Box beds look neater than ordinary ones, the soil from them does not wash away, and the walls protect against pests and weeds. Wood is most often used as fencing, but other materials, such as asbestos-cement slate, have also proven themselves. How to make beds from slate with your own hands?
Advantages of slate beds
The main advantage of slate over wooden materials for making beds - the fact that it is not subject to rotting, which means it will last longer. In addition, rodents do not like slate. Slate weighs little, so moving the material from place to place or replacing a damaged area is easy. This inexpensive material, which is not difficult to find on sale.
Slate can be regular or colored, which will become an additional decoration for the garden. Even beds made of ordinary gray slate look quite aesthetically pleasing, since the material is easy to cut according to the required dimensions, the structures are smooth and geometrically stable. Slate fencing protects against pests, in particular mole crickets, and weeds.
Slate beds are made various shapes: rectangular, polygonal, square. Can be used both wavy and flat roofing material. A slate bed can be not only a place for growing vegetables, herbs, flowers and berries, but also a decoration for the area, because it can be made of any shape, painted in suitable color and add flower beds and flowerpots. The photo shows do-it-yourself slate beds.
To increase the service life of slate, it can be painted; it is better to use quick-drying paints for this. acrylic paints or paints such as liquid plastic. It is also recommended to paint the slate if you are concerned about asbestos escaping from the slate, which is harmful to health.
The disadvantages of slate beds are the fragility of this material; it is afraid of impacts and strong bends. Slate also heats up more strongly in the sun than wood, so moisture from the ground evaporates more than in the case of wooden box beds.
How to make a bed from slate with your own hands? You will need
- slate,
- rope and pegs for marking,
- bayonet shovel,
- crushed stone,
- grinder for sawing slate,
- fertile soil.
The width can be from 20 to 120 cm, the length can be any. Not only slate, but also other beds are best located from east to west. This ensures the most even illumination by the sun. The fence is deepened into the ground by at least 40 cm so that it is stable.
The passages between the beds are sown with lawn or strengthened in another way so that the soil does not erode. You can cover them with sawdust or lay them out in slabs to prevent weeds from growing.
Made from wavy plates
First, the slate is cut into plates required size along or across the wave.
Using a rope with pegs, mark the bed, dig a trench approximately half the depth of the plate and water well.
Slate sheets are installed and reinforced on both sides with pegs or pieces of reinforcement. Check the diagonals to ensure the bed is level. The sheets are installed with an overlap of at least one wave.
The slate is lightly pressed into the ground; for this, it is placed on the upper edge wooden block and press lightly on it. The trench is filled with soil and compacted.
It is important to remember that with a horizontal arrangement of waves, plants can send shoots along the depressions in the plate, which is not always desirable. Also, when digging the beds, you need to be careful not to break the plate. It is better to place the plates in waves perpendicular to the ground, this will make it easier to connect the plates.
From flat slate
For beds made of flat slate, it is convenient to use sheets measuring 1.75 m. They are cut into two parts: 1 m long and 75 cm long. To connect such plates, metal plates and corners are needed. The plates are connected with bolts; to do this, you need to drill holes in them. If you use self-tapping screws or screws with sharp ends, you can cover them with bottle caps.
It is also necessary to paint the corners or coat them with an anti-corrosion compound. After they dry, you can fill the fence with soil or compost.
You cannot drive slate plates into the ground, this brittle material, which may break. They are installed in a trench, covered with earth and compacted. Pegs are used for fastening.
How to cut slate
Slate is available in large sheets up to 3 m long, so such sheets will have to be cut to make beds. This is best done with a grinder. Diamond discs or discs for working on stone are used, the latter are cheaper.
If there is no electricity on the site, then you can cut and hand saw, including a hacksaw for wood, but this method is more dangerous, and after work, most likely, you will have to throw away the saw. You can use a foam concrete saw, but it is more expensive.
If we cut with a hand saw, one person must hold a sheet of slate, which is not always convenient due to large sizes leaf.
Important! When sawing asbestos-cement slate asbestos dust is released, breathing which is harmful to health. Therefore, you need to work in glasses and a respirator and position yourself so that the dust is blown away by the wind.
To prevent dust from flying around the area, when one person is sawing slate, the second person waters the cutting area with water from a bottle with a hole in the lid (in a thin stream). If there are no assistants, you need to put a wet rag on the cut site for several hours.
If you are sawing across the waves, it is convenient to first saw through their tops and then connect the holes.
Raised beds
Tall boxes are suitable for infertile soil. In such beds-boxes you can create nutrient soil using compost, humus and fertilizers and get a good harvest. The beds are usually made in the following sizes:
- width - up to 1.3 m,
- height - about 70 cm,
- length - up to 10-11 m.
Such structures are good because they can easily adjust the composition and thickness of the soil layer depending on the plants being planted. Thanks to this individual selection of conditions, plants will be less affected various diseases and pests.
It is also convenient to make high beds made of slate in areas with uneven surfaces. The soil inside such boxes remains loose and is not washed away by rain or when watering; there is no need to dig up the entire garden every year, just loosen the soil in the beds. You can even grow cucumbers, tomatoes and climbing plants, they hang outward from the fences, so there is no need to prop them up or tie them up.
The disadvantage of such structures is that perennial plants After a few years it may become crowded, so you need to plan to place them with plenty of space or replant them.
The soil in high beds consists of several layers:
- metal mesh against rodents,
- wood waste (sawdust, shavings, chips),
- humus, compost,
- peat,
- previously removed fertile soil.
Due to this composition and the ongoing decay of plant residues, the temperature in the beds is slightly higher than the temperature of the soil next to it, so the yield will be higher and less fertilizer may be required. On average, such soil is enough for 5 years of growing vegetables, after which it is changed. It is easy to create a greenhouse from a high bed if you cover it plastic film or other covering material.
For strength, a bed with a height of more than 40 cm must be tied with wire. To do this, drill holes in the opposite walls of the bed, pull a wire through them and twist its ends. You need to be careful not to overtighten the wire and break the slate. The beds are also strengthened by driving in around the edges. metal pipes, which need to be buried 40 cm into the soil.
The video shows how to do it warm beds from slate:
Beds according to Mittleider
How to make beds from slate according to Mittleider, for example, for strawberries, carrots, beets, herbs and other plants. They are made 45 cm wide, and row spacing is 90 cm wide.
The bed is arranged as follows:
- pour a layer of 20 cm of sawdust, shavings or wood chips,
- Fertile soil is poured on top.
Sawdust is needed to retain moisture and as fertilizer. Thanks to them, the top layers of soil crack less, and cracks increase the evaporation of moisture from the ground.
With such a width of the beds, the plants are located freely, thanks to which they develop well and it is also easy to remove weeds. Also, with a free arrangement, the roots are less susceptible to rot and other diseases.
The soil between the rows is well compacted. Mittleider does not recommend laying them with tiles, as the roots of weeds may remain under it.
Slate beds are a convenient and not very difficult to construct option for beds with fencing. They not only increase the yield, but also serve as a decoration for the site due to their neat appearance.
Every gardener knows how tedious it can be to build beds on his own plot, since giving the beds the required size and shape, preparing the soil and final finishing beds are very labor intensive steps. One of the favorite types of beds for those who like to “dig” into the ground are raised beds made of slate. And we’ll talk about how to build them in our article.
Gardening enthusiasts try to organize their property in such a way as to minimize labor costs for their construction, while saving precious seasonal time and their money.
This is where slate shows its best qualities:
- Firstly, this material is very durable because it is not subject to rotting when in contact with organic matter.
- Secondly, slate for beds is also suitable with aesthetic point sight, as it looks quite attractive on them.
- Thirdly, the material is easy to use.
If we talk about the disadvantages of slate as a material for beds, then some sources insist on the not entirely favorable effect of asbestos cement on soil quality.
It is not entirely clear how harmful such a neighborhood is. However, many gardeners note the fact that slate sheets, by digging to a considerable depth, protect the crop from mole crickets.
In addition, a disadvantage may include the fact that when the outer part of the slate (as on) is heated in the sun, it also heats up. inner part, which leads to accelerated evaporation of moisture from the soil.
In other words, using slate beds will require more frequent watering.
Slate for beds can be used in both classic wavy and flat shapes.
Construction of beds from wavy and flat slate sheets
Wave slate beds
From wavy slate sheets It’s very easy to build beds:
- Using a grinder, pieces of slate of the required size are cut across the waves.
- Dig a shallow trench around the perimeter of the proposed bed.
- Place cut plates in the trench.
- Sprinkle the slate with soil on each side and compact it to make it more stable. If necessary, the sheets are reinforced on both sides with metal pegs.
A good option when setting up a vegetable garden can be flat slate for beds. It is laid out as follows:
- A sheet of flat slate is usually 1.75 m long. At the same time, in order to avoid waste during work, it is better to divide them in half or into parts of 1 and 0.75 m. Accordingly, this will be the width of your future beds.
- To avoid the “spreading” of the beds, the slate sheets must be fastened together. To do this, use scrap metal corners.
- The corners are cut to size, holes are drilled in them for bolts, and they are painted to protect them from corrosion.
Flat slate beds laid in this way will be raised above ground level by about 10 cm, and this will significantly improve the heating of the soil in the bed, while slate buried 15-20 cm into the ground will become a real protection against the penetration of roots into the beds.
You can attach slate sheets to each other using other methods. For example, using an aluminum corner attached to slate using self-tapping screws.
And to avoid scratching your hands on the ends of the screws protruding from the corner, you can screw ordinary caps from plastic bottles onto them.
Advice! To avoid damage to the slate, it should not be driven into the ground, but a trench should be prepared first. Otherwise, pebbles encountered along the path of the sheet may destroy it.
How to make beautiful beds
A method for strengthening the walls of beds made of flat slate
In order for the beds to become a decoration of your garden, you must comply with the following rules: simple rules. Components beautiful garden beds are its shape, size and color, which are selected at the discretion of the owner.
Rules for creating beautiful raised beds:
- They are located in the direction from east to west.
- The width of the beds is arranged up to 160 cm, and the height – up to 70 cm.
- The beds also need fencing. They are reinforced with slate walls, pre-painted in some beautiful bright color, deepened into the ground by about 40 cm.
- The space between the completed beds is sown with lawn.
You need to care for such beds in the same way as regular ones.
Such a bed or even a slate flowerbed is used for growing annual plants and flowers, since the soil in it freezes just as well in winter as it warms up in warm weather.
Setting up a high bed
Typically, high beds in the garden are made quite long - up to 10-11 m, while their width and height reach 1.3 and 0.7-0.8 m, respectively.
When installing supports for the walls of a high bed, a recess of up to 40-50 cm is made.
Can be used as walls various types materials, however, wavy slate is still considered more aesthetically pleasing, more durable and more affordable.
Before digging a trench, mark the future bed so that it has the shape of a regular rectangle. Moreover, the beds can be made in other shapes depending on the shape and size of the site.
Most fertile top layer soil is poured into a separate pile for the purpose of its further use when forming the top layer of the bed.
Upon completion of digging the trench in vertical position install wavy slate with the next sheet overlapping one wave. The trench is covered with earth and after compacting it, metal stakes are driven in on both sides of the sheets to strengthen the walls.
You can achieve the required shape of a slate flowerbed using metal pegs, which at the same time impart rigidity to the structure
After installing the walls, they begin to gradually add organic filler to the bed: first with brushwood, wood chocks and compost, and then with chernozem.
As each subsequent layer is laid, the previous one is lightly compacted and watered.
When the soil level in the bed reaches 30-40 cm above the main ground level, holes are made in the opposite slate walls through which steel wire for screed.
Advice! The twist is pulled until the wire stretches into a string. However, do not overdo it as you may break the slate.
Beds made using the above methods will be able to provide more high temperature soil (by about 2-4 degrees) in comparison with the horizontal layers of ordinary beds.
Through this, the processes of decay in the soil organic matter will be accelerated, and substances beneficial to plants will appear in it more actively. All this will certainly have a positive effect on the activity of plant growth in the beds and increase the yield of vegetables.
And before you make this kind of beds, think about whether it will pay off future harvest on these beds, the funds and efforts spent on their construction.
Neat garden beds are the key to getting good harvest. They additionally decorate the yard and make it easier to carry out earthworks. Permanent slate planters can be used every season, but how long they last depends on the strength of the material, its resistance to constant moisture conditions and the strength of the plant roots.
Slate for beautifying a summer cottage can be used new or left over. construction work.
Its advantages when arranging beds and flower beds are:
- Affordable price;
- Long-term operation;
- Geometric stability;
- Ease of use;
- Protection from pests that damage roots.
The disadvantage of slate sheets is the content of asbestos cement, a substance harmful to the soil. Nevertheless, it is precisely this kind of fence that reliably protects the crop from mole crickets and the invasion of weeds. The owner must also take into account that the slate overheats in hot weather and takes moisture from the fertile soil layer. To eliminate this negative point, you will have to regularly water the soil.
Generally negative aspects slate beds have few, so they can be considered the best option design of personal territory. It is recommended to grow in them annual plants, since in the cold season the soils in the created flower beds freeze.
Rules for arranging beds
For rapid growth plantings and good development beds must be located in accordance with certain rules:
- Lay out flower beds from east to west to allow plants to absorb as much as possible. sunlight during the day.
- Deepen the fencing sheets by 10 - 20 cm.
- Maintain the width of the beds within 20 – 120 cm (they are easier to process). There are no restrictions on length.
In addition to slate and soil, the owner will additionally need crushed stone and mulch, a tape measure and level, a grinder and a bayonet shovel. Marking of plantations in the chosen direction is carried out using pegs and rope.
Preparing slate for work
To create beds, wavy slate plates must be cut into strips in height. To do this, you need a circular saw with an attachment for working on stone. Standard Sheet takes up 1 m 75 cm in length. It is cut horizontally into as many pieces as required to fully immerse the sides of the bed. To make the cut even, mark with chalk. If there is no grinder or conditions for connecting it to the electrical network, the slate is cut with an old unnecessary saw, wetting the cut area with water.
Next they work on the soil. A narrow trench is dug along the perimeter of the future plantation and watered thoroughly. Prepared pieces of fencing material are inserted into the ditch. For stability, they are reinforced on both sides with posts made of reinforcement. The sheets are arranged with an overlap of at least 1 wave, a wooden block is placed on the upper edge and the material is lightly pressed.
The evenness of the walls is controlled by a level in two directions - along the length and diagonally. As necessary, part of the soil is removed from the surface. The trench is then backfilled and compacted, leaving the slate strips in place.
Flat slate plantations
When working with flat sheets, proceed as follows:
- The slate is cut either into two identical parts, or into pieces of 1 m and 75 cm. The choice can be any; only the width of the beds depends on the cutting option.
- To avoid spreading, the material is fastened together with scraps of metal corner. For this purpose, holes are made in the cut corners for bolts and the parts are treated with an anti-corrosion coating.
- Installation work is carried out carefully so as not to damage the slate or injure your hands. For safety, the protruding corners of the screws can be hidden under bottle caps.
The row spacing is compacted tightly. Free areas are concreted and sprinkled with gravel. Slate beds, “diluted” with lawn grass, look beautiful. If the owner plans to plant grass in empty spaces, the areas between the rows should be wide enough (at narrow areas Vegetation is inconvenient to mow with a trimmer).
Raised beds made of slate sheets
Let's look at how to make a raised bed. First, let's remember its parameters:
- Length – 10 m;
- Width – 1 m 30 cm;
- Height – 70 – 80 cm;
- The height of the immersed part of the slate is 40 – 50 cm.
We dig a trench around the perimeter of the bed, remove the fertile top of the soil and set it aside. We install the slate sheet strictly vertically. For a wavy fabric, make an allowance for 1 wave. Fill the trench with soil and compact it thoroughly. Secure fastening We secure the sheets with iron pins.
At the next stage, we are engaged in layer-by-layer laying out fertilizers. We do this in the following order:
- We cover the bottom with a metal mesh to protect against rodents;
- We lay out wood and cellulose waste;
- Create a layer of sawdust;
- We crush with vegetable waste;
- Spread peat or unripe compost;
- We place the previously removed fertile soil.
Water each layer with water and compact it well. For beds over 40 cm high, use a wire tie. After drilling holes in opposite sides of the ridge, pull a steel thread through them.
What are the advantages of raised beds made of slate? The owner will find many positive aspects in them that will help increase the yield. Firstly, good drainage will prevent water from stagnating, and the gardener will be able to control the composition of the soil and add substances beneficial to plants.
It is difficult not to notice a high bed, so the plantings will be more protected from trampling. At the same time, the soil remains loose and receives a sufficient amount of air. If there is a good layer of compost, tall slate plantations will better maintain the temperature within the fenced area (the surrounding soil will remain cooler at this time). For this reason, they are also called warm beds.
For residents of cold regions, this provides an undeniable advantage. Seedlings can be placed in heated soil earlier. Plants take root and adapt faster street conditions. The harvest ripens earlier and pleases with abundance. If climbing plants grow in the beds, it is not necessary to tie them up. As they grow, they will hang down on their own.
How high should the beds be? It depends on the quality of the soil. In fertile areas, the structure does not need to be raised high. Warm compost beds require at least 50 cm. In case of unexpected frosts, it is recommended to insulate the structures with plastic film.
Caring for slate beds
The finished beds must be well watered. Moisture will accelerate the process of decay of fertilizers, and heat and minerals necessary for plant development will begin to be released into the soil. Abundant Harvest plants in a created warm bed will produce 5 years. Subsequently, new nutritional reserves will have to be created. It is advisable to saturate the beds in the fall so that they gain strength before spring. If you want to create a greenhouse, the beds are simply covered with polyethylene.
Compared to low slate beds, tall plantations produce a larger yield. And if you’re going to improve your garden, it’s better to use warm slate zones. If desired, the plates can be painted before starting work, and then summer cottage plot will be not only useful, but also attractive in decoratively.
Every year, gardeners and summer residents wonder what is the best material to make strips for garden beds from. So, today the most practical and economical material is strips made of flat slate; you can buy such strips in our online store at the most favorable price. It is worth noting that when proper arrangement In your garden, using this material, you can protect your crops from pests, as well as accelerate plant growth.
Advantages:
· The service life of this material reaches 50 years, which can be considered a huge advantage.
· Reasonable price.
· Nice appearance garden territory.
· Installing strips does not require any knowledge or experience, that is, you can create the fencing yourself. IN special care doesn't need it.
What do you need to know about the use of the studied material in the beds?
Despite the fact that the use of flat slate in the garden is considered only with positive side, there are also some features here, without taking into account which the material can be dangerous.
So, let's start with the fact that plants in flat slate beds grow faster and are protected from some pests. Also, weeds do not grow in such a garden area, which is very important for every gardener and summer resident.
However, if you do not take a serious approach to organizing own garden You may miss the point that if the material is used incorrectly, it can reduce the amount of nutrients in the grown plants. So, let's start with the fact that in case of overheating, slate increases the evaporation of moisture, for this reason it is recommended to water the garden more often. There is also an opinion that strips of asbestos cement evaporate negative elements that enter your body through the grown crop, but this problem is easily solved by painting the sheet before installation.
It is also worth paying attention to the fact that by painting you can increase the period of operation of the material in conditions severe frost And increased level humidity. IN in this case It is recommended to use liquid plastic or acrylic mixtures, which dry quickly.
How to properly design a garden area?
1. The width of the passages between the lanes should allow for trouble-free movement necessary tools in the hands, this is at least 45 cm with a height of no more than 20 cm. In this matter, the height of the stripes should be taken into account. Remember that this distance should allow you to freely water the plants, process them, prune them, etc. This is the only way to reap the best harvest at the end of the season.
2. The most popular height is 15-20 cm. However, it is equally important to enjoy the process of caring for planted plants, which means it’s better to buy
strips of slate, the height of which will reach 30-40 cm, so you can process the beds while sitting on a chair.
3. The length of the bed depends on garden area, relief throughout its territory and other factors. The most common beds are 4 to 8 meters long. It is recommended to install the garden bed from south to north, so the sun's rays will fall evenly on the garden.
Systematization brings order to any area. This may apply to both personal belongings and serious production. This approach is also valid for growing different cultures. To make it easier to maintain the territory at the dacha or personal plot You can make beds from slate with your own hands. How exactly should they be located and what will be needed to arrange them? This will be discussed in the article.
Are such beds necessary?
It is worthwhile to arrange beds using slate, at least due to the following nuances:
- light weight material;
- rot resistance;
- low price;
- long service life;
- ease of self-assembly;
- resilience to climate change;
- resistance to moisture;
- nice appearance.
Slate is lightweight, so individual sheets are easy to transport around the site to the installation site. Besides, individual elements It is easy to dissolve into products of the required height, which will make it possible to build beds in several tiers. The service life of slate fencing is 10 years or more. At the same time, the material is not subject to rotting or other biological effects, which can occur in the soil. Slate is not destroyed by fertilizers applied to the soil. Compared to wood, slate is ideal option. When wood swells, it becomes deformed and destroyed. When it is constantly in the ground, it begins to rot.
Slate tolerates sudden changes in temperature very well, so there is no need to dismantle the fences of the beds for the winter. The material makes it possible to give the rows a neat and finished look. Its cost is low, so everyone can build similar beds for themselves. Slate beds are fire resistant, so there will be no fire. Those who have already built slate beds for themselves note a noticeable growth of plants. This is due to the fact that thanks to slate, the likelihood of destruction of the root system by various pests is reduced. The material also serves as a barrier to the weed root system.
There are also disadvantages to this method of designing beds. One of them is increased heating of the walls from sunlight. This leads to the fact that moisture from the soil evaporates somewhat faster than without fences. Taking this into account, it is necessary to produce frequent watering which will increase water consumption. Some gardeners believe that slate itself is toxic and can transmit harmful substances cultivated plants. This disadvantage can be mitigated paint coating. If you apply this approach, you can further extend the life of the fence.
Pay attention! To paint slate sheets, it is better to choose acrylic-based paints or polymer compositions.
To successfully build beds, it is important to follow several simple recommendations. The main ones include:
- correct location of beds;
- sufficient deepening of the fencing sheets;
- correct width of beds;
- correct organization of row spacing.
It is necessary to arrange the beds in such a way that most of them are under sun rays. This means that they should stretch from east to west. The correct width of the beds should not exceed 120 cm. This size is not a categorical rule, but such beds are easier to care for. In order for the slate sheets to withstand soil pressure, they must be buried 20 cm. The space between the beds should be sufficient for free movement. It can be laid out with paving slabs or covered with straw or sawdust. This will prevent weed growth and make it easier to move.
Safety precautions
Working with slate has its own characteristics, so you should adhere to basic safety rules so as not to harm your health. Asbestos-cement sheets must be cut using an angle grinder. This tool itself is quite dangerous. This will require a concrete disc. It is better to take a non-segmented disk so that the sheets do not burst. It scatters when cutting large number dust. Respiratory and visual organs must be protected. In the first case, a respirator is used. A regular petal will do, but it needs to be changed when it gets dirty. When working with an angle grinder, it is better to use earplugs or special headphones.
Straight slate can be cut in any direction. If we're talking about If it is wavy, then you need to shorten it across the waves. Only in this case can you achieve an ideal result. During operation, it is advisable to periodically wet the disc. This will extend its service life and reduce the amount of dust.
Making beds
Regular
The process of building beds from slate with your own hands is simple, so even an untrained craftsman can handle it. On a sheet of paper you can schematically draw a plot of land to scale. On it, choose the best location for the beds. After marking on a sheet of paper, the designations are transferred to the ground. The territory on the site is marked with pegs and twine. Next, the slate is cut into elements of the required size. A trench 20 cm deep is dug around the perimeter. Sheets of slate are inserted into it, leveled vertically and fixed with soil. To make the slate sheet stand more securely, you can make several supports. To do this, the reinforcement is cut into pieces and racks of reinforcement are hammered close to the sheet. Examples of finished flower beds can be seen in the photo.
Working with flat slate In general, it has a similar algorithm, but it also has its own nuances. Total length one sheet of such material is 175 cm. To make walls without residues, you can divide it into 100 and 75 cm, or into 25 cm and three 50 cm each. The slate elements, which will be located perpendicularly, are connected to each other by metal corners. It is necessary to pre-drill holes for the bolts so that the slate does not burst during the fastening process.
Pay attention! Slate must be placed in prepared trenches. If you try to drive it into the thickness of the soil, you can damage it and will need new leaf material.
High
One of the main problems when processing beds is the need to bend your back. This is why many people choose raised beds. Thanks to them, the load on the back is reduced significantly. High beds also allow you to plant crops in areas that are on a slope without much difficulty. There are additional tips that will improve the efficiency of such beds:
- special soil composition;
- drainage device;
- take into account the characteristics of the root system;
- using a configuration other than rectangular.
For high beds it is easier to prepare a special soil composition that can accommodate additional nutrients. In addition, the density of the soil in such a slate bed can be selected depending on the root system of the plants. Due to the fact that the slate bed has sufficient height, drainage excess moisture produced faster. Raised beds can be easily converted into warm beds and planted early in the spring. The advantage of high beds is the possibility of planting plants that are normal conditions grow with supports. Here the slate walls themselves will act as supports, because the plant can simply hang from them.
Pay attention! At high altitude the walls of the bed need to be strengthened. This can be done using pins, as described above, or using wire. In the second case, the wire is pulled through sheets of slate, which are located on opposite sides, and is well pulled together, combining the walls into monolithic structure.
Mittlider
Jacob Mittlider is a well-known American specialist who grows various crops. He developed interesting solution regarding strawberry beds. The bottom line is that the width of such a slate structure is only 45 cm.
The advantages of this solution are minimal effort when processing the area where strawberries are planted. You can arrange individual bushes in such a way that they do not interfere with each other. This has a positive effect on fertility. With this arrangement, the roots receive a sufficient amount of moisture, but do not rot.
After fencing the area with slate, shavings, chips or sawdust are placed inside. The layer of this material should reach 20 cm. Fertile soil or special composition. The beds, fenced with slate, are placed at a distance of 90 cm from each other. The row spacing is covered with agrofibre. This is necessary to prevent weed growth. The sawdust bed provides additional nutrients and prevents soil from cracking. In addition, during decay they heat the top layer of soil.
From such flower beds you can get several times more harvest than from a plot that is decorated in the usual way. Thanks to special temperature conditions plants absorb moisture and the beneficial substances it contains at a faster rate, this also applies to fertilizers. In some cases, agrofibre is additionally laid on top of the strawberries so that only the bushes stick out and the soil is completely covered. The system is additionally installed drip irrigation. The berries always remain clean, and weed removal is kept to a minimum. A video about the construction of slate flower beds is below.
Row spacing
The ease of movement around the site will depend on what approach was used to organize row spacing. After installing the slate walls for the beds, it is necessary to compact the space between the beds well. For this purpose it is used manual tamper. You can lay it on prepared soil natural stone, brick, paving slabs or fill the rows with concrete. This approach makes it possible to carry out processing even after rain. Some gardeners sow lawn grass between the beds, because it quickly absorbs moisture.
Resume
As you can see, building beds using slate is a simple task that anyone can handle. The shape of the slate beds can be selected depending on the size and shape of the area. In some cases, the beds can be decorated with a diamond or triangle. It is convenient to grow cabbage in high beds, as this makes it much easier to harvest. In some areas, raised slate beds paired with greenhouses are the only way to properly grow crops. This is due to permafrost or too low temperatures even in the summer months.