Best place to put a raised bed?

Hi I am new to this but I would like to put a raised bed in my garden to grow fruit and veg such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, lettuce, onions, strawberries, tomatoes etc.

I have the choice of 2 places to put it. The 1st one gets sun all day but in the winter that area would be very waterlogged after heavy rain. I was wondering if this would solve the water logging problem as I would like to have a large raised bed at least 30cm deep, or would this winter water logging cause a problem for the soil and roots?

The 2nd option is to put it somewhere that will be shady in the morning and only get sun only in the afternoon but does not have any water logging problems. Any advice would be very welcome as I don't want to fail before I've begun. Thanks in advance!

 

Vegetables, generally, need full sun. A raised bed should have good drainage, so should not matter if it is in an area which is wet - the soil in the raised bed part should drain well

 

Hello Autumn, welcome to GC

I have raised veg beds in an area of my garden which gets full sun, plus, has a water logging problem (especially this past Autumn/Winter!)

One thing to consider, while I do agree with Kristen that the raised bed will drain well, be aware the area 'around' the raised bed probably won't So, think about how you access/how much you may need to access the raised bed should the surrounding area become waterlogged. (My solution, in a word: wellies! Although I visited that area as little as possible because walking on the waterlogged soil really isn't good for it either ... and planks "floated" )

Mr Mum made my raised beds from some decking planks and we made them twice the height. That suits us because we know we won't be living here for ever.

 

Thanks very much Kristen, mum and Loofah for your advice. I didn't think anyone would reply so I'm very pleased to getting advice of people who know what they are talking about! I was thinking about paving around the raised beds in the waterlogged area so that I can access them without the wellies. Does that sound a good idea?

 

Paving is good: how much will it 'weigh'?

 

Sorry, I was being facetious! Paving would be preferable to my attempt at planks/boards.

 

Great, thanks for helping me decide where to put my raised beds. I'm happy now so I plan to go and buy them/make them over the bank holiday weekend

 

Hahaha ... don't bank on that! The saying here is "Ask two gardeners and get three opinions"

Personal preference I think. I have grass around mine, its squelchy in winter ... I try to remember not to go out there in my best Brogues in winter! paving would be better, but can be slippery. Only thing I would recommend avoiding is gravel - it will pick up on your boots and get everywhere, and inevitably some soil gets spilled out of the raised beds, which just makes a mess on gravel.