planting distances for raised beds?

[chrissie the chippy]

I keep reading that you can plant closer in a raised bed, but never see any numbers for it...

call me crazy, but I'm thinking of giving up my allotment and growing in my garden, I'll have room for about 3 3x1m beds, with a greenhouse, a big coldframe, hotbeds and as many containers as I can before it starts to take over the garden

I'd like to have a rough idea of how much I can grow in raised beds before I
chuck in the towel!

thank you

[TEB]

Usually people build raised beds to a certain size so as to be able to reach across and eliminating the need to walk between rows, because of this you can pack more in, I would say though that there isnt a hard and fast rule and will depend on what you intend to grow.

[Alison]

I have 12 3m by 1.4m beds as formal rotation beds at the lottie. These are split up into a 4 year rotation ie 3 per year and are producing a lot of food already this year (with the exception of the brassicas which are full of winter stuff). In addition to this I have a lot of random informal beds and a greenhouse at home as well as various pots etc round the place. In your garden you'll be on less than a quarter of this space which I would find very restrictive after having the freedom to spread more. You are right that you can plant closer in raised beds but you can't cram in excessively, I usually go for ignoring the row spacing and plant the same in both directions and that seems to be working OK.

Are you sure you defo want to give up your allotment? If you're managing to keep you plot productive then I'd be inclined to keep it on or maybe only give up half of it. Up to you of course and you may have other reasons rather than just the simple hard work bit.

[chrissie the chippy]

Thank you

I've got a big plot and it's completely riddled with bindweed Every time we clear one, it's covered again before you can pick up a spade to start the next bit!

I thought it would be easy to juggle it with the children, but it isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

I can't see myself ever getting on top of it or having the commitment over the years to keep it up

I did think about turning it into just a plot of fruit, lots of grapes, currents etc with grass or plastic between?

I've got until November to decide, so I'm not going to rush into giving it up

[Pies]

id put raised beds on the lottie,place them on a clearer area,and place weed supprecent material between bedsplant rasberrys bluberrys redcurrents etc over the rest.This will reduce your workload by lots

This way you still get to keep the lottie,afterall the workload will be the same wherever you plant the plants,

For distances between plants its as stated on the seed packet.Example it will say 6" between plants and 18" between rows, the distance between rows is to allow you room to get between the plants.As you dont need to walk down the row the distance,in this case is 6"

[Uncle Albert]

As an example, I've got my cabbages in at 8" distances (both ways) in my raised beds. There's no gap between them, which suppresses the weeds, and they grow to something like 75% of the size that they would at a more traditional spacing. You definitely get more per square foot that way, but smaller individuals.

As for gardening in the garden, I prefer it to an allotment. Personal preference I know, but it's always there outside the door, which means things can be done in 10 free minutes, whereas a trip to the lottie takes planning... I guess it's personal preference, but the garden is mine.

[Sheepish]

There's a suggested spacings list for raised beds in Hessayon's Vegetable and Herb Expert. Unfortunately I have no idea where I have left my copy...

[oldie]

I use raised beds and use pretty much the same spacing as Uncle Albert above. Smaller size but more of them. I do however give much more room to PSB and Brussels sprouts. Charles Dowding give suggestion for spacings in his book on using a no-dig approach.

[gadgetman]

For my carrots for example, I simply doubled the average you see in a shop between seeds in my raised bed (450mm high)

[COMPOST CORNER]

In my raised beds I give the same distance between rows as the recommended distance between plants in the row.

[kentvegplot]

I use the 'matrix planting' measurements - you take the distance specified between plants, add the distance between rows, and divide by two.

So, if the plant spacing is 10cm, and the rows should be 30cm apart, you end up planting 20cm apart in all directions, staggering the rows if you're growing more than one row.

[falkon]

cover the whole plot with the weed fabric.... find cheap offers on ebay with free postage ... then construct raised beds at places you like them. if the raised beds are high enough then u dont need to cut the fabric under raised beds.
if you dont want to put fabric on.. then find a cultivator and run through ur plot 3 to 4 times in a period of 3 weeks. this will greatly reduce the weeds also...

[OllieMartin]

I use the 'matrix planting' measurements - you take the distance specified between plants, add the distance between rows, and divide by two.

So, if the plant spacing is 10cm, and the rows should be 30cm apart, you end up planting 20cm apart in all directions, staggering the rows if you're growing more than one row.

I never understood how the distance between plants and between rows could be different. If you plant several rows of the same plant then the two are the same!

Nice to know someone else doesn't follow these guides precisely too.

[Alison]

if you dont want to put fabric on.. then find a cultivator and run through ur plot 3 to 4 times in a period of 3 weeks. this will greatly reduce the weeds also...

If you have perenial weeds then using a cultivator on your plot will greatly INCREASE the number of weeds as each bit of broken root will form a new plant.

[bigdog]

I've got a great liitle book called 'The Productive Small Garden'. In it, the author suggests planting at roughly two-thirds the normal spacing with, of course, no need to give extra space between rows. As well as the advantage of not needing space between rows, the fact that raised beds provide a deeper root run also means plants can be spaced closer.