Raised bed vegetable garden

Hi everyone.
My parents managed to get me 5 reclaimed railway sleepers and I intend to make a vegetable garden with them but don't really know how to start.
I was thinking of making it two railway sleepers long by half wide and locating it on my patio in the sun.
Would I have to take up my patio or could it just sit on top (i've recently completed my patio and it looks really nice so I don't really want lots of disruption!).
Would I need to drill holes through the paving for water to drain?
Would I need to line the sleepers to stop contamination?
What type of things could I grow inthis area? Would it be deep enough for carrots?
Please, please help me!!!!!!
Thanks

 

I don't think you'd have a problem just sticking it on top of your patio, quite a few books say you can do it.

 

I would have thought that putting them on the patio would be fine as well.

The only suggestion in relation to doing that, is that it would pay to put a thin layer of sand on the slabs first followed by some form of membrane. The only reason for doing this is that if in the future you change your mind, the slabs below won't be ruined.

 

That sounds like a good idea, thanks!

 

I agree, a very good idea.

 

It's not going to be very deep though is it? What size is a railway sleeper? 6in X 10in or thereabouts, so unless you are intending to grow tiny carrots I would be tempted to concentrate on things that grow upwards. The way I look at it is if you only have a small veggie plot it is probably wiser to grow the things that are expensive in the shops ~ spuds and carrots aren't economical for the small gardener unless you can grow them by the sack load.

If you are laying straight onto slabs or tiles ( and I know this from experience ) you will need to put in some kind of drainage, even if it is just cutting out the grouting between them to allow excess water to soak away.

 

Thanks Skinner.
I have decided to use an area down the bottom of my garden now to make a proper vegetable patch and will be able to grow potatoes, carrots etc then. I will think of another project for the sleepers.....

 

Why not make your area at the bottom of the garden into raised beds, that way you get a deeper plot, and (in theory) more chance of better yields? Half sink the sleepers in the ground of whatever, and you can top it up with either growbags, compost, manure or whatever, and dig it in.