If your raised vegetable beds are infested with slugs and snails, it may be because you've surrounded the beds with boards or stones - ideal havens for the pests. Build your beds the Chinese way instead:
Using stakes and string, divide your garden into 5ft/1.5m wide beds separated by 24in/610mm wide paths.
Turn or rotavate the soil inside the beds to the depth of about 12in/300mm, removing all stones and roots. Work in plenty of compost, manure, peat and sand so that the beds rise above the surrounding ground.
Rake the beds flat and smooth and shape their sides. Do not frame them with boards or stones. Dig narrow trenches between them and the paths to catch water that runs off.
You can remove the string from around the beds, but leave the stakes in place. They will prevent the hose from dragging across your vegetable plants as you water.
Unlike a conventional garden, these raised beds won't need annual tilling. All you will need to do is to add a layer of compost and, if necessary, a dressing of lime every autumn and turn it over with a small fork.
