[John H]

Just a quick question what is a good size to build a raised bed. I was thinking along the lines of 8X4.

Just so access is fairly easy, the only thing I am concerned about is, is it big enough.

I hope to have 4 - 5 eventually.

[verge]

[Sean Ph'lib]

It depends how long your arms are and how good your back is! Mine are 3' 6" wide (which allows three potato plants across when it's the spud break) and 12' long.

[TheBear]

Hi,

I have space of about 9' by 9' for my vegetable beds, and have been wavering between three 8'x2' or two 8'x3' beds. The 2' beds would make crop rotation easier, but would they be too narrow to be useful?

(Sorry, fairly new to this; I may be popping up with various questions as I'm getting my vegetable patch established.)

[paddy mac fisto]

All my beds are 8 x 4, very handy size for weeding but a good enough size to sow a decent amount of seed. 8 x 3 sounds like it'd be a fine size but i personally I wouldn't go much smaller than that because depending on what you sow you'll need to leave anything up to a 12 inch gap between plants. Presuming that you'd sow long rows rather than lots of little short rows down the length of the bed, a 2 ft wide bed wouldn't leave much room for very many rows.

Another tip I would give is if you can, don't cut the uprights of the beds flush with the height of the bed. Leave them a couple of feet higher than the bed. this will allow you to net the beds very easily.

[TheBear]

[Planet X]

I have two sizes, 8 X 4 and 11 X 5 (background). Looking forward to using the bigger ones actually.


http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc356/Kilroy8282/P1000540.jpg?t=1244113863

[John H]

Just a quick update I decided to go with 8 X 4 and it worked well for me. I got a couple of rows of cabbages and carrots and three rows of three types of onions and a bit of lettuce.

It was easy to access any weeds popping up and pick out slugs.

Hopefully next year I will have a few more to work on.

[Garlicbreath]

I have three 4x8 beds and, frankly, it's not enough. However, 4ft is definitely the widest you should have - it can be quite a stretch to work in the middle. They can be as long as you like but bear in mind you have to walk around them to get to the other side!!

[John H]

I am hoping to have five in total so I will be able to crop rotate and hopefully the soil should not get to worn out after a few years.

I will try to keep from using fertilizers. I hope to get away with just using compost and dung ( I don't know if that is enough to keep the soil fertile ) Maybe someone can let me know.

[Daithic]