Does anyone know anything about gardening?

My Dad dug a pond in our garden and one year a newt moved in. My dad called it 'Tiny' and waited for people to ask him why...

funnily enough, made a small pond in the garden last year and heard a plop this morning, the first signs of frogs... yay
saw a couple just by it a bit later, so hopfully this year it's be frog sex heaven and they'll decimate the alleged slug invasion due this summer

also planted out pea and broad bean seedlings in the garden this morning, it's proper hot out there, don't forget to water

oh, and why tiny ?

What a gorgeous animal.

Treated some railway sleepers today in preparation for my dad to come and magically form them into raised beds for me in exchange for Stella and chocolate cake.

There are at least 10 in our little pond. It's only about a metre across and a foot deep.

Ooh. I want to do something similar. Where'd you source the sleepers?

Has anyone used any free gardening design programmes/websites?

With any luck I'll hopefully have a garden soon and it's a pretty dull suburban affair. I was hoping to start working on a new design.

Or if anyone has any useful general tips that would be helpful too.

Cheers

Got them from Wickes, they are 4 for the price of 3 at the moment

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Gardens/Garden-Decor/Garden-Sleepers+Raised-Bed-Kits/c/1000733

Ah. I thought you meant railway sleepers. They are probably 5 x the price though.

Fixing them to the ground is easy - you just need a drill with a big boring bit, some lengths of rebar and a mallet.

Yeah it is easy if you're strong enough to lug them about which is where DIY dad comes in.

oh, and why tiny ?

"Because it's my newt." Well, you asked...

bdum tish

frog sex heaven was looking crowded this morning 6 - 7 frogs all hugging

next doors cat has now discovered said pond so i made an impromptu cover from an old bike wheel and some chicken wire

Reclaimed railway sleepers are often similar prices, and tend to be slathered in creosote, which is not always desirable. Creosote is also a right bastard to remove.

I'm keen to convert my allotment to a raised bed model, and these guys have a wide range of sleepers and sleeper-style lumber:
http://www.uksleepers.co.uk/product-catalogue/Railway_Sleepers

Nope, I'm currently paying £21 + VAT for reclaimed sleepers and they are considerably larger than new 'sleepers' (2.6m x 25cm x 15 cm). I prefer to bed the bottom sleeper on a couple of inches of wet concrete.

Anyway, here's one we made earlier.....

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Ooh. Nice. Thanks for the info.

Bookmarked. Thank you!

You can get scaffolding planks for cheap these days, as scaffolding firms have to replace them regularly. They are ideal for raised beds.

That sounds like a handy hint. Nice one Andy.

Yeah, like @mashton said, that's a good idea. Sleepers look fantastic and last a long time but could be overkill for a lot of applications.

I went in a wine merchant's recently who have made their racking out of welded tubular steel and cleaned up, oiled scaffold boards and it looked really nice.

I move into the new gaffe on July 8th, don't think raised beds will be ready to grow in this year, but it'd be good to get them built.

What's the thinking behind laying sleepers and then grovelling over the top?

Is it harder wearing or quicker?

Cheers. Picked up a copy for 2.50.

My folks probably have a million similar books.

As for designs, I might go old school just buy a pad of tracing paper.

It was a bit of a joke, but I'm sure you'll find some good ideas anyway :)