Getting ready for beds (From Blackpool Citizen)

Getting ready for beds

11:21am Thursday 26th April 2007

• Print
• Email
• Share

LAST week I wrote about groundwork for growing my own vegetables in a section of back garden.

This week, I will reveal the cost of that decision, along with how and where I bought all the various bits that go into making a small vegetable patch in a suburban garden.

Though my patch is only seven feet deep by 32 feet wide, I plan to intensively grow a wide selection of vegetables and some fruit.

Into that space I have placed five Link-a-Bord terracotta coloured four-foot square raised beds, four double-height for vegetables and one standard size for colourful plants, at a total of £169.20, plus four sets of hoops which can be used to support netting or fleece to protect plants against pests and frost, priced £40.

In Mel Bartholomew's book The All New Square Foot Garden: Grow More in Less Space, he maintains a six-inch depth is adequate for growing most vegetables.

I decided to double the height by fixing two of the kits together - making them 30 cms or 12in high. I think the greater depth will give me more flexibility in what I am able to grow.

I bought two Victorian-style potato barrels via the internet which came in a few pennies under £60, and have placed a compost bin on the lower level of the garden for the moment.

Through the local authority-subsidised WRAP recycling scheme, I bought two compost bins at £10 each (these cost about £34 each from garden centres).

I am still awaiting my rainwater butt, complete with stand and kit to tap into the downspout which cost £35 through the WRAP scheme - a saving of around £15 from the average garden centre price.

If you have difficulty in kneeling for long periods, the raised beds can be placed on sturdy trestles at waist-height so you can tend the plots without bending over.

The next step is to get hold of all the components for Mel's special compost mix he has worked out over the past 30 odd years.

It involves mixing peat moss, vermiculite and blended composts, in very specific quantities, which, Mel claims, means your square foot raised beds will never need digging or replenishing - except with good compost.

The running total so far is about £328 - and I still haven't bought the vermiculite, blended compost or peat moss yet.

Next week, I'll be filling the raised boxes with the special growing mix and I will then know the final cost.

Read all about the urban gardener on The Bolton News website at www.the boltonnews.co.uk

• Print
• Email
• Share