Shirlz wrote:How are the bottle raised beds getting on? I'm still tempted!
Working very well at the moment - we've got cut-and-come-again mixed leaves and radishes in one bed - only a couple of weeks away from a salad, and broad beans and peas in another bed doing pretty well. In fact our broad beans are flowering already - that's a bit early, isn't it? Onions, carrots and garlic all coming up elsewhere (with potatoes biding their time at the moment)
The bottles have survived a few good clonks with the garden fork, and even if I did break one it would be simple enough to lift it out and replace it as they're just sunk into the earth. The oldest of the beds has been in for nearly a year now, and hasn't lost its shape or any soil. We also have some massive clovers hot-housed *inside* some of the bottles, which I think adds to the charm (I expect they'll shrivel up when the sun gets hotter).
If you're going to do it (and I'd recommend it to anyone) the best way I found was to dig a trench out to sink the bottles in, then to back-fill the trench with the soil you've just dug out, with the stones removed and clumps broken up as much as you can. Then you should be able to just push the bottles into the softer soil. We're fairly clay-y - don't know if other soil types might not work as well.
Don't underestimate how narrow bottles are either, you'd be surprised how many you need!
teehee thats great x