persuit of gain the effort wouldn't be worth the end product, the catharcism of growing your own is another matter. Eh?

[oldherbaceous]

It's funny how everything has to be judged on monetary gains....
And i have found through the years, the happiest people seem to be the ones with least.

[Ricard with an H]

It's funny how everything has to be judged on monetary gains....
And i have found through the years, the happiest people seem to be the ones with least.

This applies to me though I'm in retirement with a home, most everything I need and no debt. I manage on a state pension because wants and needs are clearly defined.

Spending money on raised beds doesn't save me money, I'm happy when I'm busy and need some achievement on a daily basis.

Photo of the wood store seven tenths full coming up, in due course.

[Chantal]

Hi Monika

I had open ground on our allotments for some years and converted to almost all raised beds around 8 years ago.

We now have 32 raised beds of different shapes and sizes with one or two more being squeezed in this year.

The difference for me has been amazing. The plot is always tidy; for some reason they are so much easier to manage, but the main thing is that because we have the raised beds in permanent positions, we have wood bark on the paths. We only walk on the paths so don't ever compact the growing areas. This makes them very easy to weed and if they are turned over with a fork or spade it's a very quick job.

The bit I especially like is that we can walk all over our allotment in the wet weather without getting muddy. Allotment neighbours often can't walk on their soil for days but it never stops us.

I can't recommend them highly enough.

[Ricard with an H]

we have wood bark on the paths.

Wood bark and in my case I use the crunchings after shredding the thinner branches from winter wood, weeds don't like growing through it. Closer to the barn grass is grown between the raised beds and there is room to mow it though to be perfectly honest I prefer a bed of branch crunchings or wood bark.

I wouldn't have taken to this growing lark if it hadn't been for the eventual ease of gardening raised beds, initially it is a lot of extra hard work.

My two new raised beds have masses of annual weeds compared to the beds I created two/three years ago. It is heartening to see so few weeds in those beds and the soil is so loose you can easily tug a weed out.

Gradually adding sand with composted material has meant the claggy soil turned into a viable growing medium and compared to the open ground I garden its no contest. On the open ground I just cannot seem to control the annual weeds in the same way as within raised beds.

The 4 foot by 16 foot beds are the best for being able to form hoops from one side to the other for creating netting tunnels. I drill holes in the top of the 2 inch timbers at intervals then slide 15mm copper tube into the holes then 25mm blue water pipe hoops and the whole thing is sturdy enough to withstand strong winds.

I wish I had been more sensible with the first beds I built though I do work around the size of them with scaffold boards in the middle.