Newbie needs help building a raised bed

[CADS]

Hi

Have just decided to build a veg bed to plant some carrots and lettuce. This is only the second year of growing my own so am still experimenting. The earth in my garden is mainly clay with bits of buliding material buried in it from constructing our house. So, it is extremely waterlogged. Also, it only gets about 3-4 hours of direct sunlight so never has the chance to dry.

My intial thought is to dig up the grass and put down weed suppressing fabric. But that is as far as I have got. I have not idea what to fill the hole with. Do I just use normal multipurpose compost as I do with my container veg or is there something that I am missing? It seems to uncomplicated to me so I am should I'm not doing it right.

Also, suggestions of other veg to grow in the bed would be great.

Hope this all makes sense.
Thanks
CADS

[markwcel]

i used a mixture of compost and garden soil for mine...compost will be fine tho depending on size could be expensive

[Demeter]

Newbie here too

I have just made some raised beds in my garden this year.

For one of them I dug the sod up and turned it over, covered it and left it for about 3 weeks which seems to have killed up the grass. Then poured in a bunch of compost and some sand and dug it all over. The soil is not great yet but as I now have a free source of manure (local city farm, who are also letting us have a veg patch ) it will improve every year! This one doesn't (yet) have a frame, it is more a sort of raised heap in the corner of my garden but I will frame it next year I think. This bed has got potatoes in it.

The other beds are in my front garden so I wanted to make them a bit more tidy right from the start. I pulled out all the grass and weeds and dug the soil over, then put a wooden frame on top and filled it with manure. Actually, I haven't filled them all up yet but I am getting there 2 sackfulls at a time!

My littlest bed (22 inches square) has mangetout and mixed salad, my biggest (4 foot square) will have broccoli, brussels sprouts and swede if it isn't too late, and my middle sized one (6 foot by 18 inches) will have carrot and onions I think but I am not 100% sure yet, maybe tomatoes!

Oh, and I did fill one of them with all-compost because I wanted to plant blueberries and they need acid soil so I used ericaceous compost. It is a small bed (3 foot 6 by 2 foot and 12 inches high) and three huge bags didn't fill it. In due course I am going to dress it with manure and mulch it with pine needles and that will fill the bed.

I'm going to put herbs and marigolds and things wherever there are spaces.

[Demeter]

broccoli, brussels sprouts and swede

I just read today that swede is a brassica - is that right?
I had assumed (mother of all £$%^s) it would go with the carrots and onions but if it is a brassica I will put it with the broccoli and sprouts...

[artichum]

you dont have to fill it up this year, dig it over with a bit of compost and plant, as you mulch over the seasons (grass clippings, spent compost etc) the level in the bed will raise, and before you know it you will be building another and another...

[Skipper]

Hi Cads
I put in two raised beds 3years ago and my soil is heavy clay.
Just turn the grass over and get a lot of compost,kitchen scraps,manure,and any other organic matter along with a fair helping of sharp sand worked into the soil to break up the clay.This will improve the drainage and help to condition the soil,this method worked on my plot as the soil is in a lot better heart now. If you find the soil is to acid give it a dressing of lime to make it more alkaline, I found my crops did even better once the lime was added.Hope this info helps you.

Skipper.

[CADS]

Hi everyone

Thank you for your posts. I have decided to make two 1m x1m beds and have brought multipurpose compost, topsoil and farmyard manure on the advice of the manager at my garden centre. He suggested putting the manure at the bottom as a layer then had a mixture of topsoil and mutlipurpose compost on top to the required height (ie. don't mix manure and compost together). Does this sound right? And what ratio of topsoil to compost should I mix together?

Thanks again
CADS

[CADS]

Forgot to mention that I will be growing lettuce, spinach and basil in one bed and root veg in the other.

[mrskp]

I cheated when I was filling up my raised beds the first time round and slung in a few sacks of half baked leaf mould to pad it out a bit.

Don't think it did anything any harm.