I might ruffle a few feathers here but here goes…

I was recently watching a very nice man on YouTube set up yet another raised bed on his allotment. As he was explaining what he was doing, I took a minute to really look around his plot. It was all raised beds – and concrete slabs for paving. My mind had one thought –

‘WHERE IS ALL THE NATURAL’?

Now before people start telling me raised beds are essential for wheelchair users etc – I get that. That’s not what I’m talking about! And I’m talking as someone with spinal issues so I REALLY get that for some people they can be useful.

I just think that if you don’t need them for ability issues, there is a better way. Think about this:

You have a plot of land and you want to put raised beds on it:

• You need to buy the timber
• You need to get other supplies like screws, tools etc
• You need time to build the beds
• You need to fill the beds – be it branches at the bottom (which will rot down), leaves, compost etc

That’s a lot of money and time – not to mention excellent hiding places for snails!

I was struck by how big this guy’s raised beds were and I couldn’t help thinking he could have saved himself a LOT of time and money if he had just made raised piles of said compost directly on the ground. They wouldn’t need to be very high but would still be above the ground level. Charles Dowding does this sort of thing all the time and he doesn’t rely on wooden structures for his beds – he removes them! This shorter video of his will give you an idea of what I mean:

I just think that as with so many things in gardening, it becomes over-complicated and expensive and doesn’t need to be! If you need raised beds because of mobility issues, fine but otherwise…do you really need them? They are a pretty permanent feature once you’ve put them in!

If you mark out an area with cardboard and put compost on top like Mr Dowding suggests, you can easily create a new bed without the extra expense or time.

I’m wondering if it is the concrete slabs which led me to this trail of thought as there is someone on our allotment site who has done something similar. They got their new plot and hit the gardening catalogues: raised beds, concrete slabs, archways, lights – all very nice and most of it is pretty permanent. That’s fine if it’s your garden and you will be there for the rest of your natural, but that isn’t what happens with allotments. My mind can’t help but go to ‘what if the next person doesn’t want a concrete path’? Do you see where I’m going with this?

I often think of those type of plot holders as ‘shoppers’ more than gardeners! There is someone else I can think of on the site who doesn’t visit their plot all that much (thankfully), and when they do, it’s weed, weed, weed, buy a TON of plug plants and pop them in. No feeding the soil, no growing from seed, just shopping!

Am I starting to sound judgemental? Not my intention actually but this sort of thing does irk me a bit for some reason. I think it’s because allotments are well sought after by people who have a passion for gardening – they want to grow things, they want to try growing everything pretty much. And to mind, these ‘shoppers’ just take up a space which a ‘gardener’ could be using! Oooh the controversy!!

Anyway, I digress slightly but for me, gardening is gardening and shopping is shopping. Raised beds in your garden – fine – raised beds with concrete path on an allotment plot? That makes me uncomfortable!