Is a 4ft square bed too small on an allotment?

[dgillings]

I'm designing my allotment at the moment and at 25 foot wide by 50 the best effort I can fit in works on a basis of 4ft wide beds - some square and some elongated. Is 4 foot square a suitable size? I can always plant items in more than one bed if I want more of a crop?

In this design I have a 2 foot path around the plot - permiter paths - 1 foot wide paths between the 1st and 2nd row of 4ft sq beds - 3 foot wide path down the middle front to back and then 3rd and 4th bed have a 1 ft path between them again so:

2ft ¦¦   4ft bed  ¦¦1ft¦¦  4ft bed  ¦¦  3ft  ¦¦  4ft bed  ¦¦1ft¦¦  4ft bed¦¦ 2ft

does that sound ok? I've yet to decided on the layout length wise - but this seems to give me the most options...?

Any suggestions?

  :-\

[dgillings]

[bennettsleg]

I think it depends on what - and how much - you are planning to grow and in what method you will employ (raised beds, mulching etc)

Once the bug takes hold and if you decide you need extra space the paths could be narrowed or the more drastic option is to dig the lot over and use wooden planks to walk on thus expanding space and sacrificing presentation.

But then again, I'm still a newbie and I'm sure someone more practiced will be long in a mo'! ;D

[tin can]

All my beds are 4ft wide with 2 ft paths between them, except the central path which is 3ft wide - to easily take a barrow.
I found 18" was the minimum widthe I could cope with- esp when the plants tumbled over the edges.
Suppose it depends on what you intend to grow and where?

[Tee Gee]

I am not quite sure why you want lots of little beds??

I find my 30ft long 5ft wide beds quite versatile

When I plant say a few varieties of one genus I just stick a cane or similar at the start of each variety  (I actually use some white electric conduit which is easily seen )

Obviously when I plant a different genus the leaves tell me that it is different so there is no need for demarcation paths.

As I see it with your system you have  4ftx4ft plus half of a footpath around it (2ftx½) works out as you only have 16sq ft of planting area for 36 sq ft of allotment(44%).

Too high in my book; my way is 30x5=150 sq of growing space in 210 sq ft of allotment (71%)

Then again a lot will depend upon what you want to grow and how much space you need to grow them, I leave the thought with you.

[dgillings]

Interesting comments. Thanks for the fast replies.

At the moment the large amounts of raised beds (wooden framed) allows me to involce my sisters kids in the process. They will know where to walk and when etc. I have the option of opening out the 4x4 bed to 4x9 beds if I want to my removing the paths inbetween - which should allow for larger cropping of items. It also allows my naturally ordered brain to have something to concentrate on. At the moment, being new to allotmenting, it means that I only have to concentrate on relatively small areas, which makes it feel like less work. Because the raised beds I am going to make are pretty modular I can lift them and move them when I like...

But, as I said, the main reason is to allow the kids to help out - I can give them their own beds to do whatever in and we can keep a close eye on plants etc. It also shouldn't be hard to make poly-tunnel like items to cover these when we want etc.

I think I'll start of with half the plot like this and see how it goes - the rest can go under weed membraine ;)

[manicscousers]

most of our raised beds are 4 foot by between 12 and 15 feet, means we can walk around instead of walking on them  ;D

[kt.]

If you have 4ft beds with 1ft on the left and right of your plot, with one foot in the middle. I suggest a minor change to give you more planting room.

1) Keep the path to the left and right of your plot.

2) Do away with the path between the beds which run parallel with those on the left and right.

3) Combine the two 4ft beds with the 1ft path. This will give you one 9ft x 4ft bed instead of two 4x4ft beds. It will increase your planting space by another 4ft for every two of your current sized beds.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Do you mean to walk on your beds at all? 4 foot beds can be rather a stretch when you're trying to reach the middle from the path.

[kitten]

4 foot beds can be rather a stretch when you're trying to reach the middle from the path.

Oh no don't say that, we've made ours 5ft hoping to reach the middle from the paths  :o!  Oh well, you live and learn!  ::)  ;D

[LauraB]

I can understand your thinking re making your beds child friendly. Originally, I planned for my beds to be 9ft by 4ft, with two rows of beds side by side up the plot seperated by a central path and with paths either side, all clearly marked out. I have three girls (aged 0, 2 and 7) so it's important for the plot to be child friendly.

In practise, though, 2ft wide paths everywhere are seeming a bit unnecessary and wasteful. My central one will now be 3ft, with no paths at all to the side. I'm going to leave minimal space between the beds, maybe 12" to 18" depending on what's planted there. The girls have been fine so far - they know where they can and can't go. 

[dgillings]

Yeah I had plans to do the 4 x 9 as well as the 4 x 4 - I just don't think my niece or nephew could handle a 9 foot long bed... But 4 should be ok I think... Plus it allows me to create seperated beds and try different techniques in each bed - some deep beds, some normal etc... See what gives me the best results etc.

There has been some confusion on path size - they paths between the the 4ft beds are only 12" no more, with a 24" border path that is shared with the neighbours each side. I've put a 36" path down the middle for a wheelbarrow etc ;)

I'll upload the excel plan that I have done in just a moment - once I've worked out how to get it up here! :) And to think I work with computers all day every day - shocking isn't it - don't tell them I don't know a d**n thing about them, or I may have a lot more time on my hands!! :D 10 years in IT as a fraud ;)





OK - if you go to the blog you'll see the plan that I've uploaded ;) Let me know what you think... http://theorganicallotment.blogspot.com/

Daniel

[quizzical1]

The plan is very nice and neat. It seems to make fairly good use of the space, but I have some questions.
Why do you want to grow everything in raised beds?
Isn't that just making hard work? (Building the beds and filling them with soil/compost). Not to mention the expense of buying all the necessary timber.
Or by "raised" beds, do you just mean separated beds with a timber edging or some such?

Forgive me for seeming negative on this subject, but I am a new allotment holder, with few ideas on these matters. We  actually have one raised bed, 1 metre square, made from recycled plastic, which when filled with compost, we were planning to use as a seed bed. The only reason we have it though is because we bought a pack of 3 for the garden last year and then found there wasn't room, so only used 2 of them. (One of the reasons for applying for an allotment)