[PupStar]

Hi Guys,

Well my friend and I managed to clear most of our plot yesterday with a 26" rotovator and the soil is awesome.

Today we are going to start constructing some raised beds and I was just wondering what size I should make the raised bed for the spuds. I presume as long and as wide as possible but what do others do?

Regards

Mark

[lucywil]

I personally think a raised bed should be no more than 4 foot wide so you can work it easily from both sides without stepping on the soil

[DD.]

If the soil is "awesome", why do you need a raised bed for spuds?

 They are not a necessity, you know and take more irrigation. That could be a problem if we are heading for the predicted drought.

[mumofstig]

I agree with DD....good soil doesn't need raised beds. Simples.

Divide the plot up into beds if you like the idea, but there's no need to make things more difficult by building raised ones - unless the soil is horrible, poorly drained or very shallow.

Spuds directly in the soil are much easier IMO





edit spooling 

[PupStar]

thanks for the advice guys 

The raised beds were just to make the plot more managable and give a bit of structure.

Regards

Mark

[Trillium]

If you do organize in 'beds', then 4 ft wide is a good width to reach easily from each side, and 8 ft is generally a good length. Any longer then it becomes annoying to have to walk so far around to reach the other side. Some folk don't mind, but most seem to.

For potatoes you might find it easier to make 2 ft wide beds - easier to find soil to hill up the potatoes later and not intrude on the next row. If you're just mounding the soil, you might find this easier to shift around each year. If you're siding it with planking or whatever, you'll have to leave adequate planting space within for the hilling up.

If your soil is really that great, then simply planting out things in straight rows would be the easiest by far and you'd get a much larger yield since you're not taking up extra space for rows between beds, etc.

[A Reyt Tayty]

My raised beds are made up of those articulated plank thingys that are used on wagons. They have four sets of hinges and you can fold them flat. They are about 4ft by 3ft and you can stack them on top of each other to whatever height you desire. Idealk for fossils like me with dicky backs.