Creating a raised bed...where do I start?!

[misspollysdolly]

I am wanting to turn our limited but completely wasted front 'garden' bed into a raised bed to grow vegetables in next year. Where do I begin? The soil is very weedy, but I can sort that. Just wondering who you call on to create a raised bed that doesn't cost the earth...?

Is it a bricks and mortar job? Therefore do I call a builder? Is it a gardening job? Do I call a gardener for help getting started? Or can you create a raised bed with other (?reclaimed) materials or can you buy something more or less ready preapared? Therefore could DH do it himself ? He's not too bad with the old DIY but a) it'll either never get done, or b) it will not look quite how I expect it to...!

Can't afford an insane amount of money. Any ideas welcome! Thanks!

[misi]

decide what you want to make the side walls of!! measure the area you need to raise, and how high, then visit your local garden centre/DIY store and get some costs of materials and then work out what the cost would be to do what you want. that almost always helps decide what the walls will be made of

depending on how high the bed will be depends on what you do to the ground in place. the lower it is, the better it is to make sure the existing ground is dug over and you add drainage material like a layer of shingle etc.

railway sleepers are popular for raising beds but they can fetch £18 a sleeper so if you have a large site, four sides etc, it can get a bit expensive.

in my sisters garden, we had to cut down some very tall leylandii which was handy as we used the logs to make a wall for a raised bed that had to be raised on 2 sides (if that makes sense?) we secured the logs and then layed some garden fleece, (wrong name, but its the stuff that you can lay on the ground to stop weeds coming through) around 3 feet from the logs to near to the top of the logs so the soil did not spill through. worked a treat and cost very little, the biggest cost was back filling with new soil.

hope this helps even if only a little bit!!

[Pannacotta]

I would also decide on the materials to be used then probably call in a garden landscaper, they are like builders for the garden.
Brick looks good for old houses and railway sleepers look good in most gardens but are a bit more rustic. Bear in mind that many are treated with creosote which is not suitable for grwoing veg as its a bit toxic/leaches into the soil, so if you wantg to use these you need to get some which are untreated.
You will also need topsoil and compost which you can get from any nursery/garden centre.

In my area (norwich) there is a local company who has started makieg raised beds for vegetables using railway sleepers.

There are also some kits on this site
www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/pages/category/category.asp?ctgry=Plant%20Protection_Raised%2 0Beds&AffiliateCode=Google18o&gclid=CIDn84WN2pYCFQ6R1QodSQ-L3A

[MrsWalton]

What a great project for you and your family. Especially if you've not grown veg before. It's also a great time to start getting it together now.

If your DH is even vaguely handy he can manage this.

If the area is really full of perennial weeds start by using a weed killer like Round Up (safe to use before veg planting) If you plan to be completely organic, you could skip this and just cover the ground with old carpet, build the beds and then dig it over in the spring.

Measure out the size and shape of your beds.

My DH brings all sorts of wood home. My best bed is from two old scaffold boards. Long planks about 6" x 2" He puts 4 short posts in each corner of the bed, and simply attaches the planks to them with screws.

Use a spirit level to make sure they are level at the top. They just sit on top of the soil. Clear weeds, dig over soil to about one foot deep and fill to the top of the planks with the best manure/compost you can get your hands on. 18" of dug over soil with plenty of organic matter in it, will give you amazing beds.

Don't go spending a fortune at the garden centre. There are loads of freebie websites that you can pick up topsoil or farmyard manure from. You have loads of time, so if you can borrow a trailer and do a bit of research you could do the whole lot for no cost at all. That way when your first veg hits the table, the satisfaction will be fantastic.

Start saving yoghurt pots, ice cream tubs and any containers for starting seeds off next spring. It's a fantastic project to get kids involved in.

This is a great site the forums will answer any questions you have.

If you do get someone to set them up for you i'd love to know what they charge. I have toyed with the idea of setting up veg patches for 'newbies' and would love to know if its viable.

Good luck.

[misi]

mrs walton, it is a good project. with the help of my then 4 year old son at the beginning of the year, we built a raised veg patch in the back garden in front of the kitchen window. the ground was rubbish but my son happily got compost out of the compost bin and dumped it on the patch and then helped dig it in (or over the sides, onto the grass, over the dog etc)
it was only 8" higher than the ground but he thoroughly enjoyed himself as did I. he helped me paint the wooden gravel boards I used to form the sides too (along with the grass, path, himself and the poor dog again!!) we had a really good crop of tomatoes, that he would often pick from the plants and eat whilst we were playing in the garden , the potatoes were ok, the courgettes were rubbish, the runner beans were fantastic and somehow, many of the seeds from last years crop of sunflowers got into the gravel around the outside of the patch and we had bumper sunflower seeds this year too.