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Lazy bed

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Lazy beds, Inishbofin
Old lazybeds on North Harris
Old lazybeds on Ensay
Lazybeds on Inishglora

Lazy bed (Irish: ainneor or iompú, Scottish Gaelic: feannagan [ˈfjan̪ˠakən]) is a traditional method of arable cultivation. Rather like cord rig cultivation, parallel banks of ridge and furrow are dug by spade although lazy beds have banks that are bigger, up to 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) in width, with narrow drainage channels between them. It was used in southern parts of Britain from the post-Roman period until the post-medieval period, and across much of Ireland and Scotland until the 19th century.

Although it is largely extinct, it is still to be found in parts of the Hebrides and the west of Ireland. In these places, the method used is normally to lift up sods of peat and apply desalinated seaweed fertiliser to improve the ground.[citation needed] Potatoes were commonly grown in this way in Ireland until the early nineteenth century.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. p. 229.

External links