Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On May 5, 2008, at 7:55 PM, Gloria Morris wrote:

> I prefer to plant in wide beds instead of rows. I prefer to plant in
> beds that are roughly 4 feet wide (except for the larger vines, which
> get wider beds). I probably don't use land with the most efficiency,
> as I like to have aisles of three feet between the beds. I am sure I
> could probably manage with narrower aisles, which would give me more
> planting area, but that would be at the expense of working comfort for
> me.

I have concluded that wider aisles are better. I started here with a  
nice neat layout with a lot of four by twenty beds and alternating  
aisles of two feet and four feet. All laid out on compass points. Nice  
six foot chicken moat around the whole thing. There is a drawing of it  
at:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1988-05-01/The-Chicken-Moat.aspx

If you click on Image Gallery you can see a couple photos of the  
chicken moat.

After about ten years I decided phooey on perfection. The present beds  
are laid out on the contour, the downhill edges of the beds are oak  
planks, well, rotten oak planks, new ones are on order; the planks are  
nine feet from the next set, so even if I ever use beds four feet wide  
I will still have five feet of sod paths. I mow each way close to the  
planks on the upper edge and the growing bed below and then run it the  
third time, blowing the cuttings downhill onto that bed for a bit of  
mulch. Between the two sections of the layout runs a curving walkway  
that is nine feet wide. Last fall I installed ten hose bibs, one at  
the inside end of each of the ten beds. Did I mention that I have  
become tired of pulling hoses? Did I mention that I am tired of having  
to move hoses so I can mow?

Now all I need is the time and energy to build ferrocement walls for  
the beds. Then I will build a ferrocement wall around the whole  
garden. And on the seventh decade I will rest.