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Hi All,
First project I did after lockdown was to renovate my side yard. It was just a patch of crap grass . I have removed the grass and made two raised garden beds to grow some vegetables and make use of summers.
First thing first:: anything which involves digging and power tools needs proper protection, so please wear safety gear.
Also unless you are a true blood Aussie, 6Foot 5 inch tall and biceps rivalling Thor himself, please use light tools. For a 5 foot 6 inch midget like me, I would strongly recommend Ozito brushless drill and impact driver. Also only use 1.5 A battery. 3/4 A batteries are simply too heavy for larger projects and can quickly result in painful forearms.
My side yard is 12 meter X 3.5 meters, so I decided to make two raised beds each 12 meters long, 500 cm heigh and 800 cm wide.
For wood I choose ACQ Palings as the main retaining wall and ACQ treated 25 cm wide sleepers as the posts. Had used 22 posts and 87 Palings. You can see how many drill holes and screws I had to deal with, hence, emphasise on light tools.
For posts, I did not dig any hole or put concrete, just took 800 cm long posts and hammered half of it in the ground. They are rock solid. Make sure that you do not hammer the posts directly, instead put a scrap wood on top and then hammer, it safeguards the top of wood posts.
One side was wall, so I have put plastic to prevent water from being in constant touch with walls and possibly make it damp.
The space between the raised beds was covered with weed mats, followed by crushed stones, followed by paving sand, followed by pavers and topped up with round stones.
After:
Before:
Hi @abhayks,
It's great to see you're back into the D.I.Y. as soon as possible. What a fantastic transformation you've achieved there, the areas looking sensational, and I love what you've done with those garden beds.
We really appreciated you updating us on your projects around the house and garden and look forward to the next one.
Well done.
Mitchell
Personally, I wouldn't recommend you build-up against a house wall like that, with or without the plastic. There is a dampcourse run in your bricks a couple of courses up from the ground. This dampcourse prevents water from migrating up your brick wall and getting into the house. Your raised garden bed is against the wall above this dampcourse line. There's potential for moisture to penetrate the brickwork from the garden bed.
If you can head into a store, you'll find a variety of vegetables suitable for growing in the Sydney region. The nursery in-store will be stocked with seedlings ready to plant in your garden. We're pretty lucky here as it doesn't get too cold and there are only a few scorching days over Summer. There are not too many veggies that are not suitable for growing in Sydney.
Mitchell
Hi @abhayks
I share @MitchellMc's concern when it comes to moisture penetration in your brick wall. I suggest removing the soil in that raised garden that you've built and modifying your frame by putting a back wall to it. I suggest leaving at least 100mm between the back wall of your raised garden bed and the brick wall. This air gap should be enough to allow air to pass through and prevent moisture from reaching your house wall. I've drawn an example below.
If you need more advice or information, please let us know.
Eric
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