Tall raised beds

[Zenithtb]

been busy again then?

My better-half wanted a 'garden', so this was to split up the field/allotment area so she could have a lawn, flowers etc. Kinda worked, I like to think.

Made her happy anyway :-)

[taff]

cunningly placed by a nice shady tree too
very nice job. very very nice job.

[chris]

Zan - after I saw your original rendered beds (the big ones you posted before) I was inspired and I'm going to build 3 in my garden. Firstly out of breeze block (or maybe thermalite depending on how they can cope with water contact (need to research)), then rendered on top, with smooth corners.

What sort of mix are you using for the render? Is it quite a dry one then finished off with a wet sponge or trowel?

[taff]

did you put in much of a foundation? Looks like there is one, but can't see how deep they were.

[Zenithtb]

The shape was to weave from one side of one tree to the other side of the other... A straight line would have looked... How it sounds :-( Same reason for the tiers - else it'd look shyte.

However the 'shady' tree is a plum, and it's infested with greenfly :-( Desperate battle between them and soapy water is currently in action ;-)

Chris: I generally use a 4:1 (Sand:Cement) mix. Usually towards the wet side, as out here it dries pretty darn sharpish. As it starts to crack (which it will if it's warm enough, else after a couple of hours) I use a bucket of water and a kitchen sponge (one of those with a scratchy green pad on one side (not needed as I don't use it)) and smooth it over. Lots of water and a firm hand brings the sand to the top and gives a lovely Rustic finish. Brush off excess sand before painting.

The trick is to render about 10" of the reverse side too (until below where it'll be hidden by soil). This means you can do the same effect Inside, round off the corners, and it looks much more in sync. So, build, render and trowel basically straight (but not trying too hard) then smooth - last stage most important... It's really very tiring (esp using odd-sized bricks), but you can resume later by Sponging from where you resume to where you last finished.

(Side note - if you can find Weird Shape stones, bricks, anything - use them. I used Blockies on one of my walls, and I almost hate it to a passion ;-) )

Taff: Yeah, I built in a foundation. It's of Variable depth. Generally about as deep as the fork went. About the width of a fork. Spaced about a fork apart. Metric measurements may need adjustment. Went up and down depending upon the roots of the plum and grapevines.

The foundations are approximately 4:1 Sand|Cement, and as many stones as I could throw in the mixer before they started falling out again. I judged that as they were only holding the stones (the soil would support the raised soil) I perhaps over-engineered it, but better to be safe...

If anyone >does< build one in the same style as me, I'd be really chuffed and interested to see it (someone's interpretation of ZenStyle blocking ;-) ) so message me linkies ;-)

Hope this was useful, else include other Q's below :-))

Edit - the wall which is shyte: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink