Layout of Raised Beds
 

Hello All!

I have an old basketball/tennis court made of macadam (asphalt). The court
is about 40' (East/West) by 100' (North/South). It's days as a baskeball
court are over.

I am planning on breaking up some of the macadam and making several raised
beds. I'll probably be doing this over the course of a few years.

My question is this, what direction should I lay out the long side of the
beds, E-W or N-S? The area is bordered on two sides by trees and lawn on
the other two sides. The trees are far enough away to that their shade
isn't a consideration, but work wll as a windbreak.

I have had great success with this year with tomatoes, peppers and herbs.
I'll being moving these to the new beds and probably addtion some others,
lettuce, beans, cukes, etc. I'll probably have a bed as a cutting garden
also.

I am in southern New Jersey, zone 6, borderline 7.

Thanks for your advice,

Tim

Layout of Raised Beds
 

My question is this, what direction should I lay out the long side of the
beds, E-W or N-S?

If there is any slope, crosswise to the slope.

Failing that, let's see, the main thing which springs to my mind is
putting the tall plants at the north side and the short ones south of
them, so they don't get shaded. That might argue for E-W beds. But
you have a lot of space.

40 feet by 100 feet strikes me as a big area to lay out in a strictly
rectangular way. But I guess I've always been the type to think in
terms of curved paths, aesthetically pleasing asymmetries, one part
raised a bit higher than the next, etc. I guess what I'm saying is
that if you've dealt with the obvious things, like slope if any and
what would shade what, I'm not thinking of a lot of considerations
other than aesthetics in terms of making the decision. There are some
rules to that (for example, rectangular arrangements and lined-up
sight lines for drama, or curves and little niches for intimacy and
variety), but it depends a lot on the site and how you see it looking.

Layout of Raised Beds
 

In article ,
"Tim" wrote:

Hello All!

I have an old basketball/tennis court made of macadam (asphalt). The court
is about 40' (East/West) by 100' (North/South). It's days as a baskeball
court are over.

I am planning on breaking up some of the macadam and making several raised
beds. I'll probably be doing this over the course of a few years.

My question is this, what direction should I lay out the long side of the
beds, E-W or N-S? The area is bordered on two sides by trees and lawn on
the other two sides. The trees are far enough away to that their shade
isn't a consideration, but work wll as a windbreak.

I have had great success with this year with tomatoes, peppers and herbs.
I'll being moving these to the new beds and probably addtion some others,
lettuce, beans, cukes, etc. I'll probably have a bed as a cutting garden
also.

I am in southern New Jersey, zone 6, borderline 7.

Thanks for your advice,

Tim

Jim's suggestions sound good. All things being equal run the rows from
the NW to the SE for maximum afternoon sun.
--
FB - FFF

Billy
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

Layout of Raised Beds
 

"Tim" wrote in message
...
My question is this, what direction should I lay out the long side of the
beds, E-W or N-S? The area is bordered on two sides by trees and lawn on
the other two sides. The trees are far enough away to that their shade
isn't a consideration, but work wll as a windbreak.


The usual thing is to run them NS, this way the plants all get equal sun on
each side. If you run them EW the north side of the row gets less sun in
the northern hemisphere and the south side less in the southern. This
becomes more of a consideration in winter and the further from the equator
that you are.

As well as sunshine also consider drainage. If your soil is not well
draining and the slope is slight it might be worth going some other
orientation away from cardinal points if it puts the rows down slope and
improves the drainage. I am assuming this court was in fact level so this
may be important. The soil underneath could be natural, building rubble,
imported fill or any damn thing so wait until you see it and can dig some
test holes before deciding on this issue and others.

David

Layout of Raised Beds
 

On Aug 20, 3:34 pm, "Tim" wrote:
Hello All!

I have an old basketball/tennis court made of macadam (asphalt). The court
is about 40' (East/West) by 100' (North/South). It's days as a baskeball
court are over.

I am planning on breaking up some of the macadam and making several raised
beds. I'll probably be doing this over the course of a few years.

My question is this, what direction should I lay out the long side of the
beds, E-W or N-S? The area is bordered on two sides by trees and lawn on
the other two sides. The trees are far enough away to that their shade
isn't a consideration, but work wll as a windbreak.

I have had great success with this year with tomatoes, peppers and herbs.
I'll being moving these to the new beds and probably addtion some others,
lettuce, beans, cukes, etc. I'll probably have a bed as a cutting garden
also.

I am in southern New Jersey, zone 6, borderline 7.

Thanks for your advice,

Tim

Over the years, I've found it best to work out a modular layout; 4X4
feet works about the best. 4 foot wide beds are about as big as you
can work in from the sides, so in length I just make them a multiple
of 4 foot. Every 4 foot along the sides I stick a piece of pvc pipe
down into the dirt. Then when I have trellises, etc. I just make them
4 foot long, 4 feet of net stretched between a couple of pieces of
lath or of small pvc pipe and and they can go crosswise or lengthwise.
Same for row covers, etc. except I use that flexible black pipe to
curve over between one pair of the 'receivers" to the other.

Layout of Raised Beds
 

g'day tim,

generally north/south so the beds get even sun over the passage of the
day.

we have pic's and story on how we do our raised beds on our site, you
are welcome to have a look.

On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:34:21 -0400, "Tim"
wrote:
snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/