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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Tomatoes, to rotate or not to rotate
  • Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 20:17:46 -0500


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.




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