By Bryony
United Kingdom 
Un-raised beds?
I have an area which I am allowed to grow veg in, it is in a terrible state at the moment. I could add raised beds, but I am looking at the expense of buying those and the compost.
I am thinking of just having flat beds to save money. Does anyone else do this? Any opinions on how well it works?
I think that one of the appealing factors of raised beds is the defined and neat edges, I wonder if there is a good and economical way of achieving this with a level patch?
15 Mar, 2012
Answers
if you do want raised beds and have transport people putting in footings etc often give top soil away . you can have it deliverd for a fee but realy unlesws you have a bad back id just keep them in the ground without raising it as ojibway sais .
15 Mar, 2012
In the past, allotments never had raised beds and people still got good crops of vegetables from them.
15 Mar, 2012
Thanks, I think that is the way forward. The beds, or myself, are not a permanent thing anyway. I just need to find a way of defining the edge. I would get victorian edging tiles if money were no object.
15 Mar, 2012
My neighbour grows all his veg without raised bed...he gets super crops.
15 Mar, 2012
Hi bryony
I choose raised beds to get an edge and to get soil depth have you been to your local timber merchants and priced 6ft lengths of 100mm X 25mm treated fence lats they are around £1.50 each and that is by far the cheapest way to get raised beds also if you work out what lengths you need they will cut them to size for you.
Hope this helps
Steve
16 Mar, 2012
id use blocks to given the choice .
17 Mar, 2012
and last for ever bilbo that would be nice .
19 Mar, 2012
Raised beds are not essential for growing veg. They certainly make it easier to get a good depth of soil, but if you dig your plot well down and prepare it well, then you can grow whatever you wish. A bit more bending, maybe.
15 Mar, 2012