Vegetable Planting

Material

There are many ways to construct the edges of a vegetable bed and many materials that can be utilised. These include lumber, brick, stone, metal and plastic My preference is to use lumber in the form of railway sleepers (or ties).

Construction

The big advantage of my chosen material is that the job is simple and easy to complete quickly, although you may need a friend to assist as the sleepers are heavy. It is the weight that keeps the sleepers basically in place.

Steps to take

Firstly see what sizes of sleeper, or similar lumber, are available from your local supplier. It is much easier to adjust the size of your vegetable bed than to cut the sleepers to length, although some cutting may be required. A standard size is 8ft x 8in x 2in but there are many variations. Some of my beds are two sleepers long and one sleeper wide while others are one sleeper by one half sleeper. It all depends upon fitting the bed to your available space.

Layout

Lay out string lines to mark the outside edges of your vegetable bed remember that the thickness of the sleeper will add to one of the edges.

Now simply lay the sleepers on edge to match the string lines. While the weight of the sleepers will generally keep them in place they can topple if grandchildren climb on them.

Securing the sleepers

Again there a different ways to secure the sleepers, using pegs hammered into the ground, nailing or screwing the corners or using metal brackets.

Completed bed

My preferred method utilizes galvanised metal brackets place around the corners and across any lengthwise joins. The sleepers are drilled with clearance holes to suit the brackets and galvanised bolts fitted and tightened.

Corner joint

This gives a secure construction while still allowing some movement for final position adjustment if required.

Sleeper to sleeper join