@jamiebrand19956AP2cmjK I've been doing my raised beds over the last couple of years, every time I put a new one in I start looking at the space for the next one 😂 currently got garlic, onions and broad beans that I hope to crop next month that I sowed in october. Garlic - I've read it likes well-drained soil but it gets its roots down into the clay and thrives! Sowings this spring, I've got parsnips, spring onions, lettuce, beetroot and different brassicas coming on plus other seedlings waiting to go out. I'm not very experienced, learning as I go, not everything's worked but the successes outweigh the odd failure 😂 I've found this forum fantastic, there's been quite a few times where I searched for advice and someone's already posted something that gave the answer.
Some years ago had a raised bad with similar structure:
It was pretty good! Definitely helped to fill tall beds by putting logs in it. We happened to have few people nearby that chopped some trees down. You may need to top it off a years later once logs break down completely.
When I moved in here last year there was one big raised bed out the back on clay soil with no membrane.
No issues with drainage and no weeds (apart from the usual suspects on the surface - bittercress etc).
The only issue was the wood rotting and it not being strong enough to hold the weight of the soil (middle sides on the longest lengths). It had been there for 4/5 years and was buckling both sides and I was able to pull it all apart by hand with no effort.
Protecting the wood and making sure it’s sufficiently secure would be the priorities for me rather than worrying about the clay. 👍🏼
This is how I started mine. They're all different sizes and shapes to give a uniform shape in the middle, as the boundaries are all angled and irregular.
All have a top edging as in the 3rd pic, as the beds are for ornamentals All lined in heavy duty plastic, especially important for the ones directly on soil like that last one. The plastic feeds under the bottom plank. The top ones are on what was the 'garden' - red chuckies, on top of red blaes and a thick layer of hardcore, over the sticky clay. None of mine have membrane at the bottom, they're directly onto the soil or the gravel. I had to lift turf elsewhere, so that's in the bottom of them all, then the rest is made up of soil, compost etc. They need topped up most years, so I use all the leftovers from annuals, and also home made compost when I have it. I'll be using the leaf mould too when it's ready. That's worth doing if you can get it. I have no deciduous trees in this garden, but I've got some from folk round the corner who are next to all the beech trees along the roadside, and the adjacent NT garden.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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It was pretty good! Definitely helped to fill tall beds by putting logs in it. We happened to have few people nearby that chopped some trees down. You may need to top it off a years later once logs break down completely.
This is how I started mine. They're all different sizes and shapes to give a uniform shape in the middle, as the boundaries are all angled and irregular.
All have a top edging as in the 3rd pic, as the beds are for ornamentals
All lined in heavy duty plastic, especially important for the ones directly on soil like that last one. The plastic feeds under the bottom plank.
The top ones are on what was the 'garden' - red chuckies, on top of red blaes and a thick layer of hardcore, over the sticky clay.
None of mine have membrane at the bottom, they're directly onto the soil or the gravel.
I had to lift turf elsewhere, so that's in the bottom of them all, then the rest is made up of soil, compost etc. They need topped up most years, so I use all the leftovers from annuals, and also home made compost when I have it. I'll be using the leaf mould too when it's ready. That's worth doing if you can get it. I have no deciduous trees in this garden, but I've got some from folk round the corner who are next to all the beech trees along the roadside, and the adjacent NT garden.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...