"Sally Thompson" wrote in message
al.net...
On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 17:54:09 +0000, covehithe wrote
(in article .com):

My mother has moved to a new house and wants to establish some raised
beds for veggies.
The previous owner has left approx 30 - 6" x 2" treated boards - never
got around to doing it.
The area in question is all lawn. I'm a a towney and got decking (sad
I know!) outside my backdoor and know nothing about raised beds. I'm
going to fix the planks in place but what do I do from there on in as
to preparation??
Do I have to remove all the grass, dig it
What do I put in the bed in the way of soil, compost etc.


We made life easier for ourselves by not digging out the grass. Get some
heavy duty cardboard boxes (try an electrical shop) and open them out on
top
of the grass so that it is all covered. Pile in quantities of well rotted
horse manure (free from a local stables/friend with a horse) and then add
some top soil. The cardboard will rot down and the worms will do the
rest.
You will have to top it up (ideally add some more manure over the winter)
because the level will probably sink.

when I did my last raised garden I simply trated it as my compost heap for a
few weeks, every thing simply went in there rather than the compost bin.
Kitchen scraps, leaves, lawn clippings, newspaper and cardboard, twigs, even
turf I had dug up to make a path etc etc. That provided the material to
evertually rot down and make a nice balanced compost. It did take some time
for it to compost mind. I did cheat a little and put a layer of compost I
trucked in for the initial planting. As the plants put down their roots they
had a nice layer of home made compost ready to greet them. That was
definately the slow way.

You can essentially put anything in from already made compost to the raw
ingredients, some mushroom compost, any turf from around the garden (put it
at the bottom so it won't grow up), layers of straw and manure. There is no
secret recipe, at least in my experience, apart from making sure it is a
balance of nutrients (nitrogen etc). It all depends on how long you want to
wait before you plant.

The cardboard suggestion is a good one or old hessian floor underlay can be
quite acceptable at keeping grass out (an old house being renovated or
perhaps a carept layer. Avoid new underlays, carpets etc as they may have
toxic crap in them which may, note I said may, taint your veges) It will
eventually rot away.

Good luck.