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  • From: "Liz Pike" <liz AT laughingbrookfarm.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Re: beds for growing
  • Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 07:58:12 -0400

> our first gardens were also raised beds framed with timber. My husband
made the widths between the beds just wide enough to mow with the lawnmower,
this makes keeping the weeds down quite easy, so you could actually sow lawn
grass or white clover between the beds when


Just a thought...if you have the room, making the paths wider for equipment
makes it much easier to harvest, tend crops & work in general. This was the
first mistake I made as a newbie grower. Took me 5 years to relocate the
beds, but the difference in speed & efficiency in which I could work made me
greatly regret not doing it sooner. The original width of my beds
corresponded with my 4' garden cart...I could pull it over the beds and
harvest right into it,but for vertical crops it was impossible. So I'd have
to leave the cart at the end of the row, which meant handling the produce
twice in the field, from plant to basket, from basket to cart, and with beds
100-200' long--not a good setup. Then I redesigned the layout, and was able
to have the cart right beside me. What a difference! The tractor & truck
could be used then too. I had the land to spread out on, but I was
initially thinking from the angle of a home gardener.

It didn't dawn on me to do this until I noticed the tobacco fields with the
extra path in between every 4 rows for harvesting equipment. I figured if
it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me. I tried 2 news beds
with the new path dimensions, and the next year went out of production just
to get everything switched over (I grew on permanent beds). It paid off the
next year with increased crops which meant additional sales--but I didn't
have to hire in new labor because it was still all very doable by myself
since I had the space in which to work.


Liz Pike
Laughingbrook Farm
Westfield NC
http://www.marketfarming.com
http://www.laughingbrookfarm.com









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