Building our first raised bed

Our aim was always going to be to grow lots of tasty fruit and vegetables in the garden here at Paddington House.

When we had the allotment whilst living at our previous address I clearly remember the back breaking slog of digging over the soil, forking in well rotted compost, getting on my hands and knees to sow the seeds and then.. having to get back up again!

Seeing as we are going to try and grow as much as possible at home before we reach the top of the allotment waiting list in our new parish, I wanted to ensure that vegetable growing here was as comfortable as possible.


I bought the raised bed from Harrod Horticulture. It measures 4ft x 4ft and is 2ft deep. I have put it behind the shed where it tucks in perfectly and I can easily access all areas of the bed without it being an obstacle in the garden.

One of the greatest fears that a new raised bed owner can have is that the cost of filling the thing with good quality material can often exceed the original cost of the bed. I did spend about £20 on 480 litres of compost, but if I had filled the bed purely with the stuff it would have exceeded that figure greatly.

I actually filled the bottom layer of the raised bed with turf which was left over from the border I created at the weekend. I turned it upside down and hopefully it will compost away under all of the layers of goodness I had to pay extra for.

I have cheated a little bit and I have bought 12 lettuce plug plants for £2 from the garden centre. I have put them in straight away and we should be harvesting fresh veg at Paddington House in absolutely no time at all. I also have an abundance of lavender, lots of strawberry plants, some gooseberry bushes, and 4 fruit trees to get in the ground too. Despite the joys of spring, roll on harvest time when we can taste all of our hard work's rewards!

Thanks for reading, don't forget to check back soon!

Martin