seed bed size

[laurad]

Hello all,

I know this is a bit of a daft question, but anyway... I'm setting up my new veg plot and I'm about to build my first ever seed bed, and have no idea at all how big it should be. It's going to be a raised bed, so I have to decide on the overall size at the start, rather than use the trial and error method which usually works best for me in the garden. I have posted in the allotment forum because the veg plot is about that size, so I would be interested in hearing the opinions of allotmenteers.

Thanks for any thoughts,

Laura

[jlottie]

It depends on what you want to grow from seed laurad In the ideal world you should be able to reach into the middle so you don't tread on your soil but that would restrict the amount of rows you would be able to sow. Sorry not much help

[laurad]

Thanks for that. It wil be 4 feet wide like all the other raised beds. I know it depends on what I want to grow, the thing is that I am deciding for the long term, not just this year. I was interested to know what size seed beds other people have - for reassurance that I'm not miles out. I was thinking of about 6 feet by 4 feet - but that's just a wild guess.

[alandkell]

i would have said that 4ft is wide enough and that length really isnt an issue do it as long as is viable as per space you have! thats how i did it and it works for me as some are about 10 ft long and 4ft wide depth about 15 inches! hope that helps......

[Normski]

I'm not sure that a seed bed should be a permanent thing. Because of the risk of disease carry over I'd normally use a small section (1 end) of the bed/area that I'm going to be planting out in. i.e. I'm growing a short row of leeks for transplanting later within a bed set aside for onions/leeks within my rotation.
Similarly if I were to raise sprouts and cabbage in open ground I'd want this ground to be within the rotation. Although I now raise brassicas in pots for planting out. You may be able to divide up your seed bed and practise a rotation within it but I think this would be difficult.

[Thomas W]

Originally Posted by laurad

... I was interested to know what size seed beds other people have - for reassurance that I'm not miles out. I was thinking of about 6 feet by 4 feet - but that's just a wild guess.

I have 4 beds that are 4 feet (1.2 m) wide. The longest is 20 feet (6 m) and the shortest is 11 feet (3.5 m).
I'm growing grass in between the beds which is starting be really annoying since grass needs to be cut and the lawnmower won't cut the grass growing up the sides of my raised beds. Then I need to bring out the grass trimmer etc.
If I use concrete flags between the beds instead I'll have nice solid paths during and after rain and no grass to cut. The natural thing to do is to make the beds 2 x 1.6 feet = 3.2 feet wide (1 m), since this is the size of the the concrete flags. A bit smaller, but it will look neat and be easy to maintain.

[laurad]

I ended up with quite a small bed - 4 feet by 4 feet, so may need more going by what you have all said. This would help with rotation - which I hadn't considered - thanks for that. My first seedlings are doing really well, and I had a very high germination rate, so it's working !