Kitchen Garden Forum

I would like to state I am a novice but enthusiastic gardener.

I have an allotment and have now got it clean & ready to go. So it is nice at the moment to have a blank canvass to work from I have a shed, greenhouse and compost bin.

I want to if it’s advisable to use the bed system.

My Questions are:

1) What is the most practical size to have the beds?

2) Do I grow the potatoes in a bed?

3) The runner beans are they grown in the bed system?

I know theses might seam like daft questions to you more experience gardens but I am trying to plan the pot and want to get it as near as right as possible.

I know I can grow most things in the beds and move them on one each year. However the beans are tall and need a lot of space and the potatoes are deep and grown in long rows so I am unsure where is the best place to grow them and be able to move them on the following year.

I do hope you can help

Thank you for your time.

beds must be narrow enough so you can reach the middle, 4ft is the norm, length is up to you, some people say over 15 ft and you walk accross instead of going round, mine are 30 . paths should be wide enough for a wheelbarrow, i used 2ft paving slabs cos i had a load of used ones and thats about right. spuds i grow a few earlies on the flat with lawn mowings as a mulch. beans just go in the bed,

To save some space you could make a bean frame over a path. I don't have specific beds but I'm running my beans either side of the long path on my plot this year. Not only will it save space it will make them easier to pick too. :

It depends on what you mean by beds.
I’m not a user of deep beds and don’t really see the point unless you are trying to create a small high intensity area. But I do believe in dividing a large plot into beds. They have three major advantages; not so daunting to tackle (a problem divided), easier to look after (can work from the paths), easier to plan (can control rotations). Mine is divided into 7 beds about 25’ by 10’. 10’ is a good width as you can hoe from each side.
I do use one bed per year for potatoes and one bed becomes three parallel 25’ rows of Broad Beans, Sweet Peas and Runner Beans. Another is heavily limed for the main greens crop. Others are just according to what you like, one of ours is courgettes and squashes. I keep a record of what I grow in each plot and a record of the potato and lime history.

Thank you all so much i have taken in all what you have all said. Every thing people say and give advice on is always worth taking note of.
Many thanks

Oooooh plot 36, how impersonal, give yourelf a proper name please!
I have raised beds on my allotment, and am working generally towards a plan that allows about 8 x 30ft by 6 ft beds. They dont have to be raised as such as you can 'sink the paths' and add the soild you dig out to the tops of the beds. If you sink the paths as I do that then leaves you with a network of two foot wide paths. I have (pr am in the prccesss of) boarding in all my beds with 6 x 1 tanalised timber in 12 foot lengths. I am intending to top each bed with manure every year if I have enough and if that bed needs it. The paths will be weed control fabric topped with bark.

Even if the ground is wet, you can get at the bed from the bark path without messing the bed up. So you have less restrictions from the weather. I run my rotivator down the beds, and have a frame over a special bed made from rustic poles and canes slotted into cuphooks for beans, tall peas etc.

I have just put my potatoes in a long raised bed too, so watch this space, I will post some pics in due course.

Compo

Plot 36 Hi and welcome, I took over a plot about 5 years ago. Mine was a little different as it had not been tended to for about 3 years and so was rampant with 6 ft high Jerusalem Artichokes and teasels which gave some it sort of focal point among the nettles poppies, docks couch grass and mares tail etc. The shed was at a rather rakish angle and full of junk and had been settled in by rats.

Undaunted I veiwed it as a blank sheet and set off choosing one corner to work from and then move down the plot. Being about 25 foot wide I decided to leave the top 12 foot for future plans of shed and greenhouse and then dug beds 12 foot by 4 foot which left me with a three foot centre path. Each bed was seperated by a 2 foot path, and all paths were covered with carpet tucked down about 6 inches to give an edge to work to.
Each year I have dug more of these beds as I progress down the plot, its about 100foot, and my plan is for 6 beds for perenials with 24 beds for rotation and then the remaining space after compost pens for items that I cant fit into current scheme.

Potatoes have four beds, but I may have to go to five . Two rows each bed, 10 in a row for earlies, 9 for seconds and 8 for main.

Legumes have 4 beds as do brassicas which follow. I grow French rather than Runners and again have two rows with 8 plants per row which still gives room to under sow with a couple of squash.

The initial investment in labour is now bearing fruit (both senses) in that I am now working to a system based on 12ft by 4ft where hoops,cloches and fleece are always the right size. Each bed has 5 sunken 3 lt bottles down the centre which allows watering at the roots and can stay there until the potatoes come around, on my way home from work I take 45 mins to fill all the bottles. It works for me.