Bark/wood chips

[snootsmagoo]

Bit rubbish at all this sort of thing so here goes. I have a large area of old concrete slab at the bottom of the garden that used to have a chicken shed sat on it. It's a pretty ugly thing, cracked and breaking up and I wanted to spruce it up with minimum effort. I was planning on putting down some raised beds on top and drilling through the concrete for drainage. I know that using gravel over concrete is pretty hazardous and has been discused elsewhere on this really helpful site so I thought I might use bark or wood chippings in the walk way areas and putting down borders to keep the bark contained. Is that a stupid idea or should I just bite the bullet and pull up the old concrete? Also, if it's not a totally stupid idea, should I lay anything under the bark / wood?

[Pablo]

If the area is at the bottom of the garden and willl be looked at more than walked on then personally I'd leave the concrete in put a decent dorder on it and surround the beds with gravel approx 50mm deep. Bark and wood chip will quickly turn to mush because it'll hold water over a solid surface and rot even with plenty of drill holes. Once you've drilled the holes under the beds then coveer the base with gravel for drainage before you add the soil.

[rimexboy]

bark is a cheap option i went for in my raised flower beds but it gets chucked all over the place by birds looking for food....

[snootsmagoo]

Ok, thanks for that. Maybe give the bark/wood chips a miss from what you are saying. Cheers.

[michaelthegardener]

i allways tell my customers bark is cheap to start with but wont last like gravel got to top it up at least once a year :p

[snootsmagoo]

Ok, gravel is pretty pricey. If putting down just the bark, would you lay directly onto the concrete? What sort of depth?