These ones are 2.4 metres long, by 20cm wide, and 10cm tall. Each one weighs 33.5kgs!
They are treated with preservative, but (allegedly) it is not the toxic sort of stuff that used to be used on railway sleepers, so my veggies should be OK.
Currently my plan is to build one double-height bed (with the sleepers standing on their narrow edges - i.e. 40cm tall) and see what it looks like, before committing to making any more. I may decide they are not right, and revert to my former style of bed, edged with 19mm-thick planks. With these sleepers I think I may be able to make something a little bit like the Woodblocx bed, but much cheaper. The plan is to make the bed 2.4 metres long x 1.2 metres wide - mainly because this entails the minimum amount of sawing. Cutting through one of those sleepers with a handsaw may be quite a difficult task!
If I make the new bed(s) that size, it will mean re-arranging the whole layout of my plot, so I will probably get rid of some or all of the paving-stones that currently surround it and form paths between the beds. To be honest, this is also overdue. Some of the paving-stones are about 15 years old and beginning to show their age. A lot of moss and algae grows on them so they do get quite slippery in Winter. They are also difficult and time-consuming to keep clean and tidy. I have bought some more shingle like that which already covers much of the rest of the garden, and this will replace the paving-stones.
This is a tonne (1000kgs) of shingle. The stones have a nominal diameter of 20mm. You can see that it is a pretty good match for the stuff I had laid down about 5 years ago.
This is what the plot looked like a few years ago, with the paving-stones in pristine condition, and the shingle looking new still:
This is the plot in July 2014. Look closely at the paving-stones at the left of the photo. Those are the 15-year-old ones.
So you can see that I am going to be busy. Best to get it done before the main growing-season starts though. If you're wondering how the wood and shingle got to be where it is, the delivery man put it there for me, lifting it over the garden wall with the crane on the back of his truck. Phew, that saved me a lot of work!
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| Woodblocx bed in the background |
Just want to leave you with an arty photo, showing the tree-rings in the sleepers. Can you work out how old my wood is??
Actually it looks as if some of the wood is a lot older than the rest. The rings on the top-left one are much more closely-packed, aren't they?
They should last long while and make lovely strong beds.
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait to see your new raised beds.
ReplyDeleteI like the paths made with paving stones but I can see what a job it must be to keep them in good condition, I'm sure the shingle will make things much easier. Sleepers should make great beds. I think you've got some work ahead of you.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, Jo. Those paving-slabs in a way define my plot. Lots of people see them as representative of the "orderliness" of the garden which is a characteristic of the way I operate!
DeleteAn easy way to clean paving slabs is to use a power washer (the water sort you clean cars with). It's amazing how much moss, algae and surface dirt is dislodged by the water spray, leaving the slabs a much better colour.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing the new beds develop - it's always fun watching someone else work!
Yes, I have one of those power washers. The trouble is that the surface of the paving-stones has deteriorated to the extent that the washer breaks up the surface too much. They have to go!
DeleteJust a thought - is the underneath of the slabs as weathered as the top. If not, could they be turned over, to last for a couple more seasons?
DeleteI can't wait to see your new raised bed. I want to see the update.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how quickly the pavers got mossy and green. In my dry climate it would likely require a couple of decades for them to get to that state, if ever. I'm looking forward to seeing the new and improved beds.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark,Impressed.
ReplyDeleteHave just been looking at the tape measure and 40 cm (15.75") tall are certainly proper raised beds! May need a bit of filling with soil/compost but should grow some good carrots and parsnips apart from everything else.
When I dug up my back garden lawns to put in raised beds ,several tonnes of pink shap granite chips for the paths were dumped outside my gate and I had to wheelbarrow it all round the back and then manhandle it in trugs up to the terraced plot!
Look forward to reading your updates.
It is just as well they managed to lift that shingle in place! We too have shingle around our raised beds. Your leeks and brussel sprouts in the previous post look so fresh and tasty! Sarah x
ReplyDeleteI'm with David - 15" raised beds will definitely give those long root crops some lovely soil to dig into.
ReplyDeleteI did the same thing in terms of cutting when making my raised beds, letting the size of the wood determine the size of my beds - a full length on either side and one half on both ends. Does make building the beds much easier. Unfortunately, it doesn't help with the other arduous (for me) task of actually filling the beds. But once it's done, what a sense of accomplishment it is!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI read your blog regularly and really enjoy it, but I'm not a regular commenter... nevertheless, I couldn't resist commenting on those tree rings... the fact that they are closely packed does not determinate their age; you can't estimate how much bigger the trunk was, as it was divided to quite a few sleepers (depending on the tree's circumference...). From the other hand, you can tell that the tree which produced the top-left one was growing much slower than the other ones, e.g. two others on the left - this could be caused especially by cold weather or generally some harsh climate conditions...
Just as a side note - did you know that famous Stradivarius violins are suspected to be so good because of the fact that in XVII centuary the climat was noticeably colder (because of the so-called Little Ice Age), causing the trees to grow much slower, without the pronounced difference in thickness between summer and winter growth rings? This regularity in wood structure could affect its acoustic properties.
That's interesting about the wood for the violins - you've got me thinking that I need to go and do a bit more reading up on their manufacture.
DeleteExcellent - a building project for me to enjoy vicariously whicle I await a spring thaw
ReplyDelete