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Raised beds and sleeper edges that stay put
A raised bed that leans, or a sleeper edge that drifts out of line, gives the whole garden away. Sleepers are heavy, but on their own they move with the soil behind them. On these three jobs every sleeper sits on a concreted pile, and the beds are built to drain.
Three jobs, one method
Torbay: three raised planters and a 20 m Macrocarpa garden edge.
Meadowbank: upright Macrocarpa sleepers holding the beds between the house and the patio.
Morningside: railway sleepers redefining the entrance, the beds and the hedge edge.
Torbay: planters built to drain
The front yard at Torbay needed to be easy to get around and low maintenance, without losing the garden that makes the place. The overgrown beds were scraped back with the same digger that prepped the concrete, after the lawns were protected. Then we built a Macrocarpa garden edge about 20 m long and 1 m wide, filled with fresh planting soil, and three raised planters, each 2 m by 1 m, with pebbles around them for clean access.
The planters are 200 × 100 premium-grade Macrocarpa sleepers fixed onto 125 × 125 concreted piles. The bottom layer is scoria, ramped up the sides as high as possible, so water drains out rather than sitting against the timber. They're filled with premium lawn soil, which is Kevin's preferred planting soil for this: it drains because it contains sand, and it holds its level under compaction because it has less fibre and bark than a classic garden mix.
6 weeks on site, for the whole front yard
Meadowbank: sleepers standing upright
At Meadowbank the beds between the house and the new porcelain patio are held by 200 × 100 premium-grade Macrocarpa sleepers fixed upright, on 125 × 125 H5 piles, with stainless coach screws. The beds were part of a much larger job around a rebuilt pool.
About 10 weeks on site
Morningside: sleepers that set the levels
At Morningside, railway sleepers redefine the entrance, the garden beds and the hedge edge, and because they hold a level, they also let a low, flooding lawn be raised into a hoggin courtyard. Every sleeper is fixed to concreted piles with galvanised coach screws. The beds were replanted in premium lawn soil and finished in cambium mulch.
4 weeks on site
What actually decides it
What the sleeper sits on. A sleeper laid on soil moves with the soil. Fixed to a concreted pile, it stays in line.
Drainage inside the bed. Scoria at the base and up the sides at Torbay gets water out of the bed and away from the timber.
The soil. A mix that drains and doesn't slump keeps the bed level. That's why we use premium lawn soil for planting.
The timber. Macrocarpa is a naturally durable timber with a warm look. Railway sleepers suit a heavier, more rustic edge.
The fixings. Stainless coach screws at Meadowbank, galvanised at Morningside, all into piles, never just into each other.
Where we fit
We build raised beds, sleeper edges and the garden around them as part of a backyard or front yard rebuild. See also a courtyard instead of a lawn that never dries.