[Lardman]

I have a dilemma.

I rather like the look of nice straight rows of veg - theres something nice and orderly about it.  This is how the plot was set out this year, 16ft rows running South Westish (see teir2-0809.pdf)

The problem I had / have was walking between the rows  for weeding / picking. Id left roughly 2ft between each veg and 6inches between each row, by the time things had grown it was impossible to to weed / walk without damaging the plants.

I don't have a barrow so that not an issue but I do seem to have rather large clumsy feet 

I thought I might re-arrange things into smaller beds (not raised but defined).The layout in teir2-0910.pdf before I make a mess of it and plant things like my blackcurrent bushes, can someone cast their eye over it and shout if I've done anything stupid.

[Sue32]

I set out my plot in smaller defined beds this year, I'm no expert so can't say it will or won't work  - but a couple things I learned.

Make sure you can reach into the middle of the beds from the sides else you'll be tempted to put a foot into the middle to do the weeding/picking and you're back with the same problem
Think about where each crop will be planted next year -  and is that future space still the right sort of size. 

[Lardman]

Theres nothing wider than 4ft and nothing longer than 8ft. so hopefully I wouldn't need to trample on the beds and reaching in shouldn't be an issue.

Im a little concerned about the amount of dead space though.

[Brassica Blaz]

hi lard man, my lotty is set out with 20 by 3ft by 15ft ,it looks great! because you can work around all sides, walk inbetween rows,weed easy ,net easy,harvest easy, earth up easy .you only need to leave say a foot inbetween beds ,just plan your rotation out and if short of space plan to grow to be self sufficient.its working for me!!

[crowndale]

I grow in rows, more or less (squash plants don't follow the rows quite as neatly as I'd like them to!!).  I have found planting two rows closer together and leaving one row about 18 between gives me enough space to weed without trampling.  of course depends on the crop, some crops take more space (like spuds and corn) and I found that peas, that look nice and neat when small, will suddenly take over the walkway and make it difficult to get through when mature!

[Ice]

I would suggest you plant smaller growing varieties closer together.  Pointed cabbages like Hispi do well like this.  What you lose on the paths you can make up for by this closer planting.  Paths should be about 18" wide by the way.

[gillie]

You have not left any room for a compost heap etc.  Does this matter?

You have one bed labelled 'ribes' (currants) and a much larger one labelled 'soft fruit'.  I presume you are going to grow raspberries and maybe blackberries or hybrid berries.  Is that rather a lot of room?  Remember you are going to have to net these.

Otherwise I would make the beds as near the same size as you can to facilitate rotation.  Why is there no space left at the end of the potato bed, but there is besides beds 1 and 3?  What is next to your plot?  If it is a path you do not need extra room beside these beds.

There is one disadvantage with permanent paths.  The ground gets very compacted.  This does not stop weeds growing, but makes them very difficult to remove.  Consider some kind of mulch on the paths.  Paths are not 'dead space' they are 'root space' you can plant right up to the edge of them and, as Ice says, plant things a bit closer together.

Cheers,

Gillie

[SnooziSuzi]

I was derided by the 'established' gardeners on my site because instead of rotavating the entire plot and not having paths which is the way they have their plots, I went for fixed raised beds with semi-permanant paths in between.

THis meant my veg were always growing in beds that I could control; ie it's easier for me to keep a bed weeded where there are clearly defined borders than it is to try to hold back any weeds that spread from paths.  One thing I did learn was that where paths were less than 3' apart, the veg did spill over (peas, cabbage leaves, potato haulms - they just don't understand the aesthetics of only growing in the confines of the walls of the beds  )

Don't fret so much over 'losing' space by having paths; if you can't get to your veg to weed in between them then you could end up with less of a harvest anyway so it's six and two-threes really.

The old boys are eating their words now too because IMHO beds make an allotment less daunting as you are effectively making lots of little growing areas which makes weeding in between easier.

This is year 1 for my beds, so I am not quite as on top of weeding the paths as I want to be, I'm still getting things the way I want them, but once all of the beds are in I could devote more time to keeping the paths clear and the beds tended.

Hope this helps  :happy:

[lisa80]

We chose to go in rows with one raised salad box .However we did plow whole plot which means we have to weed paths regularly but on the up side next year we will re dig move paths to suit and will mean we can fit more veg in and make rotation easier .We  got our plot late this year so plan to put much more in next yr,also having small children  means having wider paths to try to save my veg being trampled on by my 2 yr old!!!!!!

[Lardman]

  Lots of input 

Its my back garden and this is 1 of the tiers - I have other patches in use for corn,beans , compost bins etc, they're still works in progress and I have to work around other things. The ribes is an ornamental I leave it there as it flowers when nothing else does (I don't grow pretty things). Theres a permanent path 3ft wide running down the left hand side.

I did consider laying everything to 8x4 beds marked by 4x1s just to act as toe kickers, but I really don't think it would be good for the spuds.

The area marked soft fruit is for strawbs , 3 currant bushes and a quince or 2. Its 3x11 on the plan.  Im more than happy to dig & turn the rest of it over annually, I thought that was the best out of the way option.

Covering things is another of the reasons for beds rather than rows, Its easier for me to construct a frame for an 8x4 bed than its is for a 16x1 row.

The ground is still pretty poor and full of perennial weeds, I've just taken a 75ltr trug of doc, dandelion and bind weed out of the onion bed. So Id rather be able to weed than have permanent / semi permanent paths.

[Lardman]

I would suggest you plant smaller growing varieties closer together.  Pointed cabbages like Hispi do well like this. 

I put 14 in my 4x4 cage - I dont think I could plant them closer    ... they're all gone now though 

[Kristen]

"Im a little concerned about the amount of dead space though."

I have 4' wide "lazy" raised beds - soil fom the 18" paths is heaped onto the raised beds, so the paths are "lowered"

I plant right up to the edge of the bed, so in effect the plants along the edge have half the 18" path as part of their space.

[gillie]

"Theres a permanent path 3ft wide running down the left hand side."

Ah, so you could shift Bed 1 right up against the path and redistribute the space.

"a quince or 2"

Quinces are big trees! I don't think you could fit one, let alone two, in here - unless you mean chaenomeles, often grown as a decorative wall shrub which does have an edible quince-like fruit, but is probably not worth the bother.

Cheers,

Gillie