perlite and vermiculite

yes midgey, I made sure I could reach from all sides

I have never found gel to be problematic, I have to add water first, let it swell and then add to the compost mix. I will be using a total of 210 litres which would include any gel bulk, I can just imagine my compost rising up out the trugs

Oops when you make square beds measure how long your arms are! I have made square beds that are just too wide for comfortable movement/working!
I have found the gel to be pretty disgusting as it’s still ‘gungy’ years later.

I have 7 raised beds, 4 are 8" high 1m x 1m squares and all on soil that I have worked hard to de-stone and break up for drainage. 3 are in sight from the house and are ergo, pentagon shaped about 1 m diameter. Again I did turn over the soil below because drainage is paramount. In the long past I did de-turf and turned the turves over so they did rot down but different circumstances here

Oops yes I have imported lots of composts, bag by bag, at least 150 to date. I have a wonderful supplier who makes his own mixes, roughly £2.50 max for a big bag. I brought 11 home today, daren`t load any more as it is very weighty

I have built up 2 x aluminium vegtrugs and have ordered 2 more, they are making excellent dividers on my massive patio and I am working forwards ie to being able to garden standing up if need be. They need filling but I will wait until april

About watering: I have just received a kg of gels from amazon, I will need 166g of these for each trug, they will help significantly with watering. Tbh I am hoping that I have done the last of the spends

I had a problem with rats tunnelling into my chicken run. I solved it by lining the base of the run with galvanised animal cage wire (not chicken wire, as they can squeeze through the holes while digging upwards) and then adding soil and bark on the top so the chickens could still scratch around. Maybe wire would work at the base of your raised beds, with the cut turf turned upside down on top of that and added soil/compost?

Oops Well raised beds are just a larger version of pots really! And you're correct, pots will need more watering.
The problem with leaving the grass in place is drainage, you can get panning when grass is compacted.
Generally speaking heavy croppers need more root space.
I garden in raised beds in my tiny courtyard garden, the walls are 50 cm high so double as seating! No room for veggies though, sadly.

We put our raised beds 10” high straight onto the grass. First covering the grass with cardboard. 3 years later they are still fine. The cardboard has probably rotted by now.
We designed the raised bed in a U shape, thus giving extra growing room without wasteful paths.
Good point about wearing the mask, I’d just add don’t work with either on a windy day!

Gaunt will I need deeper beds for potatoes etc?

I thought raised beds would be better than digging up the grass because of the wire worms? Although tbh it would be a lot cheaper, agin though I have an animal problem, lots of rabbit and deer droppings there plus mice and rats, sigh.
This is what has stopped me from going ahead with it.
Maybe large pots might be the answer if I can get around the watering problem when we go away.

Can I pop in here? just to say Oops that 8" will be fine for salad crops as long as you remove the turf and fork over the soil to help with drainage.
Some years ago I muddled up perlite and vermiculite, putting the latter in tall pots for display. Had some very soggy plants!

Craftyone have you had to buy in your soil for the raised beds? I have a large lawn that I want to put beds on, I think I will have to use teram first, but I’m still concerned about rats and rabbits, not to mention the young deer that get into the garden. I’m not too keen on having to cover everything to keep the animals away. Anyway, 4ft Square raised beds approx 8 inches high? Would that give me enough growing room?

I had thought to put vermiculite in pots with plants which don’t like drying out but was concerned that, times like recently when there’s overly much rain, they might get rather too damp. Can vermiculite cause waterlogging?