Building some raised beds
I decided that I’d build some raised beds as my first big allotment task. The plot I’ve taken on was in a pretty decent condition, it had been well looked after with primarily raspberry plants and some trees on the borders (crab apple I think).
In the first week or so I’d gone to a Sunday talk put on by some of the allotment folk where the topic was soil. I came away with the learning that the soil (like most London sites) was clay heavy and so conditions could be a bit tricky for growing. This confirmed my idea to build raised beds as you can control the growing medium a bit more.
After a fair bit of research I set out on building 2 raised beds on the plot, 2.4m × 1.2m and 40cm high. I ordered some railway sleepers online which was my first realisation of two challenges…
- Cost - this ain’t a cheap hobby! Whilst I do appreciate you can do growing and allotments on a shoestring budget, I have the sort of personality that wants to go all in and do it properly… which is why I ended up spending £300+ on the timber.
- Logistics - the Ally Pally site is tricky in that the car park is up a steep narrow path which limits vehicle access somewhat. Being new, I’m still getting to grips with what’s possible to get delivered directly. And seeing as I live so close, and have a car, got the timber delivered to my flat (just 5 mins walk away).
I’d slightly underestimated the weight of the timber, I laughably thought I’d just stroll over with the planks to the allotment. Silly me. I managed to do 3 trips in the car to get the timber to the plot. Not easy.
Assemble!
Next task, was to work out how to assemble them on a slightly downhill and wonky site. I found this a bit tricky as I couldn’t see a clear, easy way of levelling the site. The plot next door had some pretty slick terracing but to be honest I had no idea how to do that…
Once on site, I also made the call to make three raised beds of lower height rather than the initial plan of just two. I felt I’d rather have the 3 beds to grow more. The 40cm height I’d originally planned seemed a bit overkill once I was there on site.
I asked AI to create me a guide on how to level the raised beds with wooden spacers.
So, next step beds assembled using very big screws…
I then used some offcuts from some wooden pallets I’d scavenged from around Muswell Hill. I’m not convinced about how long these will last… I hope they hold for now but expect this is not the last of the levelling story…
Filling the beds
Now, for what turned out to be the biggest pain!
One of the downsides of raised beds is the big task of having to fill them. As mentioned above one of the biggest problems was not knowing how to get the significant amount of soil and compost to the site. I decided to get a bulk delivery to the kerbside outside the flat. With the intention of just ‘merely’ trolleying over the soil to the allotment on foot… yes, a lot of journeys but just a 5 minute walk away remember!
I realised, on my first trolley journey over to the plot this was maybe a mistake. But I was pot committed!
What made it slightly worse, was having to offload it into a wheelbarrow before even getting it into the beds…
I hilariously thought I’d get the soil over to the plot in a day… fool of a took!
I think I’d done about 7 or 8 journeys over 3 or 4 days before I thought of a better idea. I bought some tarpaulin, put it in the boot of the car and shovelled a far bigger quantity of soil into the car to drive over than I could fit into the trolley. This saved me.
I finally broke the back of the task, and finally got to a point of getting each bed 70% filled with topsoil (the top 3 inches being left for compost).
The last task, was to source about 500 litres of compost to top off each raised bed. I took advantage of a Friday not working to head over to Crews Hill in Enfield. I loaded up managed to get it all in in just an hour or so.
This was a pretty satisfying moment. A significant task, made a bit harder because I’m new and I think maybe made some logistical errors. I’m sure I could’ve somehow got the topsoil delivered to site…
I’m also researching no-dig and think I may also try a no-dig bed to compare this first year. If that works the same, it is significantly less effort.
So, that is the main prep job done. Feels good.
Now I just need to work out what to grow. One thing to figure out is what and how to grow without access to a greenhouse to grow from seed. And on the assumption I’m not allowed to grow indoors and make a mess!
My other main structural tasks I’ve set myself for this first year are:
- Establish a composting area
- Plan and build a wildlife pond
- Clean, paint and organise the shed
Over and out.