Do we need terram under my new veggie patch?
By Poppyplatt
East Sussex, United Kingdom
We have concreted a base ready for a shed etc, and created 3 x raised beds with scaffold boards. There was a large but neglected raised allotment that we have dug/weeded and moved the soil temporarily to make way for beds with space around them.
We are now ready to place the 3 x beds in position and fill with soil, the question is do we lay some membrane like terram over the plot first? or will this inhibit the drainage?
We will lay something around the beds and then place some decorative stones to stop any weeds and make the whole plot a little more attractive!
We would really appreciate any advice and will post photos of our progress very soon.
Thanks
- 17 Mar, 2009
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building raised beds
Answers
Im with Crafnutter on this one , If you look at my blog u will see that I built raised beds last year and I put a membrane under them , I have now doubled some of them in height and have been ripping out the membrane if I am workin on the soil, although it wont hinder drainage it will stop root crops reaching full potential eg parsnips etc, I would fork over the ground if you feel energetic before installing the raised bed. good luck Mac
18 Mar, 2009
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I don't mean to be rude, but why do you want a membrane? I can understand you don't want weeds growing, but you could use bagged compost and cover with wood chippings. To be honest, it does depend on what you're thinking of growing in the raised bed. Some plants like to be able to spread their roots, while others, like bedding plants, don't need too much depth. The membrane could stop roots going down into the soil. Covering with stones only makes sense if you're growing alpines or ornamental grasses. The stones could stop warmth from the sun getting thro' to the soil. I'm not an expert by any stretch of imagination, but I would be inclined not to use membrane.
18 Mar, 2009