Filling up the raised bed

 Start with some old logs and bark

Add some well rotted grass clippings

Then the remains of the runner bean plants and the contents of the troughs they grew in.

 

Hoping for some rain now to settle that lot down a bit.

I have some more compost to go on top which the courgettes are currently growing in.

Raised bed in final position. A weed suppressing mat was laid underneath and around the outside and pine needles saved from the pine tree before it was felled were spread on top.

 

Those Douglas Fir and Black Pine logs were cut by a local sawmill for €65 euros. The spruce was not planked as was not wide enough

Stacked up outside the barn.

I had to buy a draw knife from ebay to help with the bark stripping. This would have been a doddle when the wood was freshly cut but after just a few months the bark is dry and stuck like glue.

The joints are called half dovetail notches and with the help of this template were not too difficult to cut. Although extreme care when marking and measuring was required. Working with live edge boards made life difficult as there was no uniform width but the finished affect was worth the aggro.

 

All the joints were cut by hand outdoors as at 2.2 metres the boards were too long for the workshop. A folding Japanese kabata saw was a doddle to use for both cross cut and rip cuts. A folding saw helped to protect the fragile but very sharp teeth while not in use.

The top boards needed one uniform square bottom edge and the top boards a slightly angled uniform top edge to do this meant taking the bandsaw outside.

The finished raised bed is at a height that should make it easy for Claire to use it without having to bend or kneel. I will line the sides with a waterproof material leaving the ends open for drainage probably with some added wire mesh to stop the soil falling out. And moisture trapped between the waterproof material and the boards should escape through the gaps between the boards.