Making raised bed am i doing it right?

[stevekentuk125]

Was lucky to get quite a bit of good top soil free at the allotments so thought i would use it to make a raised bed. I am using thick cardboard boxes from work for free to lay a base down 4m x 1.2m then wetting it down. Before adding the top soil which i will mix with horse manure from the local stables. I didnt pre-dig the ground under the cardboard mainly because the ground is hard clay and its summer will this effect anything in future? Im hoping the worms take down the cardboard as well as rotting in the winter months ready for planting in the spring. Im trying to use wood i have salvaged to connect it all up. Not planning to plant till next year or maybe i will :-)

[Samurailord]

It looks fine to me - pretty much as I did some of my own raised beds.

The worms should start to loosen up the clay under the cardboard and will help to break the cardboard down as well.

I wouldn't wait to plant in it until next year though unless you are going to cover it over with black plastic or the like - any open soil like that will soon be full of wind-blown weed seeds.

Get some late salads in, some carrots (short or round varieties would be best) or even some peas and beans

Andy

[stevekentuk125]

Thanks andy i didnt think of wind blown weed seeds i will get sowing when ive fixed up the sides and topped it up :-)

[Bigmallly]

Looks good to go. If you are planning on sowing Carrots, just manure half the bed. Carrots won't thank you for been grown in manure.

[stevekentuk125]

raised bed nearly done sown with the free Broccoli raab seeds i got with grow ure own magazine :-)

Got to wait till the soil gets some rain as i cant drive the stakes down in the earth to connect the wood on the raised bed

Also pic of my pond starting to naturalise i dug it in april i believe :-) Complete with the dreaded bindweed

[Bill HH]

Sounds like your on the right track but some compost in with the soil would have been good, not too late to keep adding it on top and let the worms deal with it.

As for carrots not liking manure I saw a vid on this forum last weekish about an Irishman who grows his carrots in nothing but horse manure and they were fantastic!!! cant find the link though.

[stevekentuk125]

yeah im growing carrots in the ground that i just dumped a lot of manure on in the winter and they seem like there doing well so far i think its all trial and error personally :-) Im lacking in compost at the moment although ive got a compost bin its not ready yet so makeing do with manure at the moment

[kathycam]

Thats looking great. Before putting cardboard down, we usually loosely break up the ground underneath with a fork and attempt to get out any perennials, other than that looks great and love the pond.