How easy/hard is it to create a raised bed from scratch ?

[NomDePlume]

The top quarter of my garden is given over to kids play stuff (trampoline etc) and is barked with a weed textile underneath.

I want to plant a bamboo 'hedge' along the left boundary. The soil in that part of the garden is awful (lots of D.O.T. hardcore about 5 inches from the surface) so it is not ideal for growing things in anyway. I think the solution is to construct a raised bed and fill with good quality soil which I can then plant the bamboo into. The left boundary in my garden is a wooden fence so obviously I would have to protect that otherwise it will just rot.

I'm reasonably handy around the house (DH less so) and I think it is something we could do, in theory.

I could just plant the bamboo in huge pots, I suppose but I worry a) how much that will cost and b) how quickly the plant will outgrow the pots.

I would go with your big pots idea...you can get some really cheap and cheerful ones (which are amazingly robust) from the Co-op for about £3 each and are big enough for some bamboos.
The only problem with bamboo and pots is the IMMENSE amount of water they need plus they will outgrow the pots fairly rapidly.
What about planting 'Gardeners garters' or some other type of tall ornamental grasses or bronze fennel?

Thamks for your reply jp. I want it to provide reasonably good screening, would those grasses do the trick ?

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www.bluestem.ca/phalaris.htm
It was one of the few links I could find that showed the height of the grass. I have used it in the past as a rapid growing screen (in pots) and it will die down in winter but is tough as old boots. There is a lovely 5ft clump in our garden in summer but I regret planting it in the ground as it is so invasive. The tips of the grass have a delicate pink colour and it has little flowering stalks.
I love bamboo but it was a pain to look after and also kept blowing over (then the sheep got in and ate all of it)....
What about the instant bamboo screens that you can but in B&Q? They have all sorts including split cane, heathery type things, woven willow etc. And they give instant privacy.

I have some of that screnning up at the moment but it's not 'right'. I'd prefer a living screen.

Hi there NDP.

Strangely enough I was looking at garden stuff on ebay earlier as we're having ours landscaped at the moment (we're only at the mini-digger moving vast amounts of soil around stage but I was dreaming about what it will be like ).

Anyway I came across various companies that do raised beds including this one who make bespoke ones (they are local-ish to you too) -at least with something like this you wouldn't have to worry about the cutting wood to the right lengths etc, it would just be a case of screwing it all together.

How about getting hold of an old boat or bathtub?

We pinched the idea from a park near here - they had plants growing in an old boat.

I had seen an abandoned old boat rotting away off a trail, so we went and pulled it up and stuck it in a trailer.

We've just planted a bamboo screen in very similar circumstances. DH spent about a day and a half digging hard, to remove the rubble and backfill with compost (from our own bins).

We've planted half a dozen three metre tall bamboos and it's looking good.

I think pots would be very prone to drying out - the bamboo is very thirsty. We've installed a leaky hose for watering (hoping for no hosepipe ban!). On the plus side, pots would stop it from spreading where you don't want it, which it is prone to doing.

We've also installed some raised beds for veg plots - using kits from Harrod Horticultural (plastic, clip-together affairs). That took another couple of days work (with a few breaks, but not many) from DH.

Thanks for these additional answers.

Betty, I like those Ebay ones you linked to but I think they need to have much higher sides to accomodate the depth I require. Looking at them it should be pretty easy to cobble some together myself with my trusty tool kit.

Expat - My next door neighbour has a skanky old arcylic bath (avec taps ) in their backgarden that is full of dead plants. I don't think they quite understood that it was supposed to be an aesthetically pleasing feature rather than a way to use up a scabby peice of junk that you are too lazy to take to the tip....