Raised beds - best frames to use?

[paulalou]

Hi,

Am a newbie to this board and to growing veg so am after some advice. I'm wanting to use raised beds for my veggies but i'm not sure whether to use wooden planks or something similar to the link-a-bord system. The link-a-bord seems a bit pricey in comparison to planks. Has anyone got any recommendations?

Paula

[Squash Muppet]

Hi Paulalou

Welcome to the vine

This is interesting cos I'd like to know the answer to this one too! I've had a look at the link-a-bord systems and not only do they look pricey, they look a bit small too....

Blessings

Squash Muppet

[jaykay]

Hi
I've been thinking about raised beds on my plot (clay soil) and had a go at making a frame this weekend. We used 3 1.8m long fence panels which were 150mm deep and 20mm thick with 50mm x 50mm pegs. This made a very sturdy box 1.8m x 90cm and we found its much easier to work a raised bed than a flat bed. Am going to try with 2.4 x 1.2 next. Costs £1.65 for a 2.4m length from local timber merchants.
Hope this helps.

[Norm]

Yo Paulalou, just had a squint at the link-a-board system and nearly fell of the chair. £15 for a 1m square bed. The inventer must be laughing all the way to his Swiss bank. A useable size bed will be the neck end of £100.
Get 4 old lengths of 3"x2", knock them into the ground and nail 2 short and 2 long lengths of wriggly tin to them. £2 worth of nails and £5 for the tin-sorted!

[johnty greentoes]

Monty Don always bangs on about using old scaffolding boards. Just try getting them Monty!

I wanted to use reclaimed wood but it does need to be fairly substantial and I'm a bit picky so I bought 6 foot lengths of tanalised wood. See my blog.

[ysb33r]

I use link-a-bord. They might be a bit on the pricey side, but compared to other wood-based raised beds you can buy they are not. I bought mine from Harrod Horticultural. I prefer the 1m x 2m versions which is a comfortable version for me to work with. I don't buy the support bracket. I go off to Wickes and buy some cheap slats that will work in the outdoors. I then construct a 3 squares x 6 squares frame on top (just under 1 square meter) each. You need about 300 litres of compost to fill it. I use a mixture of Perlite, various types of compost and possibly some top soil as well.

The standard hight is not suitable for potatoes, long carrots (baby carrots OK), and large beetroot. If you stack them you would be able to do this, but I don't think that is worth the cost. I still grow those in standard soil beds.

As to the rough cost:

• 1x2 bed - £24
• Slats for frame - £8
• Ground cover - £3
• Perlite - £3 for 10 litres.
• Compost - £25 minimum (depending on how well you shop around)

Thus £64 to build the complete bed. Compare this to the time you are going to spend digging, getting the soil right, weeding etc. In the end there is no comparison.

[Snadger]

..............

As to the rough cost:

• 1x2 bed - £24
• Slats for frame - £8
• Ground cover - £3
• Perlite - £3 for 10 litres.
• Compost - £25 minimum (depending on how well you shop around)

Thus £64 to build the complete bed. Compare this to the time you are going to spend digging, getting the soil right, weeding etc. In the end there is no comparison.

The only comparison I would make is that £64 equates to more than TWICE the annual ground rent for my allotment!

[nick the grief]

More than three time mine!!! Apparently Scaffoling firms have to replace them every so often but I bet they don't give them a way if they think someone will buy them.

You don;t need to edge your beds you can do them like the old Ridge & furrow strips in the fields - these were raised beds so it's not new at all

Why not edge them in brick as short drive round any country lane will probably get you enough to build a ruddy house !!!

[ysb33r]

Tsk, tsk. I only pay about £8.50 a plot so it's 8x mine and I am the one with the expensive raise beds!

Anyway I reckon it is better that someone knows the full cost up front, rather than discovering all the hidden costs after having made the purchase.

[Percy T]

I too have thought about making raised beds on my alloment, I am giving it a go and I am using pallet wood its free apart from the time to break up the pallets. this seems a bit flimsy to what you guys have been saying do I need to rethink this?

[BayViewPlot]

I have been raiding local skips for old doors, digging a trench (in an attempt to stop undergrowth of weeds) and putting them in a square.

Voila...free raised bed!

[dexterdoglancashire]

To be fair, I tried freecycle, local cheap ads etc. for ages. In the end I went to B&Q and bought some pieces of wood for £1.something each. Less than £2 each anyway.
Not what I really wanted, but was desperate to move forward with lottie. Also the pieces of wood were the largest size I could carry etc. Not the biggest in the world, but hey! It's my lottie and I'm doing my best, and it works for me. LOL!
Bernie aka Dexterdog

[Sue]

I'm a great fan of link-a-bord, I know for all you DIY types it seems expensive and it is compared to recycled wood, but if you've got no idea of where to get recycled wood, no transport and no DIY skills then link-a-bord is a good idea.
Its going to last forever, it's made from recycled materials and it's light to carry around and can easily be moved and it's very easy to put together.
I've been buying them gradually as the allotment gets dug over and will have 16 1 metre square beds and 5 1/2 metre beds by the time I've finished. If I'd got them all in one go, I couldn't have afforded it but done little and often it's been OK.
And of the premade raised beds on offer they are the cheapest, the Garland (?) ones are about double the price and I've seen others even more expensive.
Sue

[Norm]

Don't know where you live, but there's a reclamation yard just outside Darlington. A couple of years ago I bought some old scaffolding planks.
2m=£1, 3m=£2, 4m=£3. They had THOUSANDS of them.

[puravida]

here's some raised beds I made yesterday with my bro.

each one is 10' x 4'

just need to fill them now