g'day blueakama,

wow a new post how are ya?

check our site for how we do raised beds too easy realy.

you don't need 300mm right up fronmt or ever for vege' growing we start at around 6" to 8" and build up to around 12"s, but with the right edging you can go as deep as you need/like for us that means in the future we will need around 2 foot high sides min', takes a lot of organic matter to get that height but!

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Hi Blue
Not sure of your budget or what you had in mind (or even what is available to you) but you could go with old railway sleepers, or the new skinny ones or you could use interlocking bricks. Just remember that it will be wet and exposed to the elements so many materials like corrugated iron and soft timbers will wither after a year or two.

A clever design I saw once was horse-shoe shaped beds. I think it was based on a Buddhist garden (not sure) and was easily accessible from both sides. I have no plans though.

Oh no, pepino! Are you telling me that corrugated iron won't last? Really? I have just made 2 raised beds from left-over corrugated iron. They are now in the process of being filled with weeds, compost, kitchen scraps, soil, sheep wool, straw, etc.

Ps.: Glad to see you here, too. :)

I'd give them 2-5 yrs depending on conditions - unless it is now made from some sort of alloy. You will see the outside is fine but they'll rust from inside out.
Sheep wool?? That's a new one for me. Apart from being light and fluffy what does it do for the garden?

Thanks, pepino. By then they'll be filled with wonderful compost / soil. We'll see how long they'll hold up. As the material is all free, except for the roof bolts that I use to connect the lengths, it doesn't matter. Will re-evaluate once they start to disintegrate.

Sheep wool because we have it on hand. It's a great layer of mulch. Keeps the weeds at bay. After 1-2 years you won't know it was there.

be interesting spatzbear hey?

i used clip lok roofing (same sort of thing as corrugated all made from zincaluum then in this case colour bonded), they lasted for years as far as i know the bloke who bought those agrdens only pulled them out of recent times because he no longer wanted gardens. i'd use that again if i could source it when needed deviced a way where only the middle of long beds needed any support.

also see on the yuppy garden shows on tv they show prefab corrugated garden beds about 2 foot tall some round like a tank other retangular with rounded corners (bet they ain't cheap?), and as my back isn't getting any younger i was thinking along the corrugated lines to get garden height.

i was just going to use sheets and galvanises star pickets as upright supports, saw a lady on one of those shows she ahd doe that looked ok to me, the toffy noses mightn't like it, but hey they looked functional well as functional as the bought product best bit would be if a sheet or the sheets do corrode then too wasy to replace as need be hey.

even timber won't last forever.

len

I'm actually in the 'design' stage as well, and was going to go with cinder blocks/besser bricks. You can create the beds to be as long/short as you like, and they dont rot like timber does. Am going to go about 2 blocks high, which is about 40cm. Should hopefully work ok, but if anyone has done this and knows of problems, please let me know!!!

g'day moon_harvest,

for some besser blocks are heavier to work with when using them.

also depends on how you are going to use them for what problems/issues to be aware of.

if you aren't going to cement them then the base around the garden will need to be even and level or the blocks will look higeldy pigeldy and want to fall over, if using them loose like that then you need to lock them together someway or use steel stakes to peg them inline with? not using cement will then allow for plantings of say herbs in the gaps of the blocks. also using them loose may not work totally as a weed barriere as grass may find its way through between the blocks.

and if you are cementing them in (a somewhat permanent idea) then the footing will most likley need to be reinforced and siufficient enough so they don't crack, not sure if you would then fill the gaps in the blocks with concrete and use reo' rod to lock them together.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page