New Member quick question

[All Grown Up]

Hi,

Have found this site and not stopped reading for about 5 hours now...full of really good information, so thanks for that!

I started my own plot (really half plot, it's 10 rods I think) last year, and this is the first year that I have actually got prepared soil, compost etc (when I got it, it was waist high in brambles), so I am really looking forward to getting going with less effort this year than last...

I did have a couple of questions.

1) Radicchio: this really nice slightly bitter addition to salads seems to be unavailable in the shops to buy, and also not available as seed...(Also known as chicory i believe - it's basically red, bitter lettuce with solid heart), does anyone know where i can get seeds?

2) Raised Beds: i think most "modern" thinking is that raised beds are better, you don't compost / dig paths, and you don't walk on beds, so crops grow better and closer together etc....however I do find it tricky to get rid of weeds that grown along the edges (esp couch grass) without almost pulling up the edges of the raised beds. Any ideas - and I don't really want to go to the legnths of Stephen Partridge (http://www.myallotments.blogspot.com/) who must spend most of his life there...

Thanks,

Dave

[Green Great]

You can get seeds from the organic gardening catalogue, well i know you could i dont know if they still sell them, however that is one of the best places to start looking.
Hope you get them...........

[andrewo]

Organic gardening catalogue is great, good seeds, good customer service
www.organiccatalog.com

What are you using to hold your raised beds in place? They shouldn't move if attached to stakes. Regarding couch grass, hate the stuff, but you can get organic weed sprays or an tiny implement that looks like a small crow bar that you can root out difficult weeds with. That or a good trowel.

[Nicos]

Hello All Grown Up and welcome! I can understand you spending hours reading through all our chatter - I've only been away for a weekend and it's taken me hours to catch up on everything!!
As far as raised beds go, I am quite new to perminant ones too (over the years we have just raised the beds by putting the soil from the paths onto the beds, having weeded and mucked the whole site first) We used to hoe and manually pull up weeds on the paths as they started growing, and on return from hols would glysophate the areas where the weeds had got a hold. I can see that having perminant beds is going to make weeding the edges more difficult. This is why I posted a thread on paths, to see what others found most practical. After a lot of thought I think we will leave the soil as before. I think the answer is not to let the weeds on the edges get too big. Time no doubt will tell! We are still building our raised beds and are screwing them into posts at each corner for stability as Andrewo suggests.

[smallblueplanet]

seeds of italy have 2 pages of seeds of raddichio & chicory - and you get loads in the packet, I really rate them (and not just because of my obsession with all things mediterranean!)

http://www.seedsofitaly.sagenet.co.uk/radicchio1.htm

[sewer rat]

Getting rid of the couch grass at the sides of your raised beds - you can glyphosate it or if you keep cutting it back it will eventually weaken. Alternatively, depending on what you have as a path between your beds, you can dig down and play a game called "trace the roots", removing as many root systems as you can find, without undermining your beds of course.
Good Luck

[All Grown Up]

I do have stakes in, however that doesn't mean that digging under the very edge doesn't lift the sides up... I use 1.5" by 9" by 8' planks with stakes that go 1' down.

They do work well, just wondered if any advice...it seems best to just try to keep it clear as much as possible - I use mulch, plastic, old wood anything really for paths - but they get compressed so don't fancy digging too much, and even with that the couch grass still maintains a good root system and just comes up in the beds (i guess it realises and grows sideways a bit...)

I would be interested in any organic weedkillers that people can recommend, i also wondered if anyone had any real success with the mexican marigold herb that is supposed to deter them?

[Emma]

Hi, I've used both raised beds and mounds and have found the raised beds to be much easier for exactly the reasons you gave and now won't go back.

As seeds go there is a company called the Real Seed Company, they produce predominantly organic seed and only supply a few or each variety. What they have done is conducted their own tests to see which varieties grow best in kitchen gardens and allotment. They also give you a guide on how to collect and store your own seed, which is possible from their plants as they do not stock any F1 varieties. Having used them I can only sing their praises as everything I have grown so far has lived up to expectation.

Good Luck