Raised beds
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter, Chief Spud
hi bigpepperplant, the ends of the boards will probably go soft and rot before the rest of the boards, (cos water can soak in allong the end grain) so the corners will fall apart whilst the bulk of the boards can still contain the beds, personally i would use pegs at intervals along the boards and screw the corners together aswell.
I am just in the process of moving allotments. I have used raised beds on my last plot and will employ them on the new one too. To make the side boarding, I raid skips and recycle whatever I find there. I don't mind if the wood subsequently rots, because there is an endless supply of timber in skips around my house! I also don't secure the boarding other than putting in wooden or metal spikes. I am hopeless at DIY, so this is a failsafe way of getting a reasonable finish, albeit not a beautiful one.
In my experience, the upside of beds is that they make things look neat and therefore you notice when weeding is needed. On an open system, weeds come up all over the place and can be quite intimidating; with beds you feel as though you are more in control and weeding is therefore less daunting!
I find I get fewer random weeds with beds and, crucially, a lot fewer slugs and snails. While it is true they congregate on the boards themselves, this makes them easier to kill. The paths between beds are made of carpet coated with woodchip (all freely obtained: skips, tree surgeons) and this system appears to prevent the easy movement of slugs and snails between beds.
On the downside, last July, despite having previously incorporated tons of organic matter, the dry out rate of the beds was quite frightening. One way round this is to put stones around emerging plants, thereby trapping some moisture beneath.
Finally, my latest wheeze is to make beds using recovered roofing tiles. Because these slot together, you can place them end up in the ground and make quite a nice looking bed. They heat up wonderfully in the early Spring, by the way.
In my experience, the upside of beds is that they make things look neat and therefore you notice when weeding is needed. On an open system, weeds come up all over the place and can be quite intimidating; with beds you feel as though you are more in control and weeding is therefore less daunting!
I find I get fewer random weeds with beds and, crucially, a lot fewer slugs and snails. While it is true they congregate on the boards themselves, this makes them easier to kill. The paths between beds are made of carpet coated with woodchip (all freely obtained: skips, tree surgeons) and this system appears to prevent the easy movement of slugs and snails between beds.
On the downside, last July, despite having previously incorporated tons of organic matter, the dry out rate of the beds was quite frightening. One way round this is to put stones around emerging plants, thereby trapping some moisture beneath.
Finally, my latest wheeze is to make beds using recovered roofing tiles. Because these slot together, you can place them end up in the ground and make quite a nice looking bed. They heat up wonderfully in the early Spring, by the way.
-
carlseawolf
- KG Regular
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:51 pm
- Location: ILFRACOMBE , N DEVON
- Contact:
i personally screw my beds together and have corner posts to screw into, the main reason for using a post is when building my bed in 6" *1" timber if i was to just join the corners with no post i would have 1" of wood at the end to screw into and would not be very strong ( i could only get two screws per corner )by using corner posts of 3" *2" it gives me 2" of wood for each board so i can put 3 screws per board ( 2.5" screws)so 6 screws per corner.
i like the milk carton idea if filled to 3/4 and then squeezed to get the air out and then put the cap on, if it freezes then it will expand in to the squeezed gap. ( dont forget if it cracks or discolours you can still put it in to recycle ).
the roof tiles - good idea, would look nice around a flower garden might get a bit damaged on a veg plot
i like the milk carton idea if filled to 3/4 and then squeezed to get the air out and then put the cap on, if it freezes then it will expand in to the squeezed gap. ( dont forget if it cracks or discolours you can still put it in to recycle ).
the roof tiles - good idea, would look nice around a flower garden might get a bit damaged on a veg plot
A seed planted today will make a meal tomorrow
www.freewebs.com/carlseawolf
www.freewebs.com/carlseawolf
My husband built my raised beds out of gravel boards and 3" square posts, which he cut down to about 18" and shaped into a spike underneath. He put the 3" posts at the corners and screwed the boards to them and put one half way along the length of the boards on the inside to add strength. They've worked better than any I've done myself with wedges driven in to hold them.
I've used the raised bed system for all of my veg growing and most of my fruits since 1984. The original beds are divided by concrete (about an acre) none of which have yet required any structural upkeep. The last 2 dozen beds, constructed since 1999, have been made using tanalised timber, all of which will outlive me! 
I think it all depends on what you start with. Either way - the raised bed technique of adding compost, no digging, no compression and top dressing is a good one for mst of us.
I think it all depends on what you start with. Either way - the raised bed technique of adding compost, no digging, no compression and top dressing is a good one for mst of us.