Foolproof way to raise your game
Whether made from old scaffolding boards, bricks and breeze blocks, or knocked together from bits of waste timber rescued from a skip, raised beds make the perfect giant container for growing all sorts of fruit and vegetables.
In my opinion, they provide the perfect space for growing edibles in any back garden. Of course, the design of some might be a little utilitarian but it’s possible to create raised beds to suit the fanciest of gardens.
Raised beds can be used as focal points, to delineate a space, and to make gardening more comfortable if you suffer from a bad back or have restricted mobility. If you have poor soil, they can be filled with moistureretentive, free-draining material to ensure crops thrive.
A wooden raised bed is simple enough to make for those with the most basic DIY skills – all you have to do is cut four pieces of treated timber to size and screw to corner stakes made from 2in x 2in timber. The frame can be placed directly on to soil, hard surfaces or the lawn, bearing in mind that grass underneath will die.
The depth of the raised bed will determine what you can grow. Lettuces, radishes, mixed salad leaves and other shallow-rooted edibles can be grown in beds with a minimum depth of 6in, while carrots and parsnips need 1ft-deep beds. Potatoes are best in beds with a drop of 15in or more. Once the bed is made, line the inside with plastic sheeting to prevent wood preservative leaching out into the growing media. If you plan to place the structure on a hard surface, spread a 3in layer of gravel across the bottom to aid drainage, and cover with a sheet of landscape fabric.
Fill the bed with a rich compost mix. Loam-based John Innes compost with a dash of multipurpose compost is great for small beds. In larger structures, use a 50:50 mix of sterilised topsoil and multi-purpose compost.