Topic: What are raised beds all about?

[Tenuse]

I'm trying to figure out how everything should grow and where to put it.

What is the purpose of a raised bed? I always imagined a raised bed would be, well, quite high up off the ground. But the ones I've seen on my allotment site and on website pictures don't look terribly high up. (Apart from that bloke on gardeners world who grew his strawbs in a scaffolding hammock!)

Is it to do with containing differently treated soil? Should I build some? Enlighten me, please!!!

Thank you

Tenuse x

ps Wasps will be Dealt With this week...

[Colin_Bellamy-Wood]

Hi Tenuse, I took over my allotment when I was 65 years young  ;D (I am now 66), and when I planned it out on paper, worked on the basis that I was going to get even older  :o and as such I should think NOW about making life easier for the future.

So I included in my layout 5 raised beds.   Two are 2m by 1m by about 25 inches high.   Three are 1.5m by 1m.
I brought in 3 tonnes of new top soil to fill these things, and in one I added silver sand for growing carrots.

I had hoped that by putting carrots in higher up I would avoid the dreaded carrot fly.   Even so, I covered my seeds and seedlings with an anti-carrot fly net.   Guess what - I got carrot fly damage  :-[

Also, in these smaller beds I can grow produce that I don't want to grow a lot of e.g. radish, spring onions, garlic, turnip, parsnip.

Perhaps some people might think that I am wasting growing space, and if my needs were less modest I would agree.   However, I do have three large beds 8m by 2m, and 5 beds 3m by 1m for peas and beans.

So, I suppose I am hedging my bets for the future and my increasing age.   Hope this helps.

[LynneA]

For me dividing the plot into beds has made sense, and the work much easier.

I divided the plot into 16 sections, 10 by 15 foot, the divided each section in half lengthways.  It makes planning simple  (eg parsnips in 1a, carrots 1b, potatoes 4a & b etc).  It also breaks tasks down into more easily palatable portions, at least in the mind.

[gavin]

Hi Tenuse

Raised beds - one of those phrases that can mean LOTS of things!

At their simplest, the idea is simply permanent beds.  With "cultivation and aeration" (ie - digging!), they rise; with the addition of manure and organic matter, they rise further.  The benefit is in having a deeper soil in fine fettle for the root systems - but don't walk on them and compress the air out of them again!

It's very noticeable on our site - the soil on my beds is 6-8 inches higher than the grass paths (manure one year out of the four, and the compost heaps recycled); the soil on plots where people don't use compost is a lot lower, in some plots a couple of inches below path level.

A step further, is to edge them with something - timber or whatever.  I'm very wary of creating slug refuges, so I've not tried this - seems an awful lot of work and expense, just to make slugs feel at home!!!!!

And a step even further, is building substantial contructions.  I've seen them in brick and timber - and very useful where access is/may be a problem.  The timber ones I used briefly were built of well-aged railway sleepers (and there's a few questions about that in itself) - and they were a real slug paradise.  The one toad which made its home there was so enormously fat and well-fed, it just sat there and ate  slugs stupid enough to come within reach!

All best - Gavin

[Hugh_Jones]

Both Colin and Gavin are right.  Raise the bed high enough and you will avoid the dreaded "gardeners` back" in later years.  Raise it just 9 - 12 inches and you give yourself a much greater depth of soil to grow in.

However there are two further points which neither has mentioned:-

1.  With any permanent raised bed (as long as you don`t walk or stand on it), once you have dug it and manured it and worked it, you need never dig it again - just use your manure/compost as an autumn mulch, cover the bed, and the worms will do the rest, and all you need in the spring is a small 5 pronged cultivator and a rake.

2.  With the extra depth of soil you can grow your crops closer together; what lateral space the roots lose they gain in vertical space.

I would add that I have been growing in 9inch raised beds for over 10 years, I do no digging except for lifting potatoes and parsnips, and my crop returns are better than they ever were `on the flat`.

[Tenuse]

Thank you for all your replies, I will definitely make some raised beds. Does anybody have any suggestions on their dimensions (on a standard sized plot)?

I was thinking about putting edges round, but I can't bear slugs, maybe I can employ a bevy of toads and make tiny leashes, then hitch them all around the edges!!

Tenuse x

[Ed^Chigliak]

Raised bed sizes should be no wider than 4ft so you can reach to the middle and can work the bed without walking on the soil. They can be any length but the longer they are the further it is to walk around to the other side. I am starting to build 4ftx10ft beds either side of a 4ft central path with 2ft lateral paths between each. The central path is wide enough for a wheel barrow and the laterals are just about wide enough to kneel down. I intend to use untreated 2"x6" joinery timber with a plastic skirting and plastic liner to keep the timber dry and prolong its life. The skirting is to be part burried into the soil so that the timber sits a couple of inches above ground level and the plastic liner is applied to the inside face of the timber held in place with staples along the top and bottom edge. The outside will be exposed wood for a rustic/natural look and the untreated timber will fade grey/silver over time.

For the ultimate slug and snail deterent I am finishing the top edge with a continuous copper strip as an overhanging feature. Snails cannot easily negotiate a downward angled overhang because their shell gets in the way and both slugs & snails don't like copper. I plan on using roof tiles dotted around the beds and grapfruit peel for a daytime slug and snail hangout so I can more easily collect the bothersome beasts and remove them from the beds. This should greatly reduce the need hunt slugs and snails by torch light late at night.

It looks like rabbits could be a problem on my plot so I may need to add rabbit defences to the beds too.

Ed^

[allotment_chick]

Hi Tenuse
As Gavin says - most well cultivated soil raises itself naturally over time, never mind if you improve it!  I use strip beds - they go across the whole width of the plot and are 3'6" wide (because I'm short and can't manage anything wider than this!)  Width can be determined by your reach - how far can you comfortably reach into the bed from the path to cultivate without having to stand on it.

I don't have a permanent edging to the beds, as I find once the plant are in and settled the edge maintains itself......but on the beds with looser soil, the edge crumbles away into the path when its raked and planted, so I use gravel boards as an edging (from the cheapest source - our local fencing merchant sells them for £2.50 per 6' treated board) and move them as I need them.  Might not work so well with larger square beds - but does fine on strip beds.

It's true that you don't have to dig the raised beds at all, because you don't compact the soil  only achieved this partially thus far - looking forward to being dig free on one plot at least!   ;)