Plot 12A Raised beds

Plot 12A Raised beds

A couple of weeks I got some wood for the raised beds I want to make on my allotment. My daughter called me to ask me if I still wanted the wood from some crates that had arrived at the factory during the night but which had now been emptied but the wood had to be picked up the same day as the management didn’t want it on site during the weekend because it was a potential fire hazard. I told her that indeed I still wanted it & then I phoned Gerry & we arranged a time to go & pick it up in his trailer.

Wood for raised beds:

We went & picked it up at the agreed time & took it down to the allotment. Once there we decided to stack it in the area of the compost heap that I had been clearing out. A space that is becoming very useful of late as a place to dump bags of horse & chicken manure while I get on with preparing the ground. Fortunately I’d already used half the bags Gerry brought me down a couple of weeks ago so it was quite quick to remove the remaining bags & put them closer to the last bed that needs digging up before I can incorporate the manure into the soil.

Boards for raised beds laid out:

As most of the beds have been dug up & the manure incorporated I now just have to make up the wooden frames to go around them. The planks are quite thick & the wood is very hard & heavy. The planks are about 2,5cm thick with varying lengths but most about 1,5m long & about 20cm or so wide.

For the moment at least the beds will be built just one plank width high, though ideally I’d like them to be twice or three times that height. My daughter says there is a great demand for these crates, so much so that the management has a waiting list of people who want them! It seems they don’t get them now as frequently as they used to. Unusually it seems 3 crates arrived therefore they were able to save two for me! I’m happy to have two at least so I can make a good start on the raised beds before the planting season gets underway!

Raised bed #1 Before the boards were put in place:

Raised bed #1 After the boards were put in place:

I’ve taken some photos of the boards laid out on the ground alongside the beds. I’ve now set them in place & held them up for now with thin,white tubes the previous tenant used for marking out his sowings/plantings.

I’m adding some of the photos I took yesterday so you can see how I’m getting on. As the weather has been freezing or raining these last few days I’ve spent very little time on the allotment.

Raised bed #2 Before the boards were put in place:

Raised bed #2 After the boards were put in place:

On Monday Gerry & I got some more bags of soil conditioner. I will spread some over the beds I’ve finished digging to try to keep the weeds down & hopefully warm up the soil earlier as it’s black & will therefore retain some of the heat it acquires during the day.

Raised bed #3 Before the boards were put in place:

Raised bed #3 After the boards were put in place:

Last Monday (23rd January) Gerry took some of the short, thick pieces of wood from the crates home to cut up to make some stakes for me. It would be impossible to cut them with a hand saw on the allotment. They really needed to be cut with a power saw & as I don’t have one I asked Gerry if he had one. He said he had & offered to cut them for me.

Numbering of plots

Today, Saturday, I put some plastic milk bottles with numbers on them on canes to identify what the beds will be used for. Originally I had intended to number them from the compost heap, which is at the very beginning of my plot, but as I started to clear & manure them from the far end I decided today to start my numbering system from that end.

The early potatoes I will put in bed #1 at the far end of my plot:

Seed potatoes ‘Rocket’ chitting in the greenhouse:

Well that’s the latest instalment for the moment on my own allotment. Shortly I will be making another on Gerry’s allotments where I continue to help him. There’s not a lot at the moment to show but over the coming weeks things will start changing once again as the growing season makes a start. Everything of course depends on the weather we have during the coming weeks.

Happy gardening!