Raised Beds

[DirtBag]

Hi,

My present plot is 6'x12'. The 6' side is up against a fence, and the

12' side is up against the house. Yup, I'm walking through the garden to tend to the veggies. Not good.

I'm planning on installing some raised beds next year.

I'm planning two beds:

1) 2'x12', up against the house 2) 3'x12', set 1' away from the other bed.

This way I can access the 2' bed, from one side, and the 3' bed from both sides.

However, this leaves a 1' path between in which to walk?

Does this 1' seem wide enough? Should I narrow my 3' bed to 2' and spend the remaining foot widening the path?

Any guidance appreciated.

[David E. Ross]

Use stepping stones to make a meandering path through your existing bed. Plant tall vegetables to either side of this path and low vegetables between the stones.

If you do make raised beds, leave at least 6 inches between the house and the nearest bed. Otherwise, you might have a problem with dryrot or termites in your house walls.

[FarmI]

No, it doesn't seem wide enough TMWOT.

[David Hare-Scott]

It's wide enough for your arse to pass but too narrow for a barrow.

If you want to stick to 1' paths to maximise bed space run them the other way. Two paths and three beds across will make more of the beds closer to where you can get the barrow at the end of the bed. Otherwise make the path nearer 2'

As others have said be very wary of piling dirt against any structure.

David

[Balvenieman]

Make the effort to go ahead and build free-standing beds. Disregarding the possibility of damage to your house, you are almost certain to need access to all sides of all beds even though they may be only 2' wide. No, 1' is not nearly wide enough. You'll need room for tools, baskets, flats, containers, wheelbarrow, cart, etc. not to mention working room between beds of tall or trellised veggies. Been there: DW built our original raised beds many years ago and after the first season we found ourselves rebuilding virtually all of them in order to allow more room between. A needless exertion that could have been prevented with a little forethought.

[DirtBag]

Balvenieman said

Ok, I'm coming around ... ;-)

I'm thinking of 4 beds, each 2'x5', each separated with a 1.5' path along the 5' side

Alas, these beds are placed 1' from the side of the house.

This fits within my 12.5' x 6' rectange pretty well.

I guess when I start actually building these, things may change. ;-)

Thanks for all your guidance.

[len]

g'day dirtbag,

is this the only space you have for gardens?

a 1' path is enough to walk along so long as the garden plants don't over hang, for me i like paths around 500mm nearly 2', so i can get a barrow down there and if plants over hang they can still be walked past.

where you live there are no termites to worry about? if so part of termite managemt is not to have anything gardens shrubs what ever any closer to your house foundations that 2 meters, this zone should be kept basically as a dry zone with the first meter near the house being stone covered and then maybe a cement path for the next meter, but no plantings.

having said that and not knowing what you have to play with? for some it may be better for you to grow in containers, + a garden no closer than 2 meters to the house. we have a link to a site that does container gardens on our site index.

snipped

[David Hare-Scott]

I am not sure why the weeds would be less, perhaps because access to removing them is easier so you do it more often and with less effort.. Many gardeners do find that raised beds are very advantageous especially for high value produce like vegetables or flowers. What do mean by "log roll"?

David

[Mathink]

I prefer raised beds, as you say easier access and i think slugs etc find it more difficult to get to the plants...