Raised veg beds

[Arch]

Your Mum does building work, too?

Can you imagine it? She'd have a colour co-ordinated hod!

I guess to make raised beds that weren't too tall, out of pallets, one could slice a pallet in half.

 

[Kirstie]

Pallet wood doesn't last long - it would be good for a couple of years before going rotten I reckon - which is better than nothing.

 

[rich p]

Interestingly, Bob Flowerdew on Gardeners World was asked a question about growing potatoes in straw(!!) and recommended using tyres instead. You can add more tyres as you bulk up the compost.
From that, as he's totally organic, I'd assume that toxicity isn't a problem

 

[longers]

When I read this I pictured using the tyres to edge a raised bed and thought that they'd take up a lot of room!

Carry on .

Would scaffolding planks be any good? Do scaffolders replace them often and have old ones to get rid of?

 

[Over The Hill]

I asked a scaffolder once but he said that when the ends go they just cut them down a bit to be smaller planks.

On watering- we have a very dry chalky ground (about 1-2 foot of brown stuff over solid chalk). Normal soil dries out quickly but good rich soil in a raised bed holds onto the moisture better.

 

[PBancroft]

Just about to start work on my allotment. Got it last year (June), but didn't manage to do much beyond building the raised beds. A few tips I have been told which I'll pass on in case they're half way useful...

Lay the bottom of your raised beds with cardboard. This acts as a great mulch, and will rot down over a few months under the soil.

Rabbits are evil. Consider developing a taste for them.

If you start later in the year (like I did) plant some bulbs so that when you start in Spring you'll quickly get some colour which can encourage you on a bit.

If you use scaffolders planks cut them down to size! Otherwise the resulting beds will be huge and far too big to get to the middle of.

 

[PBancroft]

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.

The ones round my way wanted cash for theirs! Rotten old things they were too. The planks were no better (fnaaar!)

To be fair, they did deliver them direct to my allotment, but still...

(Was £2.50 a plank, so not complaining really)

 

[Slowgrind]

Do any of you cyclists pass on your old bikes to anyone for free? You might if the receiver was pleasant and charming, looking to do you a favour by taking it off your hands! ERRRRRRR reading theese posts it's not going to happen is it?

 

[Twenty Inch]

http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda Chalker-Scott/Horticultural Myths_files/Myths/Rubber mulch.pdf

http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/Wasteguide/mn_wastetypes_tyres.html

Two links about tyre toxicity. I wouldn't use them to grow food.

 

[PBancroft]

Do any of you cyclists pass on your old bikes to anyone for free? You might if the receiver was pleasant and charming, looking to do you a favour by taking it off your hands! ERRRRRRR reading theese posts it's not going to happen is it?

FWIW, I've done exactly that in the past. I've given people old TVs, micrwaves, and other bits and bobs too. This was long before the Freecycle revolution.

If someone else is in need of something I've got and I don't need it I won't profiteer.