Paths versus beds on allotments

[basketcase]

The beds method (raised or not) is what you'd do in a garden normally, but "serious" allotments and veg patchs have everything in long rows. It's a farming hand me down.

It's also very labour intensive and seems to be seen as a right of passage type thing for some people. It gets you admission to the "hard core, proper, sweat and blood, hard work, real gardener club". I think plotman is a member...

Thanks, BFG. That all sounds

Don't think I'll be getting 'serious' any time soon

[BFG]

The beds method (raised or not) is what you'd do in a garden normally, but "serious" allotments and veg patchs have everything in long rows. It's a farming hand me down.

It's also very labour intensive and seems to be seen as a right of passage type thing for some people. It gets you admission to the "hard core, proper, sweat and blood, hard work, real gardener club". I think plotman is a member...

[basketcase]

See, now I'm confused (not that it takes much!)

I thought you either used raised beds (which had wood round them) or just dug a bed and planted it - still with paths between but without the wood round it! Either way, the beds were no more than 10' x 4' for various practical reasons. So they were roughly the same size and shape.

What am I missing? This sounds like you plant in one long, narrow, continuous row - but surely that can't be right?

[zazen999]

Just read another positive - you don't walk club root around the plot if you aren't walking up and down rows.

[SarzWix]

On Plot1 we have 8 3x1.2m beds, this plot was a field when we got it, so it's my design and that's how I wanted it. Plot2 is set out in much larger beds with paths between, and for some things I'm really liking the bigger beds - potatoes and onions for instance make more sense in the bigger beds because we grow so many of them, and all my beans would have taken up about 3 of the small beds on plot1. So I like having the combination of both methods.

[Matt.]

Having started out with the traditional row system and now use the flat bed (i.e. not raised) approach I can't say there's that much between them. In my opinion I've lost space moving to the bed system as the paths are wider than I would have on rows. However it is easier to access for weeding and because and use I don't stand on the beds the soil structure is better. I also grow grass on the paths which helps to keep boots clean and is also a handy source of greenery for composting, not to mention it looks nice!

As others have said the bed system helps with management of crops and time planning tackling a set area. However, if I had or was given a rotovator I'd happily combine several beds into two or three large beds for efficiency.

[Sue]

Oh yes a big vote for raised beds, I'm the only one who does it on my plot too and get used to the comments. I'm another old crock and couldn't manage without them. Being able to sit on the paths to garden is the only way I could cope.
It is most noticable in a dry spell, the open plots go gray and then start cracking (heavy clay) whereas with raised beds it's much easier to mulch and keep the soil moist so you can go on planting. I've also noticed that come the dry spells out come the hosepipes, despite the rules, whereas if you mulch you can avoid using so much water. Most of my raised beds don't get watered at all, after a heavy rainfall I'm out with the wet newspaper and straw to keep the damp in.
I'm also a fan of being able to concentrate on one square at a time, I'd find the same space as bare earth very daunting. And I like the look of it, a permanent structure that I don't have to dig over every year.

And after starting off my twenty raised beds with meticulous care, sifting earth of every weed etc, half way I found that you could get the same results by putting them straight on the ground without digging it out first. A thick layer of cardboard and a good mix of home made compost and mpc ontop and you're away. A few more weed problems but again with a one metre square it's easier to deal with and after two seasons the perennial weeds are gone and it's just the usual windblown weed seed problems.

Sue

[BFG]

Mathematically, beds are a more efficient use of space. Traditional rows waste the space in between the rows that's needed to access them.

With beds that are accessible from the side, you plant much more closely together.

Seed packets will often say something like plant in rows 1m apart with 20cm between plants. That means the plant needs to be 20cm from it's neighbour, but you need a 1 metre to walk up!

In beds you'd do 20cm spacing both ways, fitting many more plants in.

You also don't walk on beds, which stops them getting compressed and avoids the need to rotivate/dig.

There's also the point of do you really want your row of 48 cabbages all ready at the same time?

A lot of traditional gardening and especially allotment methods have just been transferred straight from Farming and then passed on/down and become "the way it's done".

Ploughing's become rotivating, long lines of crops designed for harvesting (at the same time) with machinery, liberal use of manure for everything as farmers would have had tons of the stuff.

I'm always amazed at how much seemingly unnecessary hard work is involved in the traditional methods.

Sorry, Bit of a tangent, but it reminds me of a experiment with chimps. There was a ladder added to their enclosure and whenever one went on it, a loud siren and a water jet would go off. They quickly learnt to stay away from the ladder. One of these chimps was replaced with a new one and as soon as it went near the ladder, the rest stopped it and so it learnt to leave the ladder alone. They then replace all the chimps one at a time and eventually, no chimp would go near the ladder, but none of them had any idea why.

[miffy]

Our new plot however seems to have naturally taken itself along the bed approach,although not raised & not sure if it will stay that way?

I did a plan for my plot which now looks nothing like that, it has evolved as i have worked it and i have different sized beds so that i can be flexible with what i plant and it also adds interest.

[miffy]

You lot sound like a load of old crocks with your dodgy knees, elbows, aching backs arthritic hips etc!!!!

I have raised beds!

We might have aches and pains but i tell you there is life in us old birds yet!!

[di]

Well I guess I must be a traditional gal!!!Although amongst my not very straight rows are blocks of this & dots of that!If I've not enough seed or don't want a long row of something then the ends become little blocks of something else.
When we took on our plot we just found it easier to start digging at one end & keep going til we got to the other,planting as we went and I guess it's just been easier to keep it as it is.
Our new plot however seems to have naturally taken itself along the bed approach,although not raised & not sure if it will stay that way?

[snakeshack]

I have one wide path (ground cover fabric) down the middle ad narrow paths between the raised beds,means I can get a barrow to the end of every bed and have space to walk between.beds make rotation easier too if you can remember what grew where.

[gardenofeden]

if you have the space to have a hot compost pile then the grassy paths are a regular source of composting material, and at the very least grass compost is pretty good for mulching

[Two_Sheds]

. I prefer the old proven methods

We have one chap in our bit who does it the "rows and lines" way. My goodness his plot is horrible-looking.

Lots of bare soil between his long rows of this-and-that. (wasted space, imo)

Bare soil that quickly becomes infested with weeds, btw.

this week he has plunked in some lonely courgette plants, each with a moat of blue pellets. I must take a picture.

[plotman]

I thought it was a more gentle approach)