Raised beds on concrete?

[Housekat]

Hi all! I'm a real beginner when it comes to gardening and have been told that raised beds are the simplest way of growing some veggies. I'm looking at this one here: http://www.greenfingers.com/superstore/product.asp?dept_id=200486&pf_id=LS8809D

At the back of our garden we have a 'platform' where the previous owners had a shed or something, which has a concrete base. It's really not good for anything and I had the idea of putting a couple of raised beds there. The question is, can I put them on a concrete base, seeing that usually I guess earthworms etc would work their way into the raised bed from the ground, and presumably they can't do that with a concrete base?

Thanks in advance for your help! :heart

[mystweaver]

Container gardening works (even without earthworms), and I'm guessing that a raised bed on concrete would functionally be a large container garden.

I think it would work, but considering my entire garden drowned last year (containers + record rain = dead garden), I should probably just sit and listen. :)

[canadiyank]

I've seen things in magazines like that - bekah's right, it's basically large container gardening.

[Macky]

Pry or break up the concrete and build your bed. It'll be worth the trouble. I don't think many people really realize how extensive root systems get when they're allowed to grow the way they're meant to. It's not so much allowing worms to get up into the raised bed, it's more allowing roots to grow down, for proper drainage and allowing the biology of the natural soil work up into the (for all practical intents and purposes) the sterile medium you bring in for the raised bed. Yes, you could just treat it like a large container, but what happens if it doesn't work? With a container, you can just dump it out and do something different. With a raised bed, it's a little harder to change the plan. I would try to do it right the first time.

Raised beds are not the simplest way to grow things. They are one option.

[Housekat]

What would you suggest as an easier way then, keeping in mind that our entire garden is laid to lawn and paved (about half - half)?

[Macky]

Decide where you want to garden, rip up whatever is in the way (sod or concrete) and plant in the ground. :rockon

[Forsynthianicki]

As long as you have good drainage you should be fine.
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[Annainprogress]

If you check out April G's "Organique Girl" blog that's one on lasagne gardening which is effectively ignoring the underneath soil & building a raised bed

My back garden has concrete under it (find out last summer trying to get ground anchor in for swings) and my sweet peas took a long time to grow so I'm planning on using old planks & doing a raised section to make more soil/compost for roots to go down into. Digging it up is not an option cos it's a rental.

Oh, and my dad had raised bed on concrete growing up, he grew loads of veggies in it :tu

[JustMandy]

Look up straw bale gardening, it might be just the thing you need to do.

---------- Post added at 12:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 PM ----------

Here's one source:
http://www.beginner-gardening.com/straw-bale-gardening.html

[Macky]

Much of the nutrition in your vegetables are drawn up from the soil (ie. you'll get different nutrient content in the same variety of carrot grown in different soils). Not only is there little, if any, nutrition in straw (ranchers only feed it to livestock to increase fibre or spread out more-expensive grains, there's no nutrient value), then wouldn't vegetables grown in straw bales be equally low in nutrition? Also, wouldn't the decomposing bale rob the plants of nitrogen? I've never done it, so I'm wondering.

[Housekat]

Look up straw bale gardening, it might be just the thing you need to do.

---------- Post added at 12:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 PM ----------

Here's one source:
http://www.beginner-gardening.com/straw-bale-gardening.html

That's really interesting thank you! It's certainly worth considering.

I have found out since posting this that the raised area at the back is basically earth that's been encased in concrete around the sides, with paving slabs laid on the top :rockon which basically should mean that just taking off the paving slabs creates a raised bed at the back of our garden. Yay!

I'll just have to wait for a day where I feel strong (these are LARGE paving slabs) and start lifting and see what I find underneath. Might need to work some compost in but it's a lot better than I thought :)

[JustMandy]

Much of the nutrition in your vegetables are drawn up from the soil (ie. you'll get different nutrient content in the same variety of carrot grown in different soils). Not only is there little, if any, nutrition in straw (ranchers only feed it to livestock to increase fibre or spread out more-expensive grains, there's no nutrient value), then wouldn't vegetables grown in straw bales be equally low in nutrition? Also, wouldn't the decomposing bale rob the plants of nitrogen? I've never done it, so I'm wondering.

I think that you let it start composting, then when it's not hot you plant your plants...so that's where the nutrients come from. :shrug3 Straw isn't used for animal food, usually, because it's not, it's the scraps from food (the stem from the grain).

I sort of want to try it even though I have plenty of dirt. :P~

[Macky]

I ride horses and married into a mixed farm family (grain and beef cattle), so I'm quite familiar with various straws. ;) From what I know about composting, too... nutrients don't just show up because something has decomposed. If you look at an analysis of most compost, there aren't as many nutrients in it as is commonly thought. Compost does more for the tilth of the soil than for its nutrient content. Bettering the tilth often makes more nutrients available to the plant roots – nutrients that were in the soil, not necessarily the compost. It's all quite interesting. :) How well a plant grows doesn't always tell you how nutritious it is.

If the choice is between straw bale veggies or none at all, then I'm 100% behind the straw bales. If there remains the option of growing in soil, though, that will always be best. :tu

[sillybeans]

You might want to look into Square Foot Gardening... http://www.squarefootgardening.org/whatissfg#!__whatissfg

[tempus vernum]

We combined square foot gardening along with the method outlined in The Vegetable Gardener Bible
(http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=organic+vegetable+garden+bible&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en-us&prmd=ivns&resnum=3&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=15582225428915759877&sa=X&ei=BrCQTbpVlK2BB8jZtbQN&ved=0CFEQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers) which is wide beds and companion planting. It gives us the largest crop with the smallest space!