Raised Vegetable Beds

We are really getting into the garden with bells on now, so we have started preparing for the raised vegetable beds. We are making them out of "railway sleepers" - not real railway sleepers, but what passes for sleepers in our local garden center. They are a nice size = 200mm x 50mm, so should make for nice high beds. We can put on a second level for things like carrots which need deep roots, but for the moment we'll stick to one. 

This is the timber. We bough a load of 3m lengths to make a combination of 1m x 1m and 2m x 1m beds, so we borrowed John's mitre saw to cut them down to size. That thing goes through timber like it's cheese. 

This is what the 1m x 1m beds will look like. We haven't screwed them together, as the wood is really heavy. Richard will be installing them while we are at work, so I think they will be too heavy even for that superman to lift solo. With the pieces cut, he can make them as he goes, and hopefully that will be easier.

This is what the corners will look like. Butt joints, i think they are called. You simply lay the long end of one up against the short end of the next, and run a screw through the short side into the adjoining piece. We also have right angle brackets to screw the corners together from the inside, to give extra strength. When they are screwed together, they will line up nicely.

And here is the giant pile of timber ready to be assembled - enough for 2 1m x 1m beds, 2 2.4m x 1m beds and 4 2m x 1m beds. I think that should be plenty for all our fruit, veg and herb needs. We will reticulate each bed individually, so the water can be turned off when the bed is fallow. Mom reckons we'll be like the people in "The Good Life".