To Bed or Not to Bed, that is the question!

[BAZ]

Hi All

Can you help with our dilema?

This will be our 4th season at the plot. The size of the plot is approx 39' X 23'
We've always had informal boundaries between the rows, usually liberated timber from skips. However, the big debate in our house this year is to bed, or not to bed. Considering the space that we might lose, from a not very big plot in the first place. I know all the advantages of building raised beds, but, do they out weigh the BIG disadvantage of losing space on a half plot?

What do people think?

HELP!!!

[piskieinboots]

I've only just taken over my plot which is pretty much similar size to yours. I think I will bed - although my reason for this is because I always have in gardens, I don't really have any other reason for this thinking.

I'm hoping others will come along and help us out

[Nicos]

Hi Baz!
Before we decided to make proper raised beds, we used to dig out pathways whatever width we chose and put the soil onto what would be the beds- and then add muck which would raise them higher.
They were in effect raised beds but without the side supports.
It was very handy as where we had plants which spread sideways ( spuds/courgette etc) then we'd have a 2ft wide path, but where there were carrots/beets/parsnip etc we could get away with 1 ft wide paths.
Maybe worth trying this system out first so you get a feel of how much space you really need between your beds.
The idea of raised beds really is so that you don't stand on the soil and compress it. Weeding becomes much easier as does digging.
We have found raised beds much easier and quicker to care for,but we do have a full allotment.
If you try the 'no solid edge' type of raised bed, at least you'll see if you really can't do with losing the extra planting area.

[TPeers]

Depends on your soil. Are you on clay, loam or sand? If you are on clay then I would bed, the beds will drain better, warm up faster and suffer less damage from being walked on, also I personally find that it is easier to be formal in ones approach to rotation if one has a number of formal, narrow (4') beds.

If you are on sand which is very free draining and looses nutrients quickly there might be an advantage to beds as you can be more precise with the manure/compost and not waste a valuable resource on an area you are not going to cultivate this year as it happens to be one of this years paths.

Never having had that ideal stuff called loam I'm not sure I would recognise it..........

[Chiana]

Hi, I spent most of last year clearing my plot, which is about 20' longer than yours. I have decided to have raised beds (without the wooden sides)
My understanding with raised beds is that you can plant closer together, and while this might not make up for the lost space(?) it is worth taking into consideration.
Good luck with your decision.

[smallblueplanet]

I don't know whether things grow better in them or not, I just like the way they look.

[Helenclare]

I have decided to make beds on my allotment this year partly to help me keep track of what I have grown where and what has been manured etc. I thought crop rotation would be easier with 16 smal beds than 4 larger areas of land and that I could then concentrate my efforts in a well defined area. I also thought it would be easier to build crop protection using water piping and enviromesh over small 4foot by 8foot beds. I will let you know!!

[rustylady]

I'm not sure that you do lose space with raised beds. After all you still need room to get to the plants to sow seed, plant, weed, harvest etc. whichever system you use, and to my mind the most wasteful system of space is the traditional row method where you have to leave enough space between each row to access the plants.

[TPeers]

Pros and cons for raised beds - my view.

Having worked the traditional method on my allotment several eons ago, while I had lovely rows of veg I also had a lot of wastage growing too much of one kind of veg and compacted earth on the paths which ment that watering was a very soggy affair as the water would often run down onto the paths and pool. Also I had to dig the compacted earth each autumn - fine then, I was in my twenties but now with a knackered knee and in my fourties it really does not appeal!

Raised beds are not work free - just work different. Less tramping on the soil more stretching. Where before to make a job look 'right' the whole plot needed to be competely weed free and dug, now a job complete is one 4' wide bed, with built in seating! (My edges are sleepers - expensive but worth it to me).

It all boils down to personal choice, handyman skills and budget. Whatever you decide to do Baz, will be right for you. After all, getting ideas from all of us is very nice - but you are the one who has to do the work.

Just remember to grow some veg - how is really not that important!

Terry

[piskieinboots]

thanks for that view TP

[BAZ]

Thanks for all the comments/ advice. I think I had already made up my mind . I am going to ................sleep on it...........NO! only joking, am going to bed

As for your question TPeers, am on clay. Which for the last 4 seasons has had large helpings of horse manure mixed in, and am just beginning to get somewhere with it now.

Thanks all

[TPeers]

Clay lovely clay...... now you know why I have a knackerd knee!

Edging boards are cheaper and easier to move than sleepers - I use them at Dads plot, only about a 3" rise but it defines the paths for him and makes it easier for him to know where to weed.

Amazingly his plot is mainly sand - very fine and dusty, hell to keep watered in the summer but much fewer slug problems....

Swings and roundabouts!

[chuffa]

Hi Baz, as you have already read, there are both advantages and disadvantages in raised beds. I for one find it pleaseing to the eye looking at raised beds in a straight line, also the time i have because of work committment makes them easier to manage. I think once in place they can be a great help in cutting down soil borne problems and making crop rotation easy. Two books that i have both talk about raised beds they are: Andi Clevely's The Allotment Book and The BBC Grow Your Own Veg, by Carol Klein. There is a good article in the Jan issue of Grow your own page 29, by Paul Wagland on constructing beds.

[snake the squadie]

i totaly agree with chuffa. they are better to look at and so much easier to look after