This is our latest experiment on the farm, we wanted some raised beds but the cost and longevity of using timber plus the idea of tantalised chemicals leaching into our organic beds caused us to look a little further.
At a recent farm sale we purchased 3 galvanised cattle drinkers for £35 each, we then drilled 4 X 3/4″holes in each for drainage and lined the bottom with upturned old guttering and placed a mesh across, we then lined with a webbed me brain and topped with a 3 inch layer of gravel with a further layer of webbed membrane before topping with soil, grit pig chicken and sheep manure and a garden compost sourced from our local tip £4.50 for 2.5 tonnes.
We have stripped out the water float valves but left the housing which will be ideal for lavender plants to draw in the bees.
We anticipate that this will need topping up as the sub base rots down but the vegetables will have warmth, drainage and access to an abundant supply of nutrients. Apologies for the drawing below but you should get the general idea.
Please follow this blog to see how we grow later in the season.
