Raised veg beds

[lukesdad]

How about using old bathtubs if you can get them from skips/tips?

drainage might be a problem.

 

[lukesdad]

I'd go along with Arch's suggestion of skip-diving for timber. Do raised beds need to be watered more often?

They do dry out quickly so more watering will be required.

 

[rich p]

How about using old bathtubs if you can get them from skips/tips?

I use 2 old baths for my carrots to avoid root fly. Apparently they can only fly up to 30cm high and you can also make up a nice soft, sandy mixture to fill them.
Drill a few holes in the bottom though!

 

[Twenty Inch]

I know allotmenteers who work in industrial pollution control and they won't use tyres as there are too many nasties in them. Tyres became popular in permaculture, which started in Australia, I think as a way of using up old tyres that accumulated on farms in the Outback. I don't see any reason for going out and sourcing them specifically. Apart from the pollution, there isn't much growing area even if you put several on top of each other.

If you need containers i.e. you're growing on concrete, all sorts of other bags - builders' bags, pots etc. can be used.

No-one has mentioned scaffolding yards as a source of timber yet. A lot of scaffolders have planks that are damaged and will be quite happy for you to take them.

You could also try posting on your local Freegle (formerly freecycle) network for old floorboards etc.

If you are on an allotment, try approaching the local B&Q/Homebase etc for seconds - get your site manager to come along. We get a lot of useful bits and pieces from them - damaged planks, dented tins of wood preservative, and so on.

Oh, and start chitting your potatoes!

 

[Slowgrind]

Ask the scaffolders on any big job for a couple of old planks.
Send your bird to ask and they'll probably deliver them for you!

 

[Arch]

Ask the scaffolders on any big job for a couple of old planks.
Send your bird to ask and they'll probably deliver them for you!

Um, I don't think Gromit has a bird...

She has a cat though?

 

[ASC1951]

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstallwhataverylongname uses tyres. And he's fussy.

You mean Hugh Fearlesslyeatsitall. But doesn't he just use them for edging the bed, which you can only do it you have three or four acres of commercial smallholding? Tyres would take up too much room in the average garden - unless you go for the Bob Flowerdew trick of growing spuds in a tower of them.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

OT but tyre related.

There were some travellers who set up camp not far from where I work and they used stacks of tyres as toilets. When each stack was full they started a new one.
One of the locals told me that's what the council found when they had to clear up the site after they'd moved on - stacks of dung filled tyres.

Just thought I'd share that - as you were...

 

[rich p]

I asked a scaffolder if he had a spare plank and he pointed at his workmate

 

[accountantpete]

OT but tyre related.

There were some travellers who set up camp not far from where I work and they used stacks of tyres as toilets. When each stack was full they started a new one.
One of the locals told me that's what the council found when they had to clear up the site after they'd moved on - stacks of dung filled tyres.

Just thought I'd share that - as you were...

spelling mistake surely!

 

[Gromit]

Ask the scaffolders on any big job for a couple of old planks.
Send your bird to ask and they'll probably deliver them for you!

Ill happily send Bikepete to go and ask them for me, he is not really a bird though.

That's going to confuse people, what gender am I? Gromit must be a chap, well your all wrong.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

That's going to confuse people, what gender am I? Gromit must be a chap, well your all wrong.

You'll be telling us that Arch is a girl next!!

 

[Slowgrind]

Sorry Gromit ! Didn't mean to change your gender. In my experience scaffolders are not a fussy breed. If most were approached by a male/female and asked for some old or damaged planks, they would willingly oblige.

 

[Hilldodger]

Mum made her raised bed out of bricks she had left from some building work, just by building a low non-mortared wall.

Your Mum does building work, too?

 

[Hilldodger]

I made some raised beds once by nailing complete pallets together (the pallets standing up on edge) and then used a bit of old carpet to line them before filling with soil.

Grew some lovely spuds I did