raised bed on patio brick

I recently purchased a home with a back yard that is concrete with patio blocks on top. I am considering trying to make raised beds of various heights for vegetable and flower gardening. Can raised bed be used sitting on this kind of structure, or do I need to tear up the bricks and concrete to get to some soil underneath. It seems to me that raised beds are just an extension of container gardening. Any advice is appreciated.

Reply to
pvava
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A few years ago, I made a raised bed for my mom, who is getting on in years... it's a simple 4'x 8' x 3'tall box constructed of miscellaneous

1x boards lag screwed to 6 4x4 upright posts. It sits on concrete, is filled with a mixture of the soil we built in the garden over a 40 year period (starting with mostly clay), and municipal compost. I added a drip irrigation system. Per square foot, the yield is better than the garden ever gave.

Personally, I don't think I'd build raised beds on concrete more shallowly than about 2.5 ft deep.

Kay

Reply to
Kay Lancaster

g'day,

raised beds can be done on concrete or brick slabs, all you realy ahve to do is ensure you creat drainage outlets, by not melding the raised beds edge to the cement under, and then i would suggest put a rubble layer down first, cover that with some old fly screen or shade cloth so it doesn't get clogged up, then sart layering your bedding medium.

i have some pics on my site 'building a garden', and also in the blog at

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suppose another analogy is that container gardening is an extension of raised bed gardening hey chuckle?

snipped With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

-- "Be Content With What You Have And May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In A World That You May Not Understand."

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Reply to
gardenlen

a container is a raised bed. it doesnt matter if it is square or round. it doesnt matter if it is 18" or 24" or 36" deep. the only difference is size the depth to the kind of plant, dont put a big tree in an

18" ALL c>But you didn't really address the original poster's questions.

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Reply to
dr-solo

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Reply to
dr-solo

height is proportional to WHAT is being planted. a foot of soil is fine for lettuce,

18" for tomatoes. I have NO "extra" dra>Some suggestions to consider:

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the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website. I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

Reply to
dr-solo

snipped-for-privacy@wi.rr.xx.com wrote

a container is a raised bed. it doesnt matter if it is square or round. it doesnt matter if it is 18" or 24" or 36" deep.

the only difference is size the depth to the kind of plant, dont put a big tree in an 18"

ALL containers need an irrigation system because of course there are holes for drainage and they will dry out faster than regular beds. and that doesnt differ if it is on concrete or not. Ingrid

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Obvious. But, once again, you didn't offer advise, especially the important differences between container gardening and what most people consider raised beds. Raised beds on concrete which mimic container gardening are quite different from conventional raised beds.

Hell, conventional gardening is really "container gardening" - it is just that the container is mighty damned big. :)

And, once again, your container gardening is very impressive. Especially the figs.

Quit arguing by picking at minutia and offer advise.

Gideon

Reply to
Gideon

snipped-for-privacy@wi.rr.xx.com wrote height is proportional to WHAT is being planted. a foot of soil is fine for lettuce, 18" for tomatoes.

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Now you are just being an intentional pain-in-the-ass. What is the difference between your comment above and my comments which you disparage: Have beds taller than normal. Look at suggestions for pot sizes for potted gardening. Some plants raised in pots have 18" or more of potting soil in which to grow.

Consider possible "raised beds within raised beds." The ends of your beds could be taller than the rest. Or you could have open-bottomed, soil-filled containers in the middle of your beds. That way a bed could support both shallow rooted and deeper rooted plants.

Can you read and comprehend?

Reply to
Gideon

They are up on blocks to see if less bending will equate to more care on my part :) I'm not too worried about them drying out, about one third the soil mix is vermiculite and it is a small garden that I get to every day. Though with the rain here in Massachusetts this year I'm more worried about drowning than drying. though there are lots of drainage holes in the beds to prevent that.

Reply to
your1joker

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