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NorthernMonkeyGirl
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Behemoth
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
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oldish chris
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 4630 Location: Peeping over your shoulder
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Behemoth
Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 19023 Location: Leeds
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Treacodactyl Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 25795 Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
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sean Downsizer Moderator
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 4630 Location: Peeping over your shoulder
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dpack
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Ty Gwyn
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kGarden
Joined: 01 Dec 2014 Posts: 178 Location: Suffolk, UK
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Posted: Fri Dec 05, 14 8:22 am Post subject: |
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I started with what I know as "lazed raised beds" - no formal retaining sides.
I dug out the paths, a spit's depth, and piled that soil onto the beds and that was that. Manure then added on top annually, some digging took place but not routinely.
Heavy clay here, only any use for modelling!, the plot was land that had been rough grass for 50 years at least. The beds drained well from the get-go and have improved as the soil structure has improved. We never walk on the beds which are 4' wide (touted as maximum easy reach when worked from either side). The plot is flat so the paths don't drain downhill, as such, but seemed to work to drain the beds by virtue of being a few inches lower.
I let grass grow on the, lowered, paths which I mow once in a while as I find that works better for me than having any path coating that will pick up on muddy boots in winter (when I leave the grass fairly long to act as an absorbing layer).
Only downsides are that the shoulders of the bed collapse into the paths, a bit, over a couple of years and need striping and piling back onto the beds; it is hard-ish to plant ON the shoulders so some space wasted; and no break-line between bed and path, so the grass from path tends to creep back into the edges of the beds.
I came-across some timber a year or two back, so I've tarted mine up now, but they were fine for the half dozen years before that.
Lazy raised beds
Tarting up
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 4630 Location: Peeping over your shoulder
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 4630 Location: Peeping over your shoulder
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