cleared a lot of the plot.advice re beds please

[mrs baggins]

We have only had it just over a week so we are still full of enthusiasm! have now managed to dig maybe a third of plot. Its been full of couch grass which we have got up as much as we can. Intend to dig over again and see what else comes to surface.

once we have a fair bit dug would it be wise to seperate it into beds with edging of some kind? We havent got any wood or bricks yet but I thought that maybe if we made beds the width of the plot and edge them with said bricks/wood it would define beds properly and allow us to dig and put something down pathwise. Does this seem right or am I going about it the wrong way.

if it helps things we would like to grow would be carrots, parsnips, peas, beans,salad things and some potatoes and a couple of those tiny squash (es)

[Epsom Gardener]

Hi, Mrs B
There are 2 schools of thought on this. I have separated mine into beds (some with edging and some without - only because I haven't quite collected enough wood/bricks from the skips to finish them off). This means that you are not treading on your beds and compacting the soil. I find it also makes it easier to do crop rotation. The down side some say is that slugs/snail find hidey places in the borders. I think that without the borders, they would find somewhere else to hide anyway.

The other way to do it is to cultivate the whole area. I found that when it's wet/damp, you constantly have mud stuck to your boots whereas with the bed system you walk on the paths (made out of carpet, underlay, bark chips, stones etc). Also, when you want to sow things, you need to put down a board like scaffolding to walk on.

Bit hickelty pickelty but hope it helps. Well done for clearing 1/3 of the plot in 1 week

[bluemoon]

I know.....I KNOW, that raised beds are more sensible, especially with clay soil like ours, it's just that I feel better planting into the ground in a weird, 'in touch with the earth' sort of way. I've compromised and use a few small raised beds for the things which won't do at all well otherwise, such as carrots, which refuse to form roots and salad crops, which just don't thrive. I can't see that there's anything wrong with a mixed system like this, but you have to be aware that both areas have to be large enough to allow for crop rotation.

[middlefield]

We have a large plot on clay, we've seperated the plot in to several areas using slabs that people we throwing away when they have extensions, new patio's etc. Over the course of 2 years we've got a large number now.

Using this method we have seperated a number of growing areas, sectioned-off a permanent runner bean area and raspberry bed area.

The benefits are that we can walk around the plot without compacting the soil haphazardly (we're compacting the paths, but thats irrelevant) and we can move the wheelbarrow etc without it getting stuck in the mud. It has also added a 'form' to the allotment meaning that the sections are much clearer and psychologically we're able to keep everything in perspective. We've got Bed 1, Bed 2 etc and we know which to clear, when to clear it and have a clear crop-rotation.

The slabs are hard-work, but have been worth it.

[mrs baggins]

thanks

thanks for the feedback. I think I will be going down the line of laying out the beds and sectioning them off with something we can maybe get free. will have a think on that one. Thanks goodness we did it at weekend cos its a bit wet now!!

[chuffa]

Hi Mrs B, I am for the first time turning my complete plot into raised beds. The fellow lotties all have ideas as to paths. One that seemed good was to, after levelling the paths, cover them first with corrugated cardboard then barkchip the cardboard will eventually rot but will leave a hard film under the barkchip. Here are a few photos of my beds that i made out of scaffolding boards, you can search my posts as to how you can get hold of them. I hope that this helps.

[Snadger]

I grow in beds myself but certainly wouldn't say mine is the ONLY method. There's nothing at all wrong with traditional methods of gardening, likewise there's nothing wrong with mixing it up i.e some beds/some trad.

It's really up to yourself, and to be honest you get an allotment to do your OWN thing! So........if it suits YOU, go for it!