Building raised beds on a patio
Last post 17-02-2009 9:00 PM by Roger H. 9 replies.
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29/01/2009 03:07 PM
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- Claire E
- Lancashire
- 29 Jan 2009
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1
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Hi all,
I would like to build some wooden raised beds on a large sheltered sunny patio area. I have found lots on the internet about building them on the ground but not on patios? Is it possible? I would expect you would need to line them to stop soil ending up all over the patio, does anyone know how to do this? Thanks...
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29/01/2009 05:10 PM
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- Annie
- LINCOLNSHIRE
- 11 Jan 2009
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8
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Hi-I am new to this on-line gardening chat -- And joined it to get advice myself. I have just aquired extra bit of garden land and have two large raised beds---but they are on land- slugs are a problem and are coming up from the the land that was' farm land ---Your idea of raised beds on solid ground is not a bad thing . I did see in a garden booklet the other day that the square raised beds that you can buy - do come with a saucer type for the bottom--which can be bought separatly ideal for patio gardening. Kind Regards
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30/01/2009 10:45 AM
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- Sue
- Loughton, Essex
- 20 Nov 2008
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7
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Hi Claire, I tried this some years ago on a redundant patio at the end of my garden. I lined the base with thick polythene and bought some plastic purpose made edging for raised beds that I had seen advertised in the Garden News. It didn't work as there wasn't any drainage and the plants sat in a pool of water. I replaced the polythene with membrane that does allow drainage and it works well. I grow all sorts of herbs in that bed and they do well, but I think the patio must be a mess underneath. Sue
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30/01/2009 10:53 AM
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- Suzie
- Oxfordshire
- 01 Jun 2008
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81
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I have a large(ish) raised bed area on my patio - I have used Link-a-Bord - your wooden beds would be prettier but these work really well here
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30/01/2009 02:04 PM
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Most people use far too shallow beds - less than 50cm is a pain to feed and water.
However, more than 50cm is expensive to fill - people tend to use cheap potting compost which is not very suitable in the long run. John Innes No3 is ideal but expensive and heavy. Good soil is hard to find, but you might have to.
Boggy
Beware the bat-eared bogweevil
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06/02/2009 03:22 PM
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- Annie
- LINCOLNSHIRE
- 11 Jan 2009
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8
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There is a site on the web--large plant pots worth looking at before you build your own -130 lt pots with saucers ---they list items use of a backyard orchard in london among other usage --saucers or nothing best on a patio.you then can change your mind and still have a patio as the cost of building the patio in the first place outweighs the use of veg growing . kind regards.
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16/02/2009 01:05 PM
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- lizzie a
- leeds
- 16 Feb 2009
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2
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I wanted to build some raised beds in my back yard. This is covered in gravel and I think below this is tarmac. I therefore assumed that it would probably be OK to put beds onto the gravel which should hopefully give a bit of drainage. However, I wasn't sure how high to make them - the earlier post suggests 500mm - was hoping I could get away with less?!
Also, Last year I used pots and found snails and a few slugs to be a problem, so thought I may be better sticking to pots? Any comments gratefully received.
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16/02/2009 03:06 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,200
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It will depend on what you plan to grow lizzie as to what depth of soil will be needed in your raised beds. On the subject of slugs and snails, they will go wherever the food is (our plants) to eat, so it wouldn't matter to them if their food source is in the ground, raised beds or pots.
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17/02/2009 07:46 AM
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If you really cannot run to deep enough beds, don't despair,shallower ones, growbags or pots will be OK for beginners who don't demand too much, but it is that much harder work to get good results.
Gravel tends to provide harbourage for slugs and snails - try running a rake through it in cold or dry weather to kill some of them off - they don't appreciate chilling and drying.
Boggy
Beware the bat-eared bogweevil
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17/02/2009 09:00 PM
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- Roger H
- Orpington
- 01 Feb 2009
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53
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Lizzie a,
For plants with long roots such as tomatoes we have tried grow bags on the paved area in the back garden and found they work well if turned on their side rather than laid flat. some garden centres sell big bags, 80 litres plus, and they are even better because they don`t need supporting.
If slugs/snails are a problem use some gritty roofing felt to cover the bags and cut holes for the plants. They hate the grit!
I used the same trick around raised beds on the allotment and that worked a treat. I think the only small slugs we did get were ones that hatched from eggs already in the soil we used to fill the raised beds.
The felt needs renewing every 3 or 4 years and is not a very environmentally sound idea but I prefer it to chemicals especially if you can get the roofing felt from off-cuts on building sites, when it would have gone to land-fill anyway.
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