A few questions from a newbie to gardening

[aab203]

Hi there,

I have a few questions that I was hoping you could help me with. I plan on building 6 raised beds in my garden, two for plants and four for veggies / herbs etc. Three beds will be on one side of the garden against a dividing wall and the other three will be on the opposite side against the diving neighbour's fence.

Each bed will be approx 1.2m long by 0.8m wide. Three beds will be approx 35cm high and three will be approx 20cm high. They will be sitting directly on top of soil, which is heavily clay based and has plenty of stones.

Questions:
1) Is it worth putting down some weed fabric before I fill the beds?
2) What should I fill the beds with? From reading other posts it seems like this varies somewhat, but that the 'lasagne' technique is quite popular
3) What is the best way to construct a custom netting solution? Any specific materials / where to buy the material will be greatly appreciated!

I haven't got as far as thinking about what I'll be growing and which bed is most appropriate, but any suggestions are welcome! I am living in South West London (Balham).

Many thanks in advance!
Anthony

[Two_Sheds]

Hello Anthony, welcome aboard

Is it worth putting down some weed fabric before I fill the beds?

No, but it's very worthwhile forking over your hard soil to loosen it up a bit: so that roots can penetrate. Have your veg in the sunniest parts of the garden too

What should I fill the beds with? From reading other posts it seems like this varies somewhat, but that the 'lasagne' technique is quite popular

I used lasagne method at school: it's cheap, and interesting

What is the best way to construct a custom netting solution?

Do you think you need netting already? What are you going to grow?

I am living in South West London (Balham).

You can put that into your profile, and it will show up in your posts

[aab203]

Hi Two Sheds,

Thanks for your advice!

Do you think you need netting already? What are you going to grow?

That's a good point. I like to plan ahead and figure out how the whole thing will be constructed / look like. I also would like to put netting down at the beginning so as to protect the beds from cats and foxes that wander the garden

Out of curiosity, what's the rationale for not putting a weed fabric down? Is it not worth the money and not a great preventative? Does it prevent roots from the bed growing through as well?

Thanks again!

[taff]

I put some down a while ago to gravel over an area of the garden. The first year, no weeds. The second year, some weeds. 4 years later, lots of weeds that need pulling all the time. The only bit that doesn't have weeds is where i put the small piece of impervious membrane. They'll grow through it eventually, and it's bindweed and couch grass and having a lovely time making lots of new shoots under the membrane, thinking, wow, look at all that black stuff I'm going to grow through like butter in a weeks time.

this is way too early for me to get up and i keep making typos.

[northepaul]

I used weed fabric under my raised bed, but this was situated on a patio which had been invaded by dandelions etc. However I also found the weed fabric was very good on top of my strawberry beds (ie with a hole cut and the plant through this) as it stopped unwanted weeds from coming up and kept the soil underneath moist. A friend of mine also did this with his courgettes, to great success. However as TS said, it really depends what you want to grow.
Another consideration is which way does your garden face? Does it have a lot of sunshine etc? Do you want fruit aswell as veg?
However good luck with it and looking forward to seeing some pictures when you have finished

[chris]

Long tap rooted veg like parsnips, carrots etc would hit the fabric and cause misshapen roots... Also annual weeds covered by the depth of soil in a raised bed would have a tough job of coming through.. They're not as determined as so e of the perennial weeds. Make sure you clear the ground of weeds before hand and you should be alright if you keep on top of them.

As two sheds says, you can use the lasagne method, which is probably going to be the cheapest way to do it, and you'd be able to fill it over winter. I bought in just under 3 tonnes of topsoil mixed with compost.. Expensive, and it was rubbish so if you do go down that route use a reputable seller (rolawn for example), you'll know it's decent and screened etc.

I used conduit from screwfix, and debris netting from eBay for my netting. If you wanted something to look nicer you could either try the build-a-ball type things with canes, buy a fruit cage solution, make one out of timber or use rigid mesh. Here's a photo for an idea of how mine were during construction:

[Two_Sheds]

what's the rationale for not putting a weed fabric down?

Erm, because I'm tight ?

I've never used it, but I did line the bottom of those lasagne beds with wet newspapers instead of weeding the ground first. I use as little plastic as I can, so I'd always choose newspapers or card over bought weed membrane.

Incidentally, I filled those beds with the first layer of weeds scraped off the ground. Those weeds then got buried under leafmold, garden compost and coffee grounds, and haven't reappeared, although weeds do come in on the wind of course.

[aab203]

Hi all,

Thanks for all of the comments so far! I think I'll not bother with the weed membrabe.

Another consideration is which way does your garden face? Does it have a lot of sunshine etc? Do you want fruit aswell as veg?

One side of the garden doesn't get any direct sun - this will have a 2-tier bed for veg and two 1-tiers for flowers. The other side gets direct sun, but only from the afternoon onwards.

I'm looking to grow a variety of things - but probably mainly veg. I would like to try strawberries.

I used conduit from screwfix, and debris netting from eBay for my netting. If you wanted something to look nicer you could either try the build-a-ball type things with canes, buy a fruit cage solution, make one out of timber or use rigid mesh. Here's a photo for an idea of how mine were during construction:

Thanks for sharing the pic - the beds look great! Did you use flexible conduit, or was it normal PVC conduit that you bent into shape?

Thanks!

[Two_Sheds]

One side of the garden doesn't get any direct sun ... I would like to try strawberries.

Veggies, and strawberries, need full sun (south or west facing is ideal), as much as possible. You can get away with semi-shade for leafy things like salads, and raspberries like a bit of shade - have a search for older threads, lots of people have asked about what to grow in semi-shade areas

[chris]

Thanks for sharing the pic - the beds look great! Did you use flexible conduit, or was it normal PVC conduit that you bent into shape?

Thanks!

I used rigid 20mm co suit, a pack of 30x3m lengths.. Was £30 odd - Conduit Pack 90m Black | Screwfix.com

I've since made another bed a different way, I'll take a pic and show you. I used lidl or aldi cheap netting for it.. Shall post back later when I get chance to pop outside

[chris]

Actually, I pretty much used this method from vegmandan:

How to make a Portable Netted Hooped Crop & Plant Protecting Cloche.Keeps out Birds & Butterflies - YouTube

[aab203]

I used rigid 20mm co suit, a pack of 30x3m lengths.. Was £30 odd - Conduit Pack 90m Black | Screwfix.com

I've since made another bed a different way, I'll take a pic and show you. I used lidl or aldi cheap netting for it.. Shall post back later when I get chance to pop outside

Thanks - I didn't realise those pipes could flex as much!

Thanks for the video as well - it looks very interesting. Unfortunately my beds will be built against a wall and a fence, so I won't be able to hinge the netting compartment to become a 'lid' to the bed unfortunately. I think a simple square or rounded frame netting solution will do the trick!

I'll try and post some before and after pictures of the project!