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Standard Raised Beds - Planning and
Planting Information
To help you make the most of your raised beds - and
most importantly enjoy growing in them - we've compiled a list of
factors to consider when siting and filling your beds;
Raised beds can be placed directly onto soil, lawn
or paving.
The beds can be filled
directly with a fertile, organic rich, light & friable
topsoil/compost such as the vegetable and fruit
mix that we supply via our
partnership with Rolawn. Calculating the quantiy of soil you will
require to fill your beds is relatively simple; you just need to
multiply the length of your bed by the width and the depth and the
figure you arrive at is the amount of compost you'll need in
litres. To make things even easier; all the Rolawn soil we supply
is delivered in 1000 litre tote bags so you can tell immediately
how many bags you'll need to order. The example below should help
you with this;
2.4m long x
2.4m wide x 15cm
deep = 864 litres - 1 x 1000 litre tote bag
required
For the best growing results, we'd advise you to fill your
beds with 75% topsil and use a bulky organic matter - such as
farmyard manure or home-made compost - to make up the other 25%.
For more details on filling your raised bed, please contact
our horticulturist.
One of the benefits of a
raised bed is the fact you can tailor the growing medium to the
plants you are wishing to grow. For example you can use
ericaceous compost for acid loving plants or you may want to grow
carrots in sand.
If you want to increase the drainage
of your bed you can add a layer of gravel approximately 5cm /
2” deep at the base, but note that the level drainage will be
dictated mainly by the ground that the bed is sitting on. If
for example the bed is sitting on a free draining sandy soil you
may want to lay down a semi-permeable ground sheet beneath the bed
to reduce the drainage.
We've also produced a
quick guide to the depth of bed you'll need to grow favourite
Kitchen Garden crops. This list is by no means definitive but if
you're unsure of how many tiers to go for, the over-riding
advice is to go deeper - this gives you the flexibility to
grow a wider variation of vegetables in the future and also helps
with crop rotation.
Here's that list;
|
Vegetable
Type
|
Depth of
Bed Required
|
Number of
Tiers
|
|
Carrots
|
30/40cm
|
2 Tier at
least
|
|
Potatoes
|
30/40cm
|
2 Tier at
least
|
|
Parsnips
|
30/40cm
|
2 Tier at
least
|
|
Beans
|
15/20cm
|
1 Tier at
least
|
|
Peas
|
15/20cm
|
1 Tier at
least
|
|
Courgettes
|
15/20cm
|
1 Tier at
least
|
|
Beetroot
|
30/40cm
|
2 Tier at
least
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If you’d
like further information on the Standard Raised Beds, or would
like to discuss any feature of this product, please call our
Customer Services
Department on 0845 218
5301 or e-mail us at
enquiries@harrod.uk.com – we’d be
delighted to help!
What The Experts Say...
Raised beds are a great way to grow vegetables and
fruit: they look smart with instant well-defined edges, and can be
created relatively quickly, by lifting paving stones or turf in a
lawn, for instance, installing the surrounds and working in
well-rotted farmyard manure or garden compost. They are also
incredibly practical, as crops benefit from the increased depth of
uncompacted soil – all areas of the beds being accessible
from the paths. This also means that crops can be set closer
together than in open soil, vastly increasing the yield per square
metre… A middle of the range option in a variety of sizes and
heights with decorative capping comes from Harrod
Horticultural…
Gardening Life, Get the Look: Raised Beds,
Sunday Telegraph, 24 May 2009
Timber is a
slightly more elegant material, and Harrod Horticultural's new
allotment raised beds provide this from £12. Be aware however, that
to grow most root vegetables you will need to purchase at least two
tiers to provide sufficient height...
July Allotments (in
association with the National Society of Allotment and Leisure
Gardeners Ltd), Off the Peg Raised Beds, Grow Your Own magazine,
July 2009
Traditionally vegetables were grown in
long rows on flat soil, with spaces between the rows to allow for
easy harvesting, but this method takes up a fair bit of space.
However, by building raised beds you can grow a wide range of
produce in a much smaller area.
Get Ahead with Raised Beds, ‘Your Home’
magazine, April 2009
Recommended by the Windowsill Gardener in
Fresh Magazine, March 2009 issue - The Small-Space
Gardener: Raised Beds and Containers
The standard raised beds are very
impressive, easy to assemble and look like they would definitely
stand the test of time.
Steve Ott - Editor, Kitchen
Garden Magazine, February 2009
Listed as a recommended supplier of
raised beds in 'Growing
Veg for the First Time'; Garden News, January 27th
2009
View our helpful video clip
below:
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