Topic: Marking out new beds....

[pete10]

Hi recently got a allotment bit over grown cooch etc . Just looking for some advice on marking out new beds. Would like to know how to mark them straight etc.

         Many thanks in advance.

[supersprout]

Beds should run north to south, if you can.
Lay out all the beds, this divides up the plot so it's less intimidating :P
String, string and more string! ;D
Bottles over the stakes/canes so you don't put your eye out :o
Measure in blocks of 'path plus a bed' (say, .6m for the path, plus 1.25m for a bed), and be prepared to adjust later in the light of experience (I changed to 1.1m for a bed so I could reach for the middle, leaving .75m for the path)
Leave edgings til you are completely happy with the layout
Cover what you can't deal with now with black plastic (which you can plant through), and just take it one bed at a time.
Plant as you go, as soon as even a small part of a bed is ready. You'll be planting in blocks or short rows. This is Good for Morale ;D ;D ;D
Good luck, enjoy your gardening!

[pete10]

Thanks for the advice lots of string it is then .Your right about covering been doing that .   Makes life a lot easier.

[SMP1704]

Hi Pete

This might be a bit too obvious - but don't use green string to mark out the beds.  Now that the couch is greening up, you won't be able to find your marked out beds.  Wilko's do a good range of brightly coloured string.

Happing digging

SMP

[cowellen]

now you tell me - i had  white string and ive just bought green  :( :o



lol ;)

[jennym]

If you are using woven black membrane to cover beds, you may want to make the size of the bed correspond with the size of the fabric, eg 1 metre or 2 metres wide. If you intend to use paving slabs (scrounged of course) for paths these usually come in sizes like 0.6m (the big ex council ones) or 0.45m (patio slabs) so this might be something to bear in mind.