Concrete for small foundations

scarepanda

I'm about to start building a raised bed vegetable garden with blocks. I'm going 2 blocks high and putting in a small foundation roughly 7*7inches.

What's the best way to handle the concrete side of things? Its working out about 3m3. Ready mix is obviously the best way to go, but the area isn't accessible by truck and I'll be doing it on my own, and you can be as sure as **** it's the one day the kids will be dragging me back and forth. So I'm now thinking of getting a load of dry mix, my main question is can I lay it into the fdns dry and wet afterwards or should I get a mixer and mix as I go?

listermint

Any particular reason for choosing blocks and concrete for something so shallow .

Calahonda52

listermint wrote: »

Any particular reason for choosing blocks and concrete for something so shallow .

+1
look at second hand scaffold boards or modern sleepers or similar

scarepanda

I don't want timber beds.

ted1

scarepanda wrote: »

I don't want timber beds.

I’d say a sleeper would make a good foundation. For such a small wall

Lumen

Another answer you don't want...

Dry stone retaining walls. No concrete or mortar needed, looks great, probably performs better, can be rebuilt to change bed configuration without any waste or new materials. And fun to build!

Zardaz

Three cubes of concrete for a 7" wide / 7" deep foundation?

That's about 300 linear feet of trench, or about 13 individual 8x4 raised beds.

Is that correct quantities?

scarepanda

OK!

5 replies and yet no one actually answered my question

Why raised beds? accessibility, durability, aesthetics, drainage and longer growing season.

Blocks vs Timber? The garden gets quite wet during the winter with some standing water after rain like we had in Jan/Feb and timber wont last pissing time. I don't want the hassle of changing out the timber every 5/7 years. Blocks are more hassle and expense now, but less in the future. Timber has gotten very very expensive so the difference in initial outlay isn't as big especially when you take into consideration the expense of changing out rotten timber.

Concrete for the foundations.... Well because its the best solution, even for such a small area. The 'walls' will be 2 blocks high, so in the region of 18 inches finished height.

Lumen, i like the idea of a dry stone wall, unfortunately i don't have either the material or the time to spend building them.

Zardaz, ya, thats the ball park, with a greenhouse thrown in for good measure!

bfclancy

scarepanda wrote: »

OK!

5 replies and yet no one actually answered my question

Why raised beds? accessibility, durability, aesthetics, drainage and longer growing season.

Blocks vs Timber? The garden gets quite wet during the winter with some standing water after rain like we had in Jan/Feb and timber wont last pissing time. I don't want the hassle of changing out the timber every 5/7 years. Blocks are more hassle and expense now, but less in the future. Timber has gotten very very expensive so the difference in initial outlay isn't as big especially when you take into consideration the expense of changing out rotten timber.

Concrete for the foundations.... Well because its the best solution, even for such a small area. The 'walls' will be 2 blocks high, so in the region of 18 inches finished height.

Lumen, i like the idea of a dry stone wall, unfortunately i don't have either the material or the time to spend building them.

Zardaz, ya, thats the ball park, with a greenhouse thrown in for good measure!

get a mixer and mix as you go

corsav6

bfclancy wrote: »

get a mixer and mix as you go

I'd go this route too. Hire a mixer and work close to where your building. I'm currently building pillars and putting in concrete post and rail fence so I'm mixing a fair bit. You'd be surprised how much you'll be mixing once you get going.

Zardaz

One option you might consider is using concrete fence panels (6 foot by 1 foot), and just set the cut-down posts (3 foot high) at the corners in concrete (with a few rocks to stretch the mix).
That's a lot less concrete mixing, at the cost of the effort of digging deeper holes for the corner posts (say 12" cube or so).

A barrow or two of shovel-mix will go a long way there.

I did that job at the home place, as we had a few left-over fence panels.