These are my raised beds/terraces. They're looking very scruffy at the moment but I promise they look much nicer when they're full of plants!

I'm liking those alot Minda I prefer the more informal look to a garden, our next door neighbour has a 'wild' garden, and I'm always looking at it, there's something new popping up all the time during the year and it makes it very interesting.

Were those stones expensive? and did you have to buy them from a specialist, or would a garden centre sell them?

You must post again when they are in full bloom

Informal? That's a polite way of saying messy isn't it?! I'm not a fan of regimented, well pruned gardens (because I'm too lazy to keep up with it) but I really need to spend some time on the garden this year because I've let it go. Watch this space for pictures when I get it back to its former glory!

As I remember the stones were quite expensive. I think I bought them from a stone merchants. It was a while ago now but I seem to remember that they were about £400-£500 incuding delivery. It seems a lot but I did have quite a large area to cover. It still worked out a lot cheaper than having red brick retaining walls built. If you look in the yellow pages under stone merchants, quarries or reclaimation yards you'll probably find some interesting places. You can buy some very unusual materials if you find a good reclaimation yard.

That's exactly the way I am with mine too
I am a bit of a wildlife geek Minda, the patrons of Cafe Ash aren't interested in formal or immaculate, they want food!

I'll have to take a look around for some similar materails, they really do look the business

I'm with you Ashlady -I like it,
Minda they look great really good, and I agree less formal is the way I prefer. Gardens in regimented lines isn't for me.

My neighbour used recycled wooden railway sleepers - he said that they were quite cheap. He cut them to shape using a handsaw, so I guess it isn't too difficult to work.

Also, if you have a saw mill nearby, you may be able to pick up the trunk edges (the curved bit on the outside of the trunk) quite cheaply.

Or, you could go 'modern' and use the free CDs/DVDs you seem to get with everything these days.