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Raised beds and summer house

Jamie DJayJamie DJay Posts: 62
edited August 2020 in Garden design
Evening all, it’s been a while since I posted in here! I am moving very soon into a house with a really nice garden and I want to make the most of it. I’d like some help with what to buy to make a couple of raised beds that will sit along the fence and the best place to get a decent summer house that I want to convert into a garden bar. Thanks in advance all

Posts

  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Why raised beds, Jamie?  There are a host of posts about difficulties with such things alongside fences when the intervening gaps fill with wind blown leaves and other detritus which become wet and rot the fence.  As one who's never had a raised bed or tunnel, and never will, I'm aware they're like Lycra is to cyclists, but not essential in any way?
  • Jamie DJayJamie DJay Posts: 62
    I have 4 kids, 2 of which are very young and have absolutely destroyed my current ‘grows’, so something a bit higher that I can protect from the little 1s is what I’m after
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Well - I love mine and always have. When you have compacted heavy clay soil, they're a great way of getting a workable garden quite quickly, especially if you don't have help, and you can use power tools. More expensive perhaps than just digging out borders, but it depends on your budget and your muscle power.
    I no longer have the inclination to break my, already knackered, back doing that. 
    They also give more scope for height and variety, as you can make beds to suit plants with different requirements. I can have a Ligularia next to a Helenium.  :)

    No idea about summerhouses @Jamie DJay, but my raised beds are all made with good quality fencing timber, 3 inch posts concreted in at the corners, and all lined to help retain moisture and for protection. I have a 'coping' piece of timber along the edges to finish them off, for aesthetics. They're made to fit the boundary, as it's all at different angles, and I wanted a fairly geometric shape inside.
    If you use a builder's merchant, the timber is cheaper, as it's usually sold/priced by the metre. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487

    I concede to Fairygirl, Jamie, inasmuch as I only grow veg whereas she has flowers too.

    Horses for courses?

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    You were posting at the same time as me @Jamie DJay, so I didn't see your reasons for the beds. Kids eh?  I can see why you want the summerhouse/bar too! :D
    When mine were small, our garden was all sloping - in two directions, and raised beds were useful, especially when we extended, and added a deck, because it created a different space, and the raised areas were incorporated into it. I also found a small raised bed was useful for the girls if they wanted to 'garden' themselves. It's definitely worth considering that too. 
    It keeps the  little b*ggers away from your own stuff  ;)
    I don't have many pix of that garden, but this is the kind of thing we had. The decking below, forming the bed/terrace, was about 18 inches high, and there was a rectangular, level bit of grass below that, which was also slightly raised



    This is the left hand end of that bit, and it was just the return back to the steps which led from the deck down to ground level

    We used decking so that it all tied together, but that bed was holding back a fair bit of ground, so it was made with exterior ply, concreted in posts,  and just faced with the decking. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • zugeniezugenie Posts: 831
    If you have the space my neighbour has recently had raised beds made using oak sleepers and they look great!
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