I was recently contacted by GardenSkill and asked if I wanted to review one of their products.
I have not been paid to write this post, but I have not paid for the raised beds that I received. My words and opinions are my own and this post has not been approved by anyone other than myself.
The package arrived quickly and easily. I get so frustrated when things do not arrive or get complicated to receive so I always think it worth a mention when they just arrive. The boxes waited patiently in the greenhouse for me to have time to put the raised beds together.
I chose the 250mm Raised Bed kit. I had raised beds but the edgings have collapsed through time. I know that I need to reinstate the edges so this seemed a great opportunity to explore what types of edging I might use.
I unpacked the pieces and laid them out as the instructions told me to do. I am not great at reading instructions, we have a family tradition of starting to make things and only reading the instructions when we get stuck. I force myself to break this habit when reviewing things and its amazing how much easier it is to construct things when I do.
I decided I had chosen the wrong place to put the bed together. As the pieces are made of lightweight high quality recycled PVC it was easy for me to change my mind and move the pieces to another area.
It took me around twenty minutes to build this bed and that includes some unnecessary faffing. All I needed was a mallet to gently tap the hinges and ground spikes into place. I stood back and admired my work. Yes the bed now needs filling with more compost and manure to be complete.
I added some compost, dug it in and netted it over to wait for planting. You may wonder why I used netting when there is nothing planted in it? Have I mentioned I have four cats...... It is plastic netting; I have had this netting for about ten years now and I find it very useful. I would think it wasteful to just discard now, I might as well get the full use from it.
I am really pleased with how the raised bed came together. Yes it too is made from plastic and I know and agree that we should avoid using plastic. Generally I do and I try my best to reduce plastic use. It is important to note these beds are made from recycled plastic and I do want it to last for many years. If they were not made from this material and were heavier then I would have struggled to have made them on my own. As mentioned above they are also easy to move around the garden.
The features of this raised bed system as described on the website are:
- Made from high-quality recycled UPVC
- Internal ribs provide extra strength for planks and joints
- Includes planks, hinges, hinge pins and caps, locking pins and locking pin caps
- Available in a range of sizes and can be made to measure - you can contact them with any special requirements