Raised Beds Or Not!!!!

[JOHN BISHOP]

Can I get some advice please, have had an allotment for 18 years, always grown east to west (should be north to south) never tried a raised bed until a few weeks ago, have sown beetroot, turnips, parsnips, carrots, with a net over, all coming along fine but the turnips have taken over so much cannot see the beetroot!! I grow a lot of potatoes, onions, brassicas which I feel would not be very good for a raised bed.
1. Do I go for a mix?
2. Stay has it is?
3. Go all raised beds and grow north to south?

[Kristen]

I did flat-veg-patch when I was young.

We've got raised beds here. All we did was have the farmer plough the field where we wanted the veg patch, and then just put the soil from the paths on top of the beds [so no proper retaining boards] and its brill! Haven't bug anything and the soil is friable without having been dug etc. (soil is clay and nothing special)

Mine go N-S for what it's worth ...

[Nicos]

I've got half raised beds and the other half of the lottie as a 3 yr rotation for spuds, brassicas and courgette/squash and any left over seedlings from the raised beds.
I have to say that the raised beds are MUCH easier than the normal soil in that it doesn't get compacted and seems to warm up quicker.
We have peat soil where the watertable sometimes rises to the surface, so the raised beds meant we could start planting before the watertable has dropped .

It works well for us

Some of our raised beds are N/S and some are E/W - they just fit in around the paths etc. I've not really noticed much of a difference to be honest.

[zazen999]

You don't have to have them raised, just mark off where you are going to have a path and only walk on that bit. i don't believe in the north south east west thing anyway...but no matter what my bed direction I plant in a grid/block pattern so it doesn't really matter.

Having a bed means you can cover in the spring to warm it up, and not raising it means the roots are closer to the water. Plus, you don't have to fork out the money to buy materials to raise it. Of course, if you have a high water table, then raised beds are probably better.

[PAULW]

IMO it all depends on the type of soil you have to wether a raised bed is a good thing or not.
Our allotment is very well draining you could have an inch of rain overnight and be able to get on and dig it next day, when I first started on my plot I put in a raised bed dug the soil out filled with well rotted manure ans back fill with the soil I had dug out, I put my overwintering onions in this bed and they grew very well then the weather turned fine and after a couple of weeks of dry weather the odd seed head started to appear although stuff on the rest of the allotment wasn't troubled to much the bed was a nightmare to keep any moisture in and I spent a lot of time with the hose trying to save my onions

[Kristen]

Good point. The soil here is only good for making bricks! so I don't know anything about light, sandy, free draining soil.

[chuffa]

My lottie has ten raised beds in two rows of five. This gives a good rotation, the first crop not coming back to its first position for six years. Hungry crops like beans and cougettes need lots of humas to hold water in raised beds, but like PAULW says it depends of the soil. On mine raised beds work but as mentioned above, some crops would need help in keeping water there as raised beds help drainage.

[Two_Sheds]

I am just starting to build some raised beds (I made 2 today out of free wood: reclaimed scaffold boards filled with well-rotted compost). I'm loving them, because the soil on my Suffolk lotty is so poor ... basically just stoney sand.

[burnie]

Don't think I'll ever go back to walking on soil and having to keep digging it,raised beds seem the best way to go.Still require some work,they're not maintenance free,but my results are better.I have an uncle in Norfolk who runs a market garden on raised beds,he grows everything in his on a mega scale.

[JOHN BISHOP]

Thanks for your time people, I think I will do a mix next year, like the idea of low maintenance not getting any younger!!!
Thanks John Bishop