Raised vegetable garden

[Meling]

Hi , raised vege garden 

Sleepers non arsenic 

2400 x 1000 x 600

carriage bolts 

galvanised screws 

irrigation tubing 

bird netting 

1 and 1/4 cubic vege soil 

approximately $300 

Purchased everything from Bunnings 

 

 

 

 

[GL]

I am wondering what you used stop grass growing under your garden. I am going to start a raised vegie garden on a grassed area and could you recomend a weed barrier that will stop the grass from invading the garden.

Thank you 

Gina

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community Gina (@GL). It's fantastic to have you join us, and many thanks for your question.

Let me mention @Meling to see if they can let you know if a weed matting was necessary. I'd hazard a guess to say the grass under the garden bed will die back relatively quickly and not be able to grow up through the soil.

You should find these step-by-step guides useful: 

• How to build a raised garden bed by @Adam_W.

• How to fill a raised garden bed by @Noelle.

You'll notice that in both the guides, they use geotextile matting or weed matting, which stops sediment from escaping the garden bed and prevents weeds and grass from growing up through it.

Please let me know if you need further assistance or have questions.

Mitchell

[Adam_W]

Hi @GL & welcome.
If the soil is going to be 200mm or deeper then most grasses wont grow back up however... some of the more vigorous & persistent varieties like couch or kikuyu may still punch through.
You can use a geotextile-type weedmat barrier. Just make sure it's one made for the purpose & never use builders plastic. Only problem with these type of fabrics is that you are restricting your root depth to whatever point the barrier is at so this may be a problem with some of the roots vegetable like carrots.
Another option is to use cardboard or newspaper.  Never use glossy of either as they don't breakdown as well.
Cardboard you'll generally only need one layer thick (make sure you remove any staples or tape) and newspaper should be 6 to 8 layers thick.

Wet the soil or grass, lay the cardboard or paper right up to the edge, or poke under if you can, then water until saturated and back-fill with soil.

Either will persist long enough to prevent grass getting through & then they'll breakdown to good organic matter.

[Meling]

@GL 

Hello, I used some old shade cloth across the bottom. Seems to have kept the grass from growing up through to the top 

thanks for the interest 

Mel 

[Frank5]

Is it preferable to use the gal steel corners instead of bolts or screws

[MitchellMc]

Both the steel corners and screwing have been methods used for many years now @Frank5. Although the steel corners need to be concreted into the ground, the installation of the sleepers into them is easier. If you are only building a garden bed one sleeper high, I'd stick with bolts/screws. If it is any higher than two or three, the steel corners would be the way to go.

If you haven't seen them already, here's a few of helpful step-by-step guides: How to build a simple raised garden bed, How to build a raised garden bed, and How to fill a raised garden bed.

Please let us know if you have further questions.

Mitchell