Kitchen Garden Forum

Some crops are obviously grown in drills - potatoes, carrots, parsnips, to name a few. But which crops are best sown in raised beds, or will do well in either?.
Given space, should a drill be north - south, or east - west?. == Sammy ==

I'm not sure that some crops are obviously grown in drills, its all a matter of personal preference. I grow all crops in beds, including spuds and roots. If you do want to grow in rows, they are best running north-south. That way everything gets an equal burst of sunshine

Of course you can grow in Rows within beds, I tend to grow more closely cropped rows, making for smaller, sweeter crops, but I am struggling with brassica's even though they do not touch they appear to sense the closeness of other plants an don't grow as big. It depends on the size of your beds, Angi, in my usual 2m bed width I get three rows of spuds, the outer rows tend to splay over the paths, but there are not many weeks when the spuds are at full bloom so access is problematic only for a few weeks, I think your choice is dependant mainly upon space available rather than beds or flat spaces of ground. The critical part is the spacing of the crops, try too close and the crosp will suffer.

Compo

Angie I always have difficulty with potatoes in beds,
they often flop and I always seem short of soil when earthing them up,. any tips please on spacing etc

As mentioned previously most of my beds are two metres wide, so I have one row in the centre of the bed and the other about twenty cm from each edge, the bed itself has been well manured so is usually crowned therefore I only need two make two trenches wity my mattock to earth up between the three rows if that makes sense.

Compo

thanks Compo, I found your comments helpful I will try widening my spud beds to 2 metres. It makes sense. Cheers.

My beds are 1.2 x 2.4m in the centre of my plots and much longer around the perimeter of the plots. I put two rows of spuds in them at about the recommended spacing. I usually push sticks and string around the perimeter of the beds to stop the worst of the flopping. For earthing up we are lucky that the council deliver grass cuttings and municipal compost to the site. Because there are now only two of us at home, I'm quite happy to grow smaller cabbages, caulis, etc. I seem to get plenty of purple sprouting and Brussels sprouts off my plants, and I usually intercrop with lettuce, rocket and salad greens so as not to waste space.

Hello Toadstool
I grow my early pots in a 4 ft raised bed. I don't earth up but instead cover the bed with a thick layer of straw. I peg old boards (about 4 - 5in high) round the edge to keep the straw in. The tubers are in a staggered double row, 18in wide, down the middle of the bed. This tight spacing is OK for earlies that don't have a mass of top growth. Harvesting is easy as you just have to scrabble about under the straw and pull out what you need.

John

Well, Sammy et al, I had a poor crop of spuds from my raised beds and won't grow so many in one bed in future. 2 rows in a 4.5 foot bed is all there is room for, or perhaps I will be able to grow 3 rows id the seeds are ataggered.

As for earthing up, raised beds go well with growing under black plastic, but you could also use straw. This has the sanme effect of keeping the sun off the tubers nearest the surface.

mike

Never throw anything away.

Hello John, Angi & All,
Thanks for your tips. I'll have a go with some
early pots in beds using straw & black plastic.
For main crop, some in two beds using a mix of your hints re spacing etc, the rest [in a less sheltered position] in wide rows, well earthed up.
I like experimenting when it all works out
Toadstool

hi i grow all my spuds in dustbin and potato bags,all first earlies and main crop never had a problem

Slugs ruined my crop of potatoes when I used straw instead of earthing them up, so keep that in mind if you have a slug problem.

Before I set up the straw, I give the bed a good scattering of slug pellets. I also lay a soaker hose along the rows before the straw is put down. Then I never water from above except for an occasional soluble feed so this helps keep the straw dry and controls the slugs. Mice can be a problem as they love loose straw but they don't affect the potatoes much.

John