Help me plan my plot?

[Chitfaced]

I have a small back garden but ever since I moved in a year ago, I have been thinking of turning this rather unsightly patch of crazy paving, into raised beds.

I hold zero woodwork skills and although I can tile bathrooms, I am not sure there's a need for that here. Happy to bash nails into bits of wood if that's what's needed.

It's probably too late to do it this year but am already planning for next. Thought some of you might enjoy giving me your thoughts.

What would YOU do with this modest patch of land?

[iGrowVeg]

Depending on your budget and I'm guessing the crazy paving isn't going to be removed, you could either buy raised bed kits or planters to put down on top of the paving or build your own (wood, old crates, etc can be found on free cycle etc).

If you do build your own raised beds, they can be to your custom sizes although then shop bought cloches covers won't fit and you may need to build those too (as I have found out). I can see you will need shed and back gate access so the raised beds can be put around these and it's good your water source is within easy reach.

I'm not sure of the size of your paving but I'm guessing you may be able to get an L shaped bed which can be made from 2 or 3 x 1 metre square raised beds in front of the compost bin to towards the grass corner.

And maybe even have the raised bed in the corner of the L shape as a deeper 12 inches instead of the usual 6 so theres possibility of growing deeper rooted veg like carrots, parsnips etc, but thats depending on what you want to grow and your budget. As long as there's enough room to walk round it that's fine.

Pots and containers are also great to use to fill odd spaces and lettuces, rocket, radish, carrots etc can be sown now to get a crop this year to start things rolling.

[Bren In Pots]

Here's a link on how to make raised beds from pallets :-

Making free raised beds from a palette-it’s easy (ish!) « Out of my shed

I was going to make some for my garden but in the end I've got beds that are just soil with paths in between.

[Chitfaced]

Thank you both for your ideas. Funny you should mention pallets as we have one that was left behind after a furniture delivery last year . My father in law took a saw to it this weekend for much needed fuel for the chimenea but we have half left and can probably get more. I was considering taking up the crazy paving - if you think it will make any real difference otherwise I may just build beds on top.