Raised beds

I have taken a brick wall down in my garden and I am now left with around 2 tonne of broken bricks which I have to dispose of. My idea is to build a couple of raised beds for my fruit and veg. If I build raised beds of two to three feet in height to save my back, could I use the old bricks for drainage and also save me a lot of hassle with the disposal. Also the area planned for the raised beds has flags on at the moment. By building the beds three feet high and keeping the flags in situ. would allow for root development and reduce the opportunity for weeds to grow. Would this work of am I just waffling ? Thanks john K

 

Sounds like a good idea to me. My son built me two five foot tables to have my whicker troughs on. They are brilliant.

 

Yes you could use the bricks for drainage but don't make them to deep but I'd be inclined to remove the flags as they would defeat the object and hold the water in.

 

Hmm, not too sure about raised beds being 3ft high. Ok if you just want to grow low growing veg/salad, but not practical for some of the things that need to be dug up, like spuds. I suppose it depends on what you want to grow? It's worth remembering, that some veg can easily reach 3ft in height. A step ladder to reach the sprouts?

 

Ive done one about 2ft high(3 scaffolding boards high) but its on the soil,i liked where my sage,thyme and chives was but situated at the back of the border limited what i could grow in front them so now they are happy raised up at the back now and i have my taller perennials in front
I used bricks for drainage

 

Should be all right if the flag stones are pourous.

 

Thanks for everyone's responses. I have a neighbors garden wall at that back of my garden, I could put one bed at 3 foot for smaller plants and a smaller one in-front so that I don't loose any sunlight. Just now I am at the planning/bouncing ideas stage. This year is the first time for growing anything for me. The serious growing will take place next year, but at this point in time I have lots of thoughts and ideas and no -one to ask for advice. Later today my daughter and I will be starting carrots, cauliflower and onions in seed pots to start with. I just want to get things right first time and hopefully save time in the future. Thanks John K

 

That's a lot of soil (a lot to barrow, but also a lot of money to buy unless you can blag some locally via Freecycle or the like?)

Also needs quite a lot of strength in the retaining wall to stop that weight knocking the wall over. Dunno if that might be a problem, or not ?