Whether to Repair My Existing Garden Bed or Remove It Entirely and Replace It with Galvanised Raised Steel Garden Beds?

• 

  AustriaBargain on 25/03/2023 - 23:11

  My landlord has a lot of garden beds and they are poorly made, they don't retain water very well, water just drains straight through it, required endless watering. If your garden beds weren't made with water retention in mind it might be more eco friendly to get some new ones. You can probably make your current beds retain water, but so long as you are ripping them up may as well get nice newy ones.

  • 

    Daniel Plainview on 27/03/2023 - 10:54

    +1

    Why do you want the 'garden bed' to retain the water? This is a feature of raised beds, excellent drainage vs in the ground - essentially the soil should be the ONLY part of it keeping moisture in (not the walls of the raised bed).

    Sounds to me like the soil itself is probably crap, low on organic material - in which case the bed construction is neither here nor there. Water running out of the bed isn't an issue - otherwise you're just making a giant fishtank, which is no good for nearly any plants.

• 

  Jimothy Wongingtons on 25/03/2023 - 23:22

  Well what kind of repairs are required for a start?

  If I had the time I would rip out my current back yard and replace with raised garden beds. Always liked the neatness of it but if I diy it would probably be a solid 5-7 day’s minimum of work..

  • 

    Rajgowda on 25/03/2023 - 23:30

    +1

    I have a timber wood garden bed which was put in by the old owners and its quite old, due to its age there are few bends in the wood due to overgrowth of plants. Not sure if the posts have to be replaced, either way as you mentioned DIY digging out the soil and repairing is solid work for 1 person.

  • 

    Muzeeb on 25/03/2023 - 23:47

    5-7 day’s minimum of work..

    10-14 day’s minimum of work..

    FTFY

    You forgot the 1:1 ratio

    1hr garden bed work : 1hr shit talking on ozbargain

    • 

      Jimothy Wongingtons on 25/03/2023 - 23:49

      Ah it’s too hot for this

      Puts feet back up on milk crate, leans back in chair and opens another can of xxxx

      • 

        Muzeeb on 25/03/2023 - 23:50

        If only KFC was still open at this hour.

        • 

          Jimothy Wongingtons on 25/03/2023 - 23:51

          @Muzeeb: Nah I had some left over from Friday night all g

          • 

            Muzeeb on 25/03/2023 - 23:53

            @Jimothy Wongingtons: All the flavours have matured overnight in the fridge. The grease has turned to a jelly like substance. Perfect.

            • 

              try2bhelpful on 26/03/2023 - 13:55

              @Muzeeb: Hodges talking about making Lemon Chicken by blending the left over KFC with the lemon towelettes. However you have to make sure they aren’t the lanolin ones because lanolin chicken tastes terrible.

• 

  Nugs on 26/03/2023 - 07:24

  +1

  I have made our raised beds from second hand corrugated fencing laid on their sides so around 750mm high. I've used timber on the outside to screw the tin to, so you might be able to repurpose your existing wood?
  Nothing 'wrong' with them, except I'm planning on converting to wicking beds before next summer to reduce the watering effort.
  .

• 

  ihbh on 26/03/2023 - 09:16

  +1

  What is the objective of your garden bed? Edible garden or non-edible?

  If edible, replace the timber; you don't know what treatment it's had (e.g. heat treated, chromated copper arsenate, etc.). Replace it for safety and aesthetics (which means you'll likely use it more). The timber will decompose eventually in land fill.

  Re the soil, don't need to dig out. Just add layers of compost on top of it.

  If water is a concern (esp. as we move into El Nino phase), consider wicking bed type setups.

  • 

    Rajgowda on 26/03/2023 - 11:51

    @ihbh your comments were super helpful! Thanks a bunch!

• 

  AngoraFish on 26/03/2023 - 10:36

  +1

  I assume that we're talking about something more structural than a bit of formboss https://www.formboss.com.au/

  If all you're talking about is edging, however, what you end up with is neither here nor there. Go with the look that suits you. It's not a great feel kneeling on or trying to work over a thin metal edge though.

  If you're talking something more structural, such as for raised vegie beds, I much prefer my garden beds to be well embedded into the site soil. Raising them too high means they will dry out quickly and you will get more extreme fluctuations in soil temperature. Metal, in particular, will suck heat out of the soil profile overnight and bake it during the day. For some species, a particularly cold night can set you back two full days growth, which adds up quickly if you get a run of cold evenings.

  Concrete, timber or even plastic edging will give you much less extreme variations in soil temperature, which is generally preferable for consistent plant growth.

  • 

    Rajgowda on 26/03/2023 - 11:45

    @AngoraFish Appreciate the valuable input mate. My garden bed needs more structural work.
    it seems the timber used by previous homeowners may have been treated, likely to support the growth of non-edible plants. To maintain safety, it would be wise to repair the garden bed and continue cultivating non-edible plants if not able to repair meaning cost involvement is high will remove the entire thing and get those galvanised raised steel garden beds and fresh soil and manure.

    • 

      AngoraFish on 26/03/2023 - 14:52

      It's very unlikely that a few decomposing CCA timber sleepers will have left any noticeable contamination in the soil.

      Bunnings-style Colorbond raised planters are fine, but the manufactured soils you fill them with are inevitably versions of potting mix. They're great for 3-4 years of regular use, after which they become dry, nutrient poor and extremely free draining. Turning through a bit more organic material at that point tends not to do much, normally you'd be better off just throwing the soil out and starting again.

      In my view you're better off working on improving your own soils by mixing through decomposed organics and (in the case of heavy clay soils) some coarse plumbing sand to improve soil structure. A lot of processes happen in healthy soils, including complex micro-organisms through to worms and the like, that you just don't see in manufactured soils.

      If you do go ahead with a raised planter, I'd recommend leaving the bottom open to encourage cross-colonization from the healthy parts of your natural soil profile to improve the growing media in your planter beds.

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  try2bhelpful on 26/03/2023 - 14:01

  +1

  Look into the concept of wicking beds.
  https://www.wickingbeds.com.au/about-wicking-beds/

  They require more work to setup but they give better results particularly with fruit and vegetables.

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  Sinnerator on 27/03/2023 - 08:29

  what about pavers with large pots for plants and interspersed with nice lawn/mondo-grass?