[mifty12]

Hi Guys

My wife and I are the proud owners of our first allotment. It has been sat with trees and bushes on  it for the last fifteen years. The council have rotavated  the area to create more plots hence how we got it. I have drawn a plan of what I believe we will do with it. I'd appreciate any thoughts or changes that could be made.




Thanks

Justin

[Teen76]

Congratulations on your new plot!

Its good to have a bit of plan I think.  Gives you a goal to go for.  Although you do tend to make a few changes as I did when I started on my plot.  In fact I still do change my mind on things.

Happy Veggie Gardening!

[Yorkie]

Welcome, Mifty

I'm afraid I can't read much of what you've jotted on that piece of paper, but congratulations on your new plot!


Have a look at this thread, which covers a lot of advice about planning the layout of a plot http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=33097.0

Also, I think there's an article on the Information pages of the site about planning.

Essentially, some main points are make sure you know where north is (N-S rows are marginally better than E-W), check you've minimised the shade from trees or permanent structures, consider having beds no more than 4' wide, and decide where you want permanent planting to go.

[woodburner]

I've put my permanent plants in my odd shaped beds, rhubarb and strawberries so far, herbs later this year hopefully.

As you're not going no dig. How come you have so many permanent paths?

[mifty12]

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry for the poor copy below is hopefully something more legible-



What I plan on planting is-

Bed A - Broad Beans, french beans, onions, leeks
Bed B - cabbages, broccolli, cauliflower, lettuces
Bed B - Turnips, swede, carrot, beetroot, radish.
Others - we'll save this for things like squash, courgette etc subject to success
We'll have all fruit bushes in a fruit cage but put things like rhubarb and herbs down in the area by the shed and greenhouse.


It is all still to be finallised as there is quite a bit to be done on the plot yet, it is pretty much a blank canvas, it has been rotavated as I said but there are a lot of rather mature roots from trees, busshes etc. We may get some bits in later this year but I think we'll probably spend this year getting it all set up, beds sorted etc.

As for the no dig comment, I am a newbie at all this and am not sure what you mean, how can you have veggies with no digging ? As for the paths we just thought it would make it easier when rotating beds each season to have them clearly marked, it also makes an easy route through for the wheel barrow.

I am open to any suggestions as there are many people on here with vastly more knowledge than me and I look forward to reading them. As soon as I can get down there i'll get some piccies for you all to see what i've got.

Cheers

Justin.

[woodburner]

As for the no dig comment, I am a newbie at all this and am not sure what you mean, how can you have veggies with no digging ?

Sacrilidge!   

It's an increasingly popular method of growing stuff for obvious reasons. The basic principle is that the beds are narrow enough that you can reach everywhere in the bed from the path, so that it is never trod and therefore doesn't get compacted. For most people this means beds are 4ft wide, which is how I realised you are not going 'no-dig'.
The other important principle is mulching the surface, (compost, manure, cut green manure etc.) and leaving the worms to incorporate it into the soil.
There are three ways of doing this, the best way for an individual is partly indicated by soil type and partly by personal preference.
You can have simple flat beds. This is the easiest, and if you have light soil this is the best.
The other two methods involve raising the soil level, so are good for heavy soils, poorly drained sites and areas with high rainfall.
My personal favourite is 'lazy beds'. You simply dig out the paths and put the soil on the beds thereby raising the height and improving drainage.
The other method is commonly called raised beds and involves putting wooden frames around the beds. This method is the most widely known, which I put down to the fact that there is money to be made selling selling ready made frames (or wood to make them) so it is advertised a lot; flat beds and lazy beds only need a spade, so don't get advertised.
There are still lots of people that prefer to dig their plots over every year, though, and still get good veg.

[mifty12]

Thanks for the info woodburner, it is appreciated.

The layout is in its infancy just to give us an idea of what goes where etc. The lazy beds are something I had heard of although not the terminology. It would be something we will look at ie four foot wide beds, i was thinking how to get as much in the space we've got as possible. just out of interest how long are your beds and how much do you fit in yours?

Thanks

Justin.

[birmancats]

Hi Justin.  I've put two thirds of my plot to 10 12x4 raised beds.  I still dig them over each year but it's really easy going compared to the whole plot as it was before because they haven't been compacted into paths.   I've now manged to beg and find enough slabs to put permanent ish paths between these.  I don't think the yield drops much as you don't need to leave the space quoted between rows just plant/thin everything to the distance between each plant all over. 

[Pompey Spud]

Hi
Great plan & great use of space.

Enjoy!!

[woodburner]

My beds are from 3 to 4m long. They vary a bit at home as one of the plots is triangular and the others I have fitted into different sized spaces. On the lottie they are all going to be 4m long. I can't really say how much I get in them as I have only ever used block planting, and last year was my first full year of veg growing, so I dion't really have anything to compare with. 

Edit: I forgot to say: Re-reading your post with details of what's going in which bed I noticed you have beans and onions together. Whilst beans benefit most veggies, they do not help alliums (leeks and onions) nor do they like growing with them. (According to the books anyway. )

[Elcie]

Hi Mifty12, looks like a great plan (and brilliant computer skills to get it on here too!!)  Everyone will plan their allotment to their own tastes and yours looks great so I won't comment on that.  I will, however, comment on the fact that you plan to 'prepare' this year.  No, no, no!  Start planting as soon as you can as it is the only thing that will keep you motivated.  Even if you prepare one bed then plant that before you prepare the next bed you will get some yield.  To have a plot at this time of the year and not plant anything all season would be very sad.

[goose]

Elcie, thats exactly what i am doing this year.  i only got my plot a couple of months ago but already have 2 beds with onion and garlic in (that look like they are doing well). another bed dug ready for my pots and another extremely well cleared bed ready for my parsnips when they have germinated in the paper pots, and have strarted digging another.

im only half way through my plot and i wished i had all my beds dug and paths constructed to make it look nice, but the satisfaction of seeing something growing has given me the motivation to keep digging the rest, bit by bit.