Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Design and Construction => Topic started by: Remy on May 01, 2009, 15:42
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I'm thinking of building raised bet in my allotment but not sure how high I should make them.
What's the standar height I should go for?
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About this high! :D
Seriously, ::) It depends on what size (depth) timber you can lay your hands on. Ideally I suppose 10" old scaffold boards would be best, but TBH most beds are probably only 4-6" high. As long as you double dig it before hand, and scrape any excess up from your pathways, that should be fine. ;)
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Thanks Bombers!
I might go for the 6" timber as the soil is quite good & I'm thinking of green maunring over the winter to get a bit more nutriment. I've got the opportuinty to get horse manure as well so that'll go in as well.
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I am against raised beds, it's a waste off valuable raw materials. I spent some of my life on a Forestry Nursery, we grew 3.5 million trees a year on 24 acres. The nursery doesn't exist now.
My beds are ground level which allows the Merry Tiller and Mantis to be used easily, the soil being heavy clay. By using beds of 1m width I can work them without treading the clay down.
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I'm against rotovators. It's a waste of materials and fossil fuels :D http://www.get-digging.co.uk/testimonials.htm will solve most digging requirements even on heavy clay.
(And you can use them on raised beds ;)
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I follewed that link, I liked it so much I bought the whole company, or at least 1 Medium Azada.
They look really good, just hope the wife is not too surprised when it turns up!
Should help with the last few beds I have to dig over and then some soil moving that I need to do.
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I've read lots of good reports about them, but I've always been curious: doesn't the method of use mean that you have to stand on the bit just tilled in order to "dig" the next bit?
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Have not used it yet but the user guide suggests working backwards, i.e dig then move back rather than moving forward and treading on what you have just dug.
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The postie delivered my azada just with a bit of cardboard over the blade. He looked like the grim reaper.
And yes, it's easiest to walk backwards. I wear steel toecapped boots too.
Very handy things though.
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sounds like hard work to me ::) get a rotavator and do the job properly ;)
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Or build a raised bed and avoid the work altogether (Are we going round in circles here) :)
Bob
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would be the 1st time would it ? ;)
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sounds like hard work to me ::) get a rotavator and do the job properly ;)
im with you on this one shaun
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An interesting debate here.
I only construct raised beds to improve drainage for overwintering crops on my clay soil, but only yesterday O.H. was complaining that I'd grown crops right up to some of them on both sides making access for weeding difficult - but I don't want to waste valuable allotment space.
And I only rotorvate open areas a maximum of once every 3 years (extensively mulching in between).
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they do have there good points,like on wet/waterlogged ground,or if the ground is very heavy (clay) and you want to import decent soil, but after that i cant see any need for them on an allotment.like I have said in the past "its a fashion thing"
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Joining this thread a bit late but
1. I have raised beds because the soil underneath is such rubbish -- stony field
2. If I had decent soil I would've gone for lazy beds as they wouldve been cheaper to make and as easy to maintain
it's horses for courses IMHO :D
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How not to make raised beds!
On this plot (not mine) they started by driving there with a brushcutter for a couple of weeks, then brought a tractor & trailer to take the cuttings away, a tractor again to bring a rotorvator + those (bookcase) raised beds and yet another tractor/trailer trip with a load of manure, all for 2 tiny raised beds that are only about 800mm wide on a plot over 10 poles!
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w264/DavidsWine/raisedbeds1.jpg)
But actually cultivating anything in them appears to have been too much, as this is what they currently look like:
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w264/DavidsWine/raisedbeds2.jpg)
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Says it all ::)
But don't tar all RB'ers with the same brush as I am sure there are lots of example of ordinary plots and gardens in an equal state of inactivity ;)
Bob
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But don't tar all RB'ers with the same brush as I am sure there are lots of example of ordinary plots and gardens in an equal state of inactivity ;)
It was not the inactivity within the RB's that I was tar brushing, but the incredible waste of (surrounding) space/effort/etc.
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Today I put 5 potato in one of those building bags.I am planoing on watering it every other day
celery :)
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I would reckon all of it needs having a go at David, so many people become gardeners and give up within a few days because they realised it is a bit more of a commitment than they thought, if this is on an allotment there should be ways to take the plot back and give it to someone who will use it.
Bob
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so many people become gardeners and give up within a few days because they realised it is a bit more of a commitment than they thought
Bob
flip side is people like me, I started off with a couple of beds that I could only use during summer, they're a tad "damp" rest of the year ... then gained an 8' x 6' greenhouse, then expanded into slightly more beds ( that's this year ), and then will ( hopefully, if I keep it up this year ) expand into even more beds next year ... or I'll make shedloads of mistakes and make better use of the same space next year :tongue2:
Whilst I help grow flowers every day, I've never considered myself a gardener, and still don't, ( and only grow veg / fruit/ urm ... other things you can eat ... because I love the whole seed -> plant -> plate route ) so I've always tried to "prove" myself at every step.
I still haven't proved to myself that I can run an allotment sized plot though, so I'm not on a waiting list ;)
¥