On Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:02:31 +0100, Tom Gardner wrote:

David.WE.Roberts wrote:
On Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:47:35 +0100, damduck-egg wrote:

On 2 Jun 2013 17:58:42 GMT, "David.WE.Roberts"
wrote:

Just to note in passing :-)

Our back garden is due to transition from grass to hard landscaping
sometime in the next 12 months or so.

Therefore no incentive to prepare borders for flowers and vegetables.

I've had my eye on some 'raised bed' plastic bags sold in various
places,
and saw some - roughly 1m by 1m - for sale 2 for £5 in a local shop.

Well, for £10 I would get four raised beds which would do this year
and then could be taken down in the winter or whenever we start the
transformation.


As you noted the bags are about the cheapest part of the exercise ,
but a free alternative can be the bags that builders materials are
delivered in. They are often designated one use for safety reasons
after craning them off delivery vehicles so many can be found around
builders sites ready to be dumped and free for the asking. For raised
bed use you need to roll the sides down ,as they come they make
excellent bags for garden rubbish ,compost and making leaf mould in.
G.Harman

We have more builders bags than you can shake several sticks at, but
the base area is smaller and there is an awful lot of side to roll down
to get a low bed.

So in this case at £2.50 a pop the purpose made ones seem a better bet.

FYI from Ikea at 40p each including handles
FRAKTA Carrier bag, medium Length: 45 cm Depth: 18 cm Height: 45 cm
FRAKTA Carrier bag, large Length: 55 cm Depth: 37 cm Height: 35 cm
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/?query=bag

To get the same surface area for planting you would need 6 of the larger
bags at £0.40p which saves you £0.10p. Plus, of course, any postage/
transport costs from Ikea would push the price up quite a bit.

You also don't get a large continuous bed.

Cheers

Dave R