Allotments 4 All

new to allot-menting. thinking of raised beds.have a garden full of grass and drainage rubbish, due to clay soil.if anybody has any tips or suggestions i would be truly gratefull.thanks.

Hi Jasmine

Happy to help - have you searched the threads for raised beds and clay soil?  There have been several threads on both topics recently.

Post again if they don't answer your questions ;D

Hi there, my allotment has a clay soil too & Im a real newbie to the whole process. I have only made one permanent wood surrounded raised bed as I will use it as a nursery bed. Im holding off on anything more permanent as I am approaching this year is an experiment & may want to reorganise/change my plot layout for next year.

I am making raised beds very simply by marking out the bed area with canes & then liftiing the top soil off the top of the path area around the bed & adding soil to bed area. I keep paths clear by hoeing but as the soil compacts so well not many weeds are coming through on the walked areas. The beds are slightly raised & as i have hoed & raked the soil to create growing/sowing surfaces the volume is increasing. I am adding grass cutting mulches to crops so the height of the soil level is rising gradually as the growing season continues. I am attempting a mainly organic no-dig method this year.

Once I am sure i am happy with my plot plan/layout I may add more permanent wooden surrounds to my beds & raise them alot higher with added manure etc over the winter period. But so far I like the simplicity & no-cost approach of simply using canes to mark out the beds & i have the added bonus that slugs do not have wooden edges to hide beside  ;D

I went straight to wooden raised beds (before finding A4A) and since then have recommended instead the approach that Crystalmoon describes. Once the wooden beds are in place it becomes quite a task to alter your layout.