HOW TO BUILD A RAISED BED
By Aimee (and her brother-in-law!)
The Veg in One Bed book is a fantastic resource and my new bible. It’s brilliant because it walks you through month by month, tells you what to plant, where and when including when it should be ready for harvesting. All in one bed.
STEP ONE
Decide on your spot. It needs a good sunny position. Then decide how big your raised bed will be.
We decided to build it around my tree as it was the biggest and sunniest spot in the garden and on top of a graveled area - good for drainage apparently. Whilst the book recommends a 1.2m x 3m x 0.3m bed (for 10 rows of veg), ours is shorter at 2.4m as that was the length of the boards we had. Do any size that fits your space!
Thankfully Rob is a very handyman! He built it with the composite decking boards I had leftover from last summer’s decking project.
STEP 2
Choose your raised bed materials
• Recycled plastic The best choice as it lasts about 100 years and doesn’t leach toxic chemicals into the soil.
• Wood Choose sustainably sourced hardwood, 5cm thick. Treated wood lasts longer, but avoid chemicals that leach into the soil. Scaffolding boards are cheap but only last around 5 years and are a bit too thin.
• Galvanised steel sheets last well and can be screwed to corner posts. Sheets taller than 30cm can be cut to size or sunk into the ground for extra support.
• Brick and mortar beds Long lasting and strong but must be built on firm ground to prevent the walls from shifting.
STEP 3
Calculate how much soil/compost you need.
This calculator has been used by both Sonia and I and it’s been spot on for both of us. It seems like a lot of soil but honestly it’s accurate. And remember - peat free is a must - see our action last year on this for why.
We chose Rolawn’s fruit and veg topsoil (find it in the shop) and needed two bulk bags (!!). The delivery bloke was not impressed with my small street but despite a few close calls, he managed to get it off his lorry and down my drive safely.
STEP 4
Fill the bed
Shovel it all in the bed and rake it over so it’s level but not compacted - keep it light.
Warning - this bit will give you T-rex arms - turns out typing for a living doesn’t prepare you for shovelling two tonnes of soil…!!
STEP 5
Then to the exciting stuff - choose your veg to plant - you can find organic seeds in the shop or head to your local garden centre for seeds and seedlings. Buy organic, non GMO.
We chose our faves and then, as is my wont, I put together this spreadsheet of all the veg we like and when it’s good for planting / harvesting. You can use this guide to grow veg in a pot, on your windowsill, whatever you’ve got! [Note: there have been some small discrepancies from our googling and the seed packets so when in doubt, go with the seed packets.]
STEP 6
Plant your seeds/plants in rows, each type will have instructions on when, how far apart and how deep to sow them. Put in little labels so you remember what is where! And give them a good soak afterwards.
We used some string and sticks to make sure we were roughly parallel to the edge. We planted red onions first (in Feb just before the snow) and then new potatoes, spring onions, radishes and rocket. In small seed trays, we’ve also started off chillies, peppers, beetroot, broccoli and broad beans and they’re being protected in a mini greenhouse. (A sunny windowsill is just as good.) Our only concern is we built the bed up to the wall so we’re now planning a winch to put my 1 year old great-niece in so she can do the picking, ha ha.
STEP 7
Wait, watch, water and…
I’ll keep you posted on how our veg progresses on Insta - follow us @theeveryoneclub_official.
And if you’re a seasoned grower, let us know your hints and trade secrets.