Bed H1 Nearly Completed

 

A trip to Tool Station to pick up the 5 x 70 T20 Structural Screws for building the next raised bed frame, then down on the allotment today which was Sunny bright and 11C. 

I started by decanting the 14 number 30L pots with handles worth of woodchip that I have been squirreling away for this very purpose in the bottom frame of the raised bed.

The next job was to cut the short 700mm lengths of Scaffold boards for the narrow parts of the frame, and predrill and screw the framework together on the improvised work bench that is beds 16 & 16 A        

In the photo above you can see the 4 number 2.4m lengths of boards that will make the raised bed H2 to its left.  Fellow plot holder Alex helped me lift the second frame onto the woodchip filled Bed H1 first frame. 

I then used short lengths of roofing batten and screws to tie the two frames together 

I then spread tree leaves over the woodchip and emptied all the 30L pots with handles of decanted soil into the top section of the raised bed, taking cared to spread the soil and remove any bindweed or mares tail roots that I may have missed when originally filling the pots up. 

I have more buckets of soil to decant in order to bring the soil up to the top of the bed, but I had extended my visit by and hour and a half past lunch time, and was quite frankly knackered, so collected my tools, and made my way home.  

The Oakland Garden 30L Plant Pot with Handles have been designed and manufactured with a dual-tier base system and drainage holes to prevent waterlogging and promote excellent drainage and thus healthy root growth, plus it stiffens up the base of the pot. I guess its the ex R&D and Structural Engineer in me that notices these kind of things.

What I hadn't taken into account was just how useful that profile is when lifting and decanting the woodchips and soil out into the raised beds. The Oakland pots are so much easier to grab, and tip out as the dual-tier base system gives areas for your fingers to get a grip and make handling and emptying easy. 

They are so much easier to handle and tip out, than the flat bottomed pots I have from other suppliers.