Allotments 4 All

Some time ago, I was looking to get an allotment at my local site. Each allotment there is a quarter of an acre, an expanse that, as I am disabled, would have been far too much for me to handle ! Luckily, one of the established allotmenteers took pity on me and was kind enough to let me cultivate the end of his plot. (4 meters X 28.5 meters). This is my first year and I have managed to fill it with fruit and veg !

But now to my main point. I think it would be much easier (and more accessible when I use my scooter or wheelchair) to put in raised beds. My son will construct them for me, and I estimate that I will get 9 beds (2 meters X 1.5 meters) together with 1 meter paths all round . Once in position, I will have to have topsoil imported together with lots of well rotted manure.

My question is, what ratio of topsoil to manure should I use ? For my nine beds (which will each be 15cm high), how much topsoil and manure should I buy ?

All help and advice will be gratefully received.

i work it out at 4 cubic meters - though i could be sooooooooo incredibly wrong.  Not sure on ratio but im sure someone else will come along and help.

Thanks OliveOil, that at least gives me a starting point.

Do I take it, from your 'egg hatching countdown' that you are a chicken keeper?

If so, what have you got and what's hatching out?

Hi Stormin,

I've got raised beds on my veg plot because that is the way I like to garden, the point I'm trying to make is that I'm physically fit and my beds are 4' wide (1.2m) and for me that's just about comfortable although a little bit of a stretch, may I suggest that you make your beds 1m wide. No offence intended just a suggestion.

Regards

Mike

Agree with Mike, mine are 1.1 wide (reduced from 1.25m wide) and that's about comfortable. If you make them 1m wide you won't regret it, and can plant intensively. Try a sample yourself and see what's comfortable for you?

Thanks for the advice re the width, that means I'll get another one or two in, as well as being easier to reach across. Thanks.

Having made the mistake, I think, of filling the beds with JIC, I'm looking for ideas on the best fill??

One idea tim - lasagne?
Wet newspaper first, then
compost
leaves/grass/spent hops
well rotted manure
repeat ad top of beds in layers?

I've been making a lasagne bed over the last 2 weeks, on new allotment site carved out of pastureland, and have half killed myself wheeling heavy sackfuls of all those ingredients from car to site down steep stony track; sack trolley has collapsed as well..... In spite of the fact that I have used a lot of home-produced compost and leafmould, it has been quite expensive, too.

I'm not sorry I did it, because I now have a 7m x 1m bed full of tomatoes, sweetcorn, squashes and leeks much more quickly than if I had tried to dig into the concrete ground. But I've come to the conclusion that major lasagne work is for people with farm machinery and free manure/compost in large quantities.

I've also done conventional digging for about 3m, and think I will persevere slowly with that, now, while keeping the rest strimmed down. I'm using the wet newspaper and cardboard to suppress the grass on the paths, instead.

Sorry, not very relevant to the original question, but the word lasagne caught my eye.

Really interested in that story artichoke, I don't need to do full lasagne but reading about it gives me confidence! I'm lucky, our ground is level, I can get free horse poo, and have lots of half-rotted compost, leaf mould and spent hops to use up, so will do full lasagne on the concrete bits in the autumn. Would love a pic (sorry to keep asking but your plot sounds fascinating!) ;D

I appreciate the interest, SS - husband indifferent to what I am doing and children (adult) think I am obsessed (they're right). I didn't know you could do lasagne on concrete...I suppose you wouldn't need the newspaper and cardboard, and would have to import worms from elsewhere? Any drainage problems?

We moved into a big house with a small concrete backyard (hence the allotments) but I got a man with a drill to get rid of the concrete before turning it into a bijou garden with gravel and raised flower beds and a tiny lawn for flopping onto.

lol sorry artichoke :-[ on my allotment a strip of the ground is like concrete from having been parked on/trodden on, not yer actual concrete ... but I'm hoping the newspaper helps with the drainage, at the moment rain falls off it like tarmac! It may take a few years but I'm convinced that plants, worms and harvesting will do the digging.

Love the idea of a flopping lawn! Although it doesn't sound like you get to do much of that :P :D

Aha! Sorry, took you literally. I'm off now to satisfy a curious request for spinach from a son-in-law, for family visit tomorrow. My spinach beet is reaching for the sky, so it's a good prompt to cut it down at last and rescue the final scraps.

I would love to carry on making lasagne bed, but have reluctantly concluded that for me personally it is even harder work than digging. I love the whole idea of getting worms to do the digging, and hope yours come up with the goods.