Next year I'm going to increase my growing area in the veg garden again. The bottom area is very wet and holds quite a bit of water. The plan is to install lots of cheap (free) raised beds using pallet collars stacked two high.
These worked brilliantly this year for growing my Jerusalem artichokes in, so the back fence will be lined with them giving me around ten 4ft x 3ft raised beds to house some of my more "unusual" crops and as a way of increasing a few of our staples like leeks.
When I picked this spot for the garden I didn't realise how wet it got down the bottom, it was the obvious place though and once I get round to putting a drain below it it should be much better, but until then it's raised beds for the last 30ft of veg garden (the rest is fine as it all slopes that way).
These pallet collars are no good for one of my winter projects though, as I have a crop planned that will out live them by several times over - Asparagus. I've been looking at all the types of raised beds I could build and I have my usual problem of wanting to have my cake and eat it to.
I want it to cost very little and I want it to last for ages! Is that too much to ask? It's going to be 20ft long by 4ft wide and about 18 inches high, so hopefully enough to give us a good spring feeding in a few years time.
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| My old garden raised beds made with half round rails |
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| Some rather brilliantly made compost bins at my friends fathers garden using railway sleepers and galvanised steels concreted in to hold them in place |
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| Friends fathers garden - Slabs used on edge to hold back soil |
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| Friends fathers garden - Blocks laid to form a large raised area to the garden |
At the moment I'm thinking of building the raised beds out of corrugated galvanised sheeting with a wooden top and frame to hold it in place. The frame will be easy to replace when it rots and the sheeting should last as long as the asparagus crops for.
What would you use for a long lasting raised bed?
What lovely and ascetically pleasing to the eye raised beds you have there. Natural wood and stone, even concrete is so much better looking than some items that could be used. Why, I know a purest like yourself will find this alarming, but did you know some people like to make raised beds out of ugly black rubber things? I know, I know it makes the eyes revolt in horror.
ReplyDeleteI have actually been surprised at how long some of the wood I used has lasted so far. Even some untreated lumber is going on being in the ground 20 years or more. These particular ones were not put in by me but I know when it was done. After a while the sides kinda hold themselves for a long time even if it is rotted some.
listen ye wiener......oh nevermind!
DeleteI know there's a big movement around these blogs about the tyres! I'm just not sure I could bring myself to do it! Maybe I will to appease them, just one though!
DeleteThe wood over here has such rubbish treatment that I wouldn't give it five years with constant wet winters
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Don't Do IT Kev!!!
DeleteDon't give in to the rubber-side. Next thing ya know you will be having Royalist sympathizer, hillbillies (Otherwise known as Canadians) working on four wheelers in your driveway and digging up your septic tanks.
Resist the Rubber!!!
I suppose it all depends on aesthetics and your budget Kev. Concrete fencing panels and posts are very strong and last for years. You could make a dry stone or cement stone/ brick walls with lots of weep holes for drainage. I have seen corrugated iron raised beds but they do rust and have sharp edges. You could use old tree trunks on top of each other and line them with plastic, old broken concrete slabs or even grass turfs on top of each other. I use plastic baths with drainage holes to grow some of my veg. You can sit on the side when you are weeding. I once made a great carrot/parsnip bed with two x two concrete slabs stood on end and six inches in the ground. Then I filled them with soil and river sand. They grew amazing veg. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteaesthetics do count for quite a bit - I don't want my mother moaning at me when she comes around and I do like it to look nice. The budget is tight though! finding river sand sounds even better if it's free - must be great for root veg!
DeleteI read somewhere that builders sand contains salt - probably sea salt? Builders skips and skip hire people are good places for sourcing material for your raised beds.
Deleteour asparagus is in big plastic recycling boxes the one they use around here for paper. I have been messing about with an idea of using cattle feed troughs. drilling holes in for run off. I can then move them around with help until I get everything in exactly the right spot for them.
ReplyDeleteI have seen these cheap 2nd hand in agricultural sales. a hole in the bottom is not a problem for me = extra cheap.
once the workshop is build our beds will be changed. they are too wide I need them slimmer and more of them. I will also be vertically gardening up the sides of the workshop. I had thought about this before, but every inch will count.
I also seen an old plastic pond used for asparagus. because you dont tend to do much to them. you couldnt dig willy nilly in one that is for sure.
sol - you are right about plastic ponds. back at our old house i grew my tomatoe plants with cages in a kiddy swimming pool. kev - a kiddy swimming pool with holes drilled in the bottom might work for your asparagus!
DeleteThat's a good idea with the trough, I know someone who scrapped loads before I could get them from them - fools! vertical gardening is the way forward, my squash did it themselves this year and loved it! not so sure about the pond though!
DeleteYou know me ... I love tyres. I know they are not pretty to look at but they last, they are warm for the plants and you can make a long avenue of them to neaten things up a bit. And living where you do you might even be able to get hold of some tractor tyres, which would give an even better area for Asparagus growing.
ReplyDeleteSue - you don't know me but i love that you mentioned tires/tyres. we have been gardening in tires for about 10 years now and we love it!
DeleteMaybe I'll get one from dads to try and see how it does! I'm going to have to try it you two seem to love it!
DeleteThe best onions I ever grew were grown in tyres, I will have to get some more for here, they'll look really good on the hillside :-)
DeleteI will use anything that I can get for free. As with Dave, I find bathtubs very useful, also sinks, washbasins and some shower trays for salads and herbs. Even toilet bowls, they all look quirky too, which appeals to me. Old shopping trollies when lined, are brill cos they are mobile. And I do use old tyres, you can always paint 'em to make them more pleasing to the eye.
ReplyDeleteI don;t think those things would be big enough for what I have in mind for the asparagus. I guess I'm too much of a purest as well, I like order in the garden. Well until June, then the weeds kick in!
DeleteKev - have you heard of hugelkultur? i wonder if that could work for your asparagus bed?
ReplyDeleteyour friend,
kymber
No, but I'm going to look it up!
DeleteI have had so much trouble with slugs that I can't put anything in the garden but keep things where I can plow and till. Wood will last here if it is above the ground but otherwise will quickly sprout fungus. I cut trees last summer and had mushrooms growing on them by fall. I would use tires if I had to have beds but they are great homes for mice. Kind of like choosing which pest you want around here.
ReplyDeleteMice are everywhere here. My neighbour says she caught 50 in one month trying to get here strawberries. I won't need to cultivate the asparagus bed once everything is in but it will be pretty big as raised beds go. I always go for as minimum digging as possible anyway but no plowing.
DeleteGood idea. The bottom of our garden is the area where water collects and sits after heavy rains. We've talked about raising the entire area. I figure if I can just get the roots out of sitting in the water, they might could still take advantage of the soil moisture.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was thinking, although lack of water is never much of a problem here! This way I can also lighten the clay soil that we've got and get it right for certain crops.
DeleteI like raised beds, and might do a few here, and you gave me some good ideas.
ReplyDelete