Topic: Rows versus block planting

[ciderself]

Many allotments have long neat rows of produce. I can see the advantages of this and I quite like digging - but dont go very fast.
What are everyone elses preferences in planting? and what do you all prefer to use as 'pathways'  

[ciderself]

A big thank you to Doris for her specific instructions
;D CS

[Doris_Pinks]

You are welcome cs!  :)
I plant in blocks, mainly because I decided to break up my plot into seperate beds, I find them easier to deal with rather than one big bed, plus by having paths I can get either side with my wheel barrow, and not tread on anything! I use carpet (I know loads of you out there hate the stuff!) topped with straw, means I can wander around even on the wetest days! ;D
By block planting I seem to be able to cram more in, I stagger most of the stuff, and 4 ft wide beds just do not seem to lend themselves to rows somehow!
Anyone else have beds and paths between? Dottie P.

[Mrs Ava]

I swing both ways  ;)  I have some things in rows, like my garlics and shallots, then other things in blocks.  I am a bit of a higgledy piggledy gardener to be honest and just go with the flow.  I don't have any defined paths, just tramp a path where I need one, and fortunately, my soil is very workable, so I can easily fork it over again.  Used to have grass paths on my old family lottie, but all that happened was the grass grew into the beds and I was forever edging and weeding them!   ;D

[campanula]

sort of blocks - I have raised beds so I plonk stuff in willy nilly although I guess that beans will go in rows and also my raspberries. What's more, I am plonking flowers and bulbs randomly about also. My sweetheart is the opposite - he actually insists on string lines and perfect symmetry. He takes forever, mimsying about moving things 2 centimetres to the left and just a bit lower..... When we made the raised beds, he brought our laser level down to get them all in line and the exact height. Of course. they now look great (many hours, days later) but I practically had to tie myself up to avoid mashing him with a trowel.

[Mrs Ava]

hahahaha, oh campanula, that is funny!  I bet it does look great, but I think I would have had to leave him to it, or he would have ended up head first in the compost heap!  hehehehe :D

[Beer_Belly]

My plot is an open patch with no defined paths apart from one right down the middle, I've split it into 5 square plots for crop rotation purposes and like EmmaJane I'll stamp a path as required.

[rdak]

I've designed mine as a mixture- some long rows, some blocks. As for paths, have left a few strips of grass between the blocks, but for the rows, will just have to trample along the soil and hoe it over occasionally.

[jethro]

All my beds are raised, the paths are flagged, the sheds 4 in total are all in a line, the greenhouses 6 in total are all over the place, the hen run is all along the bottom, the duck run is at the top, the goat pen is anywhere as they usually break out and eat everything, the polytunnels 3 in total are down the sides, the pond is overflowing at this time of year, the patio is next to one shed. The weeds are everywhere, but apart from this the lottie looks good even though i say this myself.

[Mrs Ava]

Jethro, that isn't an allotment :o!  Thats a smallholding! (an not that small!!)  :)

[jethro]

Ah well it keeps me out of the pub  >:( too tired after looking after that lot :P . Believe it or not but i'm thinking of getting the lottie next to me ( i must be mad ) just for flowers  ;D .

[cdchater]

I'm going to use beds in my lottie - I agree with you DP, beds are a lot easier to manage. I had a 'big digging' session on Sunday, got all my friends and relatives around with their spades! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who has got lots of digging to do! Found loads of stones and decided to use these to start a path - looks really good too!

[legless]

i'm creating 16 beds

4x 2' wide
4x3' wide
4x 4' wide
4x 5' wide
plus 3 other random sized beds for permanent stuff.

i read this article by bob flowerdew about not sticking all of the same crop together so the beds are placed randomly along both sides of a brick central path with tramped down paths in between them for this year.

each set of beds will have its own 4 year rotation so that for example all my brassicas are distributed around the plot and not all together, but i have different sized beds for things i want to grow more or less of.

some are rows and some are blocks (e.g. broad beans)

sounds complicated but its not....

[Mrs Ava]

wow!  You are all so organised!  Plans of where you are going to plant things and how big your beds are, I just stumble along, planting as I go, where ever I decide looks easiest to plant!  Will it all go terribly wrong I wonder.... :(

[ciderself]

I sincerely hope not EJ.
Quite perversely I started digging before any paths were laid out as hubby could mattock faster than I was digging. So I now have quite largish blocks which, after reading all your valuable comments, I may subdivideinto more manageable areas.  Some only forked over
( bad idea) and others dug to about 2 1/2 feet( knackering ).
Will have to see what amount of weeds come up next spring before starting on a more permanent plan methinks.

[Doris_Pinks]

I just found when starting from scratch that beds were less disheartening! You can get an instant place to plant, may be small, but i got my lottie in April so was desperate to get something.....anything in!! Have just carried on clearing it that way over the years, making the 5 beds as I went along, and will be doing the same with my bramble patch!! ;D

[ciderself]

Thats most encouraging Dottie - thank you
I will soldier on.
Still feel a bit envious of Jethro though - hes got ducks n chucks and goats to help him weed!!