Raised borders

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
Posts
10,085
Location
Stoke area
Hey,

I am looking at raising one of the borders in my rear garden using 5 x 2.4m 200 x 100mm sleepers.

It has a concrete fence panels behind them up to a height of 30 cm.

Firstly, do I need to look at a concrete foundation for the sleepers? I'm going to pop a row of old bricks at the base between the sleepers and the lawn just to make mowing easier.

Secondly, is it worth adding some kind of water barrier at the back of the sleepers so the wet soil doesn't damage it?

As I am looking at adding 3 x LED spot lights to the sleepers too pointing horizontally over the lawn I was concerned about rain water potentially causing problems there too.
 
Hard to picture what saying but regards keeping damp off them use some DPM . I've just made 2 planters using them sleepers and lined it out with black DPM.
 
I did the same.

I cut the topsoil out, laid the sleepers and used square wooden stakes driven in behind then screwed in the back.

Ends were cut with a chainsaw and the sleepers were tanilised.

4 years later and all is well, no rot or damp.
 
I'd just lay them on the dirt if it was me. They are not that expensive really and should last a good 15 years if they are pressure treated for ground contact, which they should be.

Just make sure you soak any ends you cut in a good quality preservative as the treatment they use only penetrates the timber by a few mm. So any cut ends will be untreated and will rot in no time.
 
what's your concerns with the spotlights?

I use these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291038206...49&var=590202050351&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

and have 13 in my garden at the moment; they're great and very cost effective. You can put whatever GU10 LED bulb you want in them too. You can also add light gels easily. I use small Wiska IP junction boxes for weatherproof joins.

the lamps are a little bit on the 'function over form' look but they're fairly discrete and I actually like them. better than spending 30-40 quid on a single spike light!

image:
ut0u6EO.png
 
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