Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Design and Construction => Topic started by: boosmummy on September 26, 2011, 18:24
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just a quick one out of interest, how far apart are your raised beds and how big are they? Are they far enough apart to get a wheelbarrow down in between and to be able to kneel inbetween? if not, how do you manage?
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I made mine to measure my reach so that I could easily weed to the middle without stretching. originally I had very long beds but found the weight of the soil made the planks bow out so I changed them to shorter beds which also helps with the crop rotation. I have left enough room to push a wheelbarrow between (remembering to leave a bit extra so you can turn the corners without having to do a fifteen point turn!)
They really are worth the effort, much easier to dig and plant, more crop in the space and no carrot fly!
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Unless you have very poor soil, or bad back, or other problem that stops you bending......
you get just as much advantage from beds that are not raised. They won't dry out as quick as raised beds, (so less watering) and you don't have the expense of building them and filling them....just a thought :)
Most people manage to reach the middle of 4ft wide beds, and I think if they are any longer than 10ft you tend to walk across them, rather than around them.
If you plan to kneel to weed, then measure the length from knee to toes.......and that's the minimum for your path width ;)
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Unless you have very poor soil, or bad back, or other problem that stops you bending......
you get just as much advantage from beds that are not raised. They won't dry out as quick as raised beds, (so less watering) and you don't have the expense of building them and filling them....just a thought :)
Most people manage to reach the middle of 4ft wide beds, and I think if they are any longer than 10ft you tend to walk across them, rather than around them.
If you plan to kneel to weed, then measure the length from knee to toes.......and that's the minimum for your path width ;)
That's what we're doing on Patch G Mum. There'll be 32 individual beds, plus two where there is already a planting. They're about 4' x 9', and to make life simpler, I'm not too particular about the exact measurements either. They'll get trimmed and reshaped each year anyway! The paths are about two ft wide, and you can steer a wheelbarrow easily round the lot, as Daisy has done..
I was always anti this arrangement, until the patch (full plot) became available, and as there's only two of us, we can now plant fruit bushes properly, and reach across them without my big feet knocking everything over.
And I was also swayed by several names here too! (the other plot, half a plot), still has ordinary rows, as it is full up with winter veg, and hopefully will keep us going for a while yet...)