A group of volunteers from Lloyds Bank get together Sydenham Garden to help build three huge raised beds in their poly burrow . They are expanding their cut flower grow enterprise and these new beds will give them about 40m2 of extra protected growing blank .
" Over the years , we have rectify our method for building raised bed . We employ 9 ” by 2 ” force per unit area deal timbre " , tell David Lloyd of Sydenham Garden . " Although this is quite expensive and so a magnanimous initial outlay , we ’ve found that it ’s deserving it in the tenacious run as it keeps its anatomy much good than thinner wood and does n’t show any significant preindication of rot for over 5 years . We fix the corners with 3 ” arris rail and run key supports every 2 meters or so with 2 ” by 4 ” to stop the shape bend out under the insistency of the soil .
" Accessibility of the bed was an significant factor when design them , and we were keen to make them accessible as potential . Therefore , we had to view the need of the various people who will be using them . We made the bed a maximum of 120 cm encompassing to make indisputable everybody could reach the centre . We raised the center one to 40cms high . This make it a niggling easier for multitude with back problem to work on . We have also give ourselves the option of conjure up the bed further . This would be useful if we ever have anybody who use a wheelchair working with us . ultimately , we left tract of 120 cm between the beds . This might feel like a tidy sum , and a bit of a waste of grow quad , but it is about the minimum to allow a wheelchair user to work comfortably .
" We have filled the beds with a mixture of top soil and constitutional mulch . Whilst this is hunky-dory as a base , we ’ve find that it can be a minuscule lifeless and that the plus of a small homemade garden compost helps bring in all the beneficial puppet need for healthy growth . So we will be adding some throughout winter .
" We are planting the beds with genus Ranunculus , anemone and over winter genus Antirrhinum for an other harvest next year . We have built in piddle points for irrigation with case-by-case timekeeper controls for each layer , as well as postal service for backing netting . I hope that these will be very low care bed let us to increase productivity whilst still maintaining the remedial look of the grow sphere . "
For more information : Sydenham Garden28a Wynell Road , London , SE23 2LW0208 2911650[email protected]www.sydenhamgarden.org.uk
