Allotments 4 All

yesterday we made 2 of our raised beds. 1.5m x 2.5m x 10" high. put them in place in front of decking. Our 3rd bed may take some time. it's sleepers and the one that needs cutting in half is hardwood! nearly broke our backs carrying it!  ::) so i think OH is putting off the cutting of it cos its gonna be a b***er. Now, the 2 that have gone down, one is for brassicas and the other for roots. do i manure both? also, i've got 11 bags of woodchip (small cut) from the chicken shed, do i put this in aswell, just concerned about the moisture take up from it. if its low enough in ground and mixed with manure will this matter? and do i put it in both beds?

Congrats on getting more of those lovely beds littlegem! These threads might help with your question re chips :)

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,9590.0
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,10586.0
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,8885.0

Gem,don`t put the woodchip into the soil,it will take all sorts of nutrients "OUT" of your soil in the first year.
       Come the second year,it will have rotted down enough to put a lot back into the soil.This is what i was told anyway ::).

              Regards,
                    Mark.

dont manure for the roots(carrots) it'll make 'em fork.....
we grow in raised beds-they're ace!
kitty ;D

Hi Little Gem,
Dont put the woodchips directly in the bed, they take nitrogen out of the soil as they decompose (i think).

Also I made the mistake of manuring a bed of roots last year.  I ended up with very forked roots that were almost unusable.  big waste of time, and very disappointing to dig up after all the anticipation......

Put the woodchips in a pile and add pee to provide the necessary nitrogen. You could mix in grass cuttings if you have any. Leave it a year or two, and it will provide excellent humus in time.

Interestingly, I pee on my woodchip pile, but not because I thought it would assist it in decomposing ... the pile is hidden in a corner, and is several barrowloads of chips which are delivered to our site on a fairly regularly basis. I didn't realise I could create decent humus from them.