Raised beds?

I was just wondering what people's views are regarding raised beds on allotment plots?

I really want to have some on our second plot not only so it will look orderly but so it will allow us to have paths with little or no regular weeding chores to tend to because we have got loads of high grade weed membrane to put to good use and a little of that does go a really long way!

I know there will always be people for and against raised beds but I would like your views on them.Hel.xxx.

 

I'm for them, I've just built 2 outside my GH in the garden (see gardening projects)

 

On our plot we have 22 raised beds and growing veg has been for us more successful than before. It is easier to keep weeds under control. All our beds are 4'x8' we find this size is easiely managable.

 

Looking good Alasdair don't knock the size if you haven't much room to work you have to adjust the size to fit your own personal plot.

Fancy you sure have done a great job that's just how I imagined raised beds to look and work like. Just wondering though how long you have had them? Hel.xxx.

 

Hi Hel, we made 11 raised beds in Nov. last year to plant onions ,garlic Feltham early peas, broadbeans, and cabbage. this year we made 11 more. My brother buys the wood from a wood yard and puts them together., as we have three plots between us (brother Nick, neighbour and myself) we will be needing more. When we finished harvesting the weed membrane goes down rightaway until we are ready to turn the soil over and start again. It is also good for veg rotation, much much easier.

 

Have had my allotment since march have completed two thirds i have all raised beds i am no expert on growing learning by some mistakes but i have walkways in between two areas are 22ft x 22ft another 20ft x20ft and some smaller raised beds have attached one photo of some king edward potatoes i dug up today some a little small maybe they should have been left longer ?? will post phots of allotment soon.

 

Hi Helen. I would definitely go for raised beds. I`m using them for the first time this year (after an absence from gardening (veg) for 20 years) and have found that they SEEM to produce better crops. Basically, I made up the raised beds (using 8"x2") and put them in place. I then dug out a spit (putting it to one side) and turned over the soil underneath. Having replaced the soil, I then had to top-up using compost and soil from elsewhere in the garden to get the level right. You`ll find that once you have removed/turned over/replaced the soil, that the level will already be higher than it was, so it shouldn`t be too difficult/expensive to get it to the level you want. I know it sounds like hard work (and it is !), it`s definitely worth it. I have had the best crops ever, this year. You should see my parsnips !! Of course, you don`t HAVE to go for 8" high beds, but I think it`s worth it. I have 11 raised beds, all 8`x 4`. I bought the timber from B & Q and the cost was £8:88p for a 12` length (you would need two of these per bed). Of course, this worked out expensive, but I wanted something that was going to last ( I don`t want to be doing this again sometime soon ). Knowing how resourceful you are, I`m sure you`ll come up with something that`ll do the trick at a fraction of the cost Cheers...freddy.

 

Check out my blog for more info on growing veg in raised beds.

They are really productive!

 

My carrots and onions were a disaster last year but in the raised beds the yield is quite high. These are my Parsnips.

 

Many thanx for your wonderful personal views on this subject guys I had thought we might have had some input from people against having raised beds now that would have been nice too.

The reason why I asked you all for your views on raised beds was because when I mentioned it to our site's club secretary he told me it wouldn't work flat out just like that...... even though he later admitted that he had never tried them himself but a friend of a friend had. Lol heard that one before! :rolleyes:

Now that was like trying to wrestle a bone from a hungry dog so I told him we were still going to have a go at it and if it fails well we will only have ourselves to blame but at least we can say we gave it a blooming good try and I'm always up for a challenge not exactly Challenge Anneka more like one Hel-of-a-challenge but I mean life would be so very boring if everything was so easy wouldn't it? Hel.xxx.

 

Hi Helen. Why not try just putting one or two in for starters, that way you can make up your own mind as to whether they are worthwhile or not. Cheers...freddy.

 

Helen I will not go back to how it was before. I started the raised beds on our allotment and now every plot has at least 2 raised beds. It is so easy to weed, turn the soil over and not waste the compost or fertilizer. As an experiment I have planted butter-nut-squash and dwarf beans in a builders bag. this is useful for people with small gardens they can keep the builders bag on their patio.

 

Helen,I have been trying to get Mr Kandy to have raised beds for the last 20 odd years when we forst saw Geoff Hamilton make them.We even got some wood priced up last year because I thought he had seen the light so we went off to one local timber yard and then rung up a couple of others but they wanted fantastic prices for enough wood to make just eleven raised beds for our lottie.Well over a hundred quid:eek: Mr Kandy said at those prices it would be cheaper to just buy the vegetables from the supermarket:p

We have some wood in the shed from parts of fences that friends in the village have had replaced but as the boards are feather edged he reckons they are not thick enough:confused:

Fancy,your allotment vegetables are looking excellent:thumb:I also use those builders bags some of which I bought from B&Q last year fro £3 each and others that friends have given me after having delivers of topsoil etc as they are non returnable to to health and safety issues.I used to use old doors that were being thrown out.Four doors for the first bin etc but after many years they started to rot so have gradually dismantled them and now use the builders bags that hold quite a lot.I have quiet a few filled with leaves and two with my home and garden green waste.

 

I've got raised beds, high ish raised beds and they're brill the only downside is we built them so I wouldn't have to bend as much but I had to put a fence round it to keep my dog off it so now i've got to climb up into it then bend then climb down again lol




I know its not an allotment but its a raised veggie bed lol

 

My beds are raised, but I haven't got anything retaining them (yet). The soil is heavy clay, so tends not to "collapse" too much on the sides. The beds were "raised" simply by digging out the paths and adding the soil to the beds, and I add compost when I have / get some. Each Autumn I "scoop" the paths out on to the beds.

I did not have the budget, yet, nor the time. I am religious about not walking on the beds, and haven't had to dig anything in the last two years.

Some pictures here: http://kgarden.wordpress.com/projects/vegetable-patch/