[Fleecewife]

Because we have the space, and I love growing veg, I used to grow masses of my favourite types, then just give the excess away, or even dump it on the compost heap.  What a waste of produce and energy.  Now I don't have any energy and really resent people who accept veg from me when I know they'll just dump them and not use them.  So I've cut it back to the bare minimum - which is why we ran out of spuds - I need to reassess how many is enough. I no longer give away or sell my produce.  As you say, it's a balance, with diseases, predation, bad weather and so on.  Most years I have at least one crop that fails, but that's just gardening 

I would like to try perennial veg varieties, but the couch grass and thistles here overwhelm me every year, so I daren't try even asparagus, as it would be such a disappointment when the bed disappeared under invasive weeds.  My strawberry beds are usually infested, although we do get a crop. Raspberries are a jungle, but again we crop plenty. My bramble patch will have to be hacked right back to the ground as it's a huge, impenetrable spikey trap.   I've wondered about '9 star perennial kale' - has anyone tried that?


Going back to the lazy beds, what you end up with is a raised bed, which gets higher each year with the addition of manure and compost.  It doesn't have to have any kind of edging at all, just mow the paths between.

[pgkevet]

Exactly what my asparagus did...vanished in a mix of pheasant nibbles and weeds. The amout of weeding necessary doesn't justify the crop.
Starwberries i do in many tubs to avoid the same issue. Rasberries got so out of hand - well they were out of hand when we moved here - last year i drove the ride-on mower through them to make  an access path. Somewere in there are gooseberries and blackcurrants although I have 3yr plantings elsewhere.

But you can bet that next month I'll be going through my seed stocks and topping up everything and going nuts again....

[bucketman]

This i where we pla to put the lazy bed

[Fleecewife]

Bucketman - that's exactly how I pictured it    Definitely mow it before you start, to get that tussock grass a bit under control.  I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on. 

[bucketman]

Bucketman - that's exactly how I pictured it    Definitely mow it before you start, to get that tussock grass a bit under control.  I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on. 

took this pic and another will try and post that as well. But any way then had a quick look in the shed only to find I had left fuel in my strimmer tried it now it wont run. So will have to try and clean the carb out. So not the best start.
any way heres the field

[Possum]

We made a couple of lazy beds when we first took on an overgrown allotment many years ago. It is called lazy because it saves you the back breaking work of digging down into soil that may never have been turned before. However, it still takes quite a bit of effort!


The potatoes grew well in it and I would choose a variety that does well locally. A lazier way would be to put a very thick layer of manure on the piece of ground now. Cover it in black plastic or cardboard and let the worms start to take it into the soil. Come the spring, plant the potatoes through slits in the plastic or cardboard.

[oor wullie]

Bucketman - that looks like pretty good ground (relatively speaking) compared with some in the NW.
Lazy beds were used to grow things on land that just didn't have enough soil otherwise.  I am sure that i heard that the word Lazy was a misunderstanding from the gaelic and that they are anything but a lazy way of growing.
Normally lots of seaweed would be dragged up from the shore to form the ridges.

You can see the trace remains of lazy beds all over the NW, faint ridges, usually running up and down the slope.  They are still visible as, since they were last used, no-one has been daft enough to even attempt to plough the ground as it is so poor.

You will find that in your area the locals (at least the older ones) will favour dry floury tatties. I don't think they grow any better it is just what people prefer.  British Queen was probably the most popular variety in the far North.

[Anke]

Bucketman, you may want to get yourself a copy of "Fruit & Vegetables for Scotland" by Kenneth Cox and Caroline Beaton. Lots of advise on what varieties do well in different parts of Scotland.