I've just got an allotment (Hurrah!!) but it has not been cultivated for the best part of 30 years. The Council came in to the site with a digger and scraped off all the brambles etc that have accumulated over all that time and there are are huge bramble roots to dig out and wild bits growing. Huge pyramids of soil, weeds, roots etc. But most of the plots are clear(ish). Mine is on a bit of a slope. I am going to use raised beds - they have worked really well at home in the back garden - but should I put them longways so that the slope is on the long or the short axis of the bed? I know what I mean, I hope that you do? I was thinking of 4 feet wide by about 10-12 feet depending on what size retainers I can get hold of.