Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
For reasons of experience and convenience, then, I
recommend that beds should be four feet wide if they aren't
going to be used for tall vines like pole beans. They should be
three to three and a half feet wide otherwise.
Size of Raised Beds: Length
We already know that beds need to be rectangular for
economic reasons and three to four feet wide for
convenience—but how long can they be? Technically, they
can be as long as the farmer wants, but there are some aspects
of length worth considering.
One of the biggest causes of insect and disease problems is
growing the same plants in the same space year after year.
Bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases often have preferred host
plants—and sometimes won't even grow in plants of an
unrelated genus. Since these pathogens are competing against
more beneficial microbes in compost-enriched soil, they can
survive for only a limited period of time—usually three years
or less—in soil that doesn't provide a suitable host.
Insect pests (some of which spread diseases) are quite similar.
They have a particular appetite—a particular niche—such as
cabbage. Such pests not only eat cabbage and infect it with
diseases but also lay their eggs in the soil around the cabbage
so that their offspring will emerge right next to their favorite
food. One important way of foiling such pests is to make sure
that when their offspring awaken in spring, they find plants
that aren't appetizing.
Limiting the length of raised beds so that you have more
room to create several of them makes it easy to practice crop
