Cheapo raised beds; do I line the bottom?

[BimblingBob]

How do,

I've bought some cheapo raised beds to mainly give me a boundary on what i weed and what has active veg in and what I dont.

Now the question is I also have some cheapo B&M Bargains weed suppressing fabric (trol-o-lol-o-lol) from a failed experiment to cover my weeds... Didin't work however..

Should I put some of this in the ground then dig/sieve the soil over the top or should I just not bother and dig/sieve the soil over to fill the raised bed.

Ta in advance, you're clueless allotment trainee

Bob

[Martin H]

I wouldn't bother with the fabric. Let the plants go as deep as they want to search out moisture and nutrients. So, build the beds, break up the bottom with a fork to help drainage etc, then fill.

[BimblingBob]

Righto! Best get cracking prepping the ground.

[Jay-ell]

I wouldn't bother with the weed control fabric for the same reason - let the roots run deep - that way the plants can get access to more nutrients, you can deep water less often (possibly only at planting depending on the soil and weather) and you can grow decent sized root veg. The cheapo fabric usually ends up in shreds in your soil after a while.

If you can dig some composted manure or compost into the soil beneath the beds. The extra compost and th fact that you are breaking up the soil (assuming its compacted) will loosen up the soil and fill the beds. If you have the energy google double digging.

Check with your council, they may be able to deliver a load of green waste compost/soil improver to your plot. Newcastle council deliver 1 tonne for £27 (I think its £21 to an allotment). They bay also be able to supply wood chip if you wanted that for the paths to try and cut down weeds.

[BimblingBob]

Thanks for your advice

So I've got two beds down but now I'm at a bit of a quandary what to do.



You might be able to see the patch is cover in horsetail so if I use soil off the site there is a good chance it has more roots in it

The tip about getting some stuff from the council is a great one so I asked about and it turns out a farmer uses some council land to grow hay so he delivers a few times a year and over the other side is a loads from the last delivery. So I'll put some of that on top but dunno whether to ten top it with soil from my patch or not.

Been hard work today, getting roots out has been a challenge