Allotments 4 All

I have managed to get my o/h friend to make me some raised beds which are going down to the lottie tomorrow, but I need to fill them up, should I dig the soil from the lottie and put it in the beds ( soil is excellant there) as I will batlle to get horse manure ect down here to fill it up with

Hi Casey,
I have just excavated for my new raised beds and painted the boards ready for assembly on Saturday. I will be filling the beds with the soil I have taken from the pathways too and will mix with manure. Probably chicken pellets as I just can't get any well rotted manure until the fall/winter, as I've used up my supply.

Hi Caseylee, definitely use the soil from your plot to fill the raised beds if it is good soil as you say, when you dig the soil over in the raised bed you should find that you will aerate it which will raise it's level, I would enrich it a bit with something like pelleted chicken manure to get going, another thing that you can do is to take some soil from where your paths will be inbetween the raised beds and add this to them so in effect you are lowering your paths and at the same time raising the soil in the beds, then during the season get yourself a compost heap going with all the  waste matter from your crops, any manure that you can get or compost from old grow bags or pots etc and then add this to your beds in the Autumn and repeat, in time you will have more soil than you know what to do with, best of luck regards Steve.

http://www.myallotments.com

and if you mulch everything with grass, compost , straw as you go, it'll soon raise the levels  ;D

How solid do you have to make the actual planks? I've nailed mine together but someone told me that actually the best thing would be to screw them together. And how important is it?

Screws will hold the weight of the soil better, also when you're digging up potatoes for example any pressure on the timbers may pull the nails out.

But if nails are all you have to hand, put them in at angles to give a firmer grip ;)

Sorry to deviate a little from the topic, but i was wondering what size and shape you have or are planning to make your raised beds?

I built mine 9 years ago as long rectangular affairs, 3m long by 1m wide.  They have worked well but do have their limitations particularly as my choice of crops and methods of growing them have evolved and changed over the years. I have also come to realise that this design doesnt perhaps make the best use of the space on my square veg plot (which is part of my garden not an allotment).

I have been wondering therefore if square beds would work better (they would certainly look better from the house!).  I was thinking beds around 1.5m square (or between 4 and 5 feet square). How would this shape and size work out for say, potatoes or climbing beans?

Thanks

QuoteI was thinking beds around 1.5m square (or between 4 and 5 feet square).

No reason why not! what is key is to be able to reach the centre of the bed without walking on it, so providing you have a path all the way around your bed/s this should be OK.

My rule of thumb is kneel down lean forward as if weeding and measure the distance you can reach without straining yourself then double it!

Most people can usually reach 2-2½ft which when doubled is the measurement you mentioned.

My raised beds are not very large, I wanted a lot of small ones instead of a few big ones, cause my kids wanted one each and I have some many different varities or small veg to grow so it was he best for me.  My mate screwed them together and they are as solid as ever, just awaiting painting at the moment.  Mine are roughly the size of a chesterdraws ( best way to think about it) and about 3 inches high.  I love they way they look and are going to be so easy to manage

Quote from: caseylee on March 08, 2008, 12:44:25
My raised beds are not very large, I wanted a lot of small ones instead of a few big ones, cause my kids wanted one each and I have some many different varities or small veg to grow so it was he best for me.  My mate screwed them together and they are as solid as ever, just awaiting painting at the moment.  Mine are roughly the size of a chesterdraws ( best way to think about it) and about 3 inches high.  I love they way they look and are going to be so easy to manage

Photos Casey :)  Mine are 1/2 metre by 1/2 metre.  Easy to manage I think :)

I've started adding mini beds made from old wine boxes.  Not sure how long the wood will last but shouldn't be too much work to replace.

[attachment=1]

I would love to put photos, but I can't find out how to do it lol, anyone help.  I like the ideas with the wine boxes I might try that for my courgettes and my pumpkins, where is the best place to get them from.

Wine merchants! The posher ones are likely to have more of them spare - they'll think you're mad (ours does) but don't let that worry you :)

The biggest problem I have with my beds at the moment is that with the current layout i have one bed that runs parallel to a boundary hedge which not only casts a lot of shade over it but causes a rain shadow too. I can grow few vegetables in this bed and is really a bit of a waste of space. If I redesigned the plot and used square beds instead of rectangular ones I could move the beds away from this bad area and hopefully not loose space. I measured up today and found I could get 6 150cm square beds into the space and avoid the worst of the shade/rain shadow.

The biggest obstacle to doing this is actualy finding the time and energy to do it , not to mention finding a window when the beds arent neded for something. When not growing veg crops I often use one or more of the beds as a nursery are for young ornamental plants or as a holding area for established ornamentals when I am renovating a border. Plus I am growing or overwintering more crops now than i the past (one benefit of milder winters). I guess if I was to rebuild the beds i would have to plan ahead to ensure the right beds were clear and ready to dismantle and rebuild. I certainly wont be rushing into doing it any time soon, having just completed building similar beds for my autumn raspberries and found it a very trying expereince!

I have the same problem with one of my hedges, with the result that I've now given up trying to grow veg in that strip, and it's now a flowerbed.

Any permanent crop that would do well in such a site? Fruit or veg?

I have considered things like rhubarb or bush fruit such as gooseberries, but i am not sure if they would have enough light there to do well.

Any suggestions?