Finished installation of educational raised bed and netted cage

We now have both educational raised beds installed in the back garden of the Katherine Road Community Centre. They are constructed from larch wood, meaning that without treatment they would last around fifteen years. One of the raised beds has however been treated with a wood preservation technique called Shou Sugi Ban. (Ideally, if we had time we would have treated both.)

Shou Sugi Ban involves flaming wood to char the surface, wick away water and close capillaries in the wood. This greatly reduces the ability of micro-organisms to enter the wood, preventing rot and preserving it for substantially longer than if it weren’t treated. 

From a sustainability standpoint we did require some gas during the flaming process but more than offset this by not needing to use a chemical wood preservation treatment. 

We filled the beds with a mixture of soil, compost and various amendments, to provide optimal growing conditions. 

Once both beds were in place, we attached wooden fox and cat protection cages which we covered with UV ray protected net. 

Thank you very much to all of our lovely members and volunteers who helped to ensure successful delivery of this much needed educational infrastructure!