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Raised beds on allotment
Honeywort
Posts: 32
Hi. I've just got my first allotment and am going to have some raised beds on part of my plot. I've dug over the area where I want the beds to go but now I'm stuck.... My husband says that if I put the beds (15cm high) on top of the soil, because it's freshly dug, the beds will sink to the depth of the tilth. I have a vision of them disappearing as if in quicksand. What should I do?
Do I measure out the beds and then tread down and compact the soil where the wood will sit? Or should I lay some weed control membrane and put the beds on top of that? Or should I do both?
What do you think? Thanks
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Posts
I would tread down a rectangle the size of the raised bed frames. Don't put down weed membrane inside them as many veg require deeper soil than just 15cm. However, you could put membrane down to create paths around your beds to help keep them weed free - remember you will need access to the beds in order to tend them. You could tuck the membrane under the edges of the raised beds which would help keep it in place.
Is there a reason why you are putting in raised beds? I would have thought the soil in an allotment would be pretty good.
Hi Honeywort, Like yourself we got our first allotment October last year we did the same dug over the area and added plenty of organic matter, then placed the raised bed boxes on top but we staked the corners and screwed the boxes and they haven't sunk! The stakes we left high enough to put netting over and around because of the rabbits.
Yes, that's my question too - even I've just gotten an allotment and was wondering to put in raised beds or just to plant on direct. Any advice would be appreciated.
On allotments, I would grow in the ground. However, raised beds can be useful if you have very heavy clay soil or if you have trouble with certain pests as you can more easily cover a raised bed with enviromesh or fleece. The latter works well against pests common on allotments such as carrot fly.
I don't use raised beds for one the cost then there's the fact that they dry out in dry weather then they provide hiding places for slugs and snails, having said that I haven't been able to get onto my allotment plot for the best part of a week because it has been so wet whereas if I had raised beds with paths around them I wouldn't have had any trouble. As for carrot fly I have been using an enviromesh screen around my carrots for a couple of years now but the fly still seem to have a go at the carrots but this year I have used the screen and also covered the carrots with a fly proof tunnel, so far so good no fly attack.
I know nothing about raised beds so this interests me. I thought raised beds were over a foot high and filled with good topsoil because you either have a problem with claggy soil or you have mobility problems. Something that is only 6 inches high is no more than a wooden edging on ground and even if you fill it with good soil, the majority of plants will still root into the underlying soil so no real benefits. Am I missing something?
It works for myself and my husband. first picture is when we took on the allotment
this second picture was taken six weeks on
A lot of people on our site have taken to doing this now as it's easy to manage luckly for us my husband gets all the wood from work as scrap otherwise it would be burnt.
this is it early june
Hi everyone, thanks for your replies.
Bob - thanks for your suggestions. It all sounds very sensible and I think I will follow your advice.
Rodgy - I like the idea of the stakes, thanks.
Hogweed - why do I want raised beds? Well, it may sound like a bit of a girly thing, but I think they look nice. As Barry Island said, if it's too wet it may be difficult to get around. I like the idea of having clearly defined paths and raised areas that I can't walk over. On my first visit to the allotment site I had a good look at the other plots. Many have no raised beds at all, some have nothing but, and others have a mix of both - I like the aesthetics of the plots that have both.
Also, the soil is very heavy clay. It was rotivated by the council back in march and is like a lunar landscape full of hills and valleys covered in bramble, bindweed and lots of tall grass. It's also like trying to dig through concrete and I don't yet know what the drainage is like.
I'm having 4 beds and will use them for strawberries, salad plants and plants that are not too deep rooted. I know the beds are not very deep but I have a back problem at the moment and although I'm hoping it will get better it's a little less further to bend.
I suppose it's all a bit trial and error at the moment, but I'm having great fun - even though I have spent most of the day hacking back brambles to get to my shed which I know is in there somewhere. So far I've uncovered 3 wheely bins full to the brim with stagnant water, a wheelbarrow and a rather large rusty bbq.
Hi Rodgy.....nice photos. it's looking good.