Sick of spending hours hunched over the garden removing weeds? Here is a great cost effective solution – A Raised Garden Bed, and look at some of the other great benefits:

· A raised border helps contains the organic material within
· It discourages invasion of surrounding lawn or weeds
· It deters various people and critters
· Ensures less back bending.

To create your garden bed, start by laying a layer of newspaper or weed mat on the bottom. Then place individual layers of the below products, one at a time until the bed is full - think of it as if you are making a lasagne!

Ingredients: Size- 1.2m wide x 1.2m long x 0.3 m depth

· 1 x 16kg bag of Throw & Grow’s Titanic Organic or Pure Manure (certified organic)
· 1 x Large bag of Rocky Point Mulching’s Lucerne Mulch
· 1 x Large bag of Rocky Point Mulching’s Sugar Cane Mulch
· 6 x 30L bags of Rocky Point Mulching’s Organic Soil Improver
· 2-3 x 30L bags of Rocky Point Mulching’s Premium Potting Mix

Procedure:
1. Lay down a layer of Rocky Point Mulching’s Lucerne Nutri-Mulch leaving no gaps, to a height of 10cm (4 inches).
2. Layer some good organic fertilizer i.e. Titanic Organic or Pure Manure (certified organic) roughly.
3. Add 5cm (2 inches) of Rocky Point Mulching’s Organic Garden Soil Improver
4. Add a thick layer of Rocky Point Mulching’s Sugar Cane Mulch to the garden 10cm (4 inches)
5. Another layer of organic fertilizer, Titanic Organic or Pure Manure (certified organic)
6. Add 5cm (2 inches) of Rocky Point Mulching’s Organic Garden Soil Improver
7. Top it off with a layer of good quality potting mix depending on what you are planting out (seeds, seedlings or larger developed veggies/herbs)
8. Left over mulch can be used to finish off

Water in the ingredients after each layer. You can now start planting your seedlings immediately for an instant garden.

Some additional hints:
· Only make your gardens twice as wide as your arm length. By that, I mean make sure you can reach into the garden to the halfway mark for harvesting and weeding.

· Keep topping up your gardens as they bed down and rotate your crops. Each time you re-plant a patch, add some soil improver and always mulch around the new plants. The mulch will keep down weeds, retain moisture and promote fast, healthy growth.
· If you want to plant out your garden the same day you build it, water the layers of materials as you lay them down.

· With the no dig garden planning will produce best results. For example, plant your climbing beans with your corn so one supports the other. Put some herbs around your cabbage or tomato plants. Some of the principles of companion planting will provide inspiration.