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in case there are any builders here, i'm thinking of building waist high raised beds for the garden and looked at various options. wood and brick are too expensive so i'm considering 4" concrete blocks with internal strengtheners along the length. then using tanking material to line the inside to keep the moisture in. the external finish will be painted rendering. breeze blocks are too bulky. any thoughts?

old scaffold planks can be had cheap and are easy to works with. also easy to move/remove if you have to.

i've used scaffold planks for a low veg bed but the bed i'm building is an L shape, 3m x 4m so there would be too much flex

Concrete posts and gravel boards? If you can get atm. However if waist high and filled with soil there will be some weight there.
I know "sleepers" are expensive but might be a better option, aesthetically, and maybe lower the height a bit?

If you do go down the route of concrete block I would consider using fair faced ones and painting the face, no render. The water will penetrate and it will crack, if not from inside from above. Just my 2d worth

my wife's an old crock and cant kneel anymore, so she makes the decisions in this house! including how much i'm allowed to spend on bikes...

she wants it plastered smooth like the latest fashion. i will put a coping stone along the top to prevent water creeping in but i'm hoping the tanking slurry will seal everything in

haynesjones66 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:07 am i've used scaffold planks for a low veg bed but the bed i'm building is an L shape, 3m x 4m so there would be too much flex

I built three beds 3.5 metres by 1.5 metres, out of 30mm by 150mm boards. Softwood, but I treated them before assembling. To stop them flexing apart I drilled counterbored vertical holes at two points on each long side and screwed coach bolts in through each section as I went up.

I lined with weed suppressant plastic sheet, and used 2" by 2" angle iron at the corners, left it a foot longer than the wood and drove it into the ground to fix it down.

I found that the beds are too wide, though. You can't lean into the centre easily, and have to work from cross boards. Because the soil is lower that the side height you end up bending down anyway. If I was going to build more I'd stick to 1metre wide.

Well sounds to me like your on it, but how the bitumen WHY effects the plants might not be so good.
The curse of SWMBO I do suffer, but admittedly not as bad as some

she's very demanding

More comfy than a breeze block



Seriously though, ideas with different materials

https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/20-diy- ... d-gardens/

Cheap as you can get

https://www.instructables.com/Raised-Pl ... m-Pallets/

Or an incentitve to burn through tyres - the more you ride the higher it gets!

If your going waist high in blocks your going to need a good foundation or they will move, then fall over.
Timber is your friend here, scaffold boards are amazingly strong and if you double up you can sandwiche the waterproof membrane between them. If you can, get some scaffold poles and clamps, make your frame up from scaffold poles and attach boards to it in the inside. You can overlap alternative layers of the boards at the corners to add strength. Can be painted any colour you like., sorry, any colour she likes.

thanks for all your ideas, especially the amazon one! i'll make some suggestion when SWMBO has bought some bargains in the sales. she'll be in a good mood then