My youngest is coming up to his 5th birthday this month. He really loves helping the next door neighbour with her garden and is always round there doing gardeny things.

My garden is lawn and stone.

I'd like to get something to make a raised bed for him it will be in a very sunny spot and he'll have his own little garden. I'd also like to plant some veggies and maybe some flowers.
Having looked at the prices of things it's all very expensive and not the sort of project that he and I can do together. I'm after suggestions for how to build a nice big raised planter on the cheap and ideally what I can put in it to give some relatively quick results initally with some veggies to follow. Ideally wanting something 4 feet or so by maybe two feet across and a foot or two deep.

All ideas welcome.

Well if a few planks and a car boot full of topsoil / compost is too expensive then I'd just dig over a corner of the lawn (in fact that is what I did!)

Quick results, lettuce, radishes, spinach
Medium results, french beans, runner beans, carrots, onions.
Probably won't have much room left once that lot are in,
Strawberries and cherry tomatoes in pots are a favourite snack in my back garden

Great idea, kids love to grow things.

My little one, who was 5 when we made her a raised bed of her own.

If the raised bed (2×4 is a good size to start with too) is going on top of the lawn, you don't need to build it that high. We used old scafolding planks (£1 each from a builder).

She started with a right mixture of stuff, peas, beans, sun flowers, strawberries, carrots etc, they all got flung in and some did better than her Dad plot 😉

There is a ongoing gardening post here btw:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stw-garderners-and-allotment-users-friday-chat

girls grow flowers.

MEN grow stuff you can munch on 😀

scaffold planks, screwed into 2" x 2" stakes that are driven in at the corners of the plot.
turn it over the base to loosen it and then dump in some topsoil?

Sounds like a plan, Scaffolding planks are cheap too!

Bit of paint and stuff and we are there I think, keep them coming though.

he will obviously need a flat cap….

we bought a 1 foot square raised area. It was just a few planks you knock together but looks good when finished. Was only £20 and we got 3 bags of compost for another £10 which mixed in to our soil filled it up.

My son (6) loves gardening too, especially planting seeds and seeing them come up. Get some small pots and put the on the windowsill with some sun flowers or peppers and your away.

We used some old decking. £3 per plank, took about 3-4 planks to corner off a big section of the garden. A few bags of soil etc and our kids grew loads of spuds, lettuce, herbs, etc etc. Nice way of getting them to eat healthier too

Get some small pots and put the on the windowsill with some sun flowers or peppers and your away.

Ours earlier this year 😉

He already has a flat cap and a hoe and rake and gloves. He is every inch the little horticulturalist. Is basic compost OK or should I mix it with other stuff?