[minky]

I am very green  at this, this is my first go I only just got possesion of the plot last week and am very excited. My allotment is 13m x 8.5. am I being too ambitious with wanting to plant the following.

2 rows of early potatoes
2 rows of main crop potatoes
3rd of a row of cabbage the rest cauliflower
3rd of red cabbage the rest broccoli
row of peas with some beans on the end (dh likes them not me)
row of leeks
row of pumpkins and squash
row of parsnips
row of carrots
row of onions with some reds
row of shallots with some red onions in
row of garlic
block of sweetcorn and then the rest of the rows salad leaves and beetroot
then some strawberries and some toms round the shed

the plot has 4 established fruit trees and a current at the end and I was going to add a raspberry and some rhubarb, blueberry and a gooseberry.

when I lift my earlies what do you do with the space?

i have no greenhouse.

and I can't wait to get down and get going.

please any advice

[mumofstig]

People tend to transplant their leeks into the potato bed, so 2 crops from the same area.
Or you could go for courgette and/or pumpkin also raised in pots and transplanted.

This would free up two rows for you

[Lee G]

It does depend on the state of your plot but I'd say no, that's not too ambitious.  I did similar last year and only got my plot on the 1st May, and it was heavily infested with dock and couch grass, but I still managed similar kinds of things.  And on the whole, had some real success too.

Roll on this year  

[titch]

Put it all in and see what happens 
whatever comes up you will llove, what doesnt you will learn from
And that is the fun (i think or have i missed it all totally??)

[Salmo]

None of these are complicated crops. One piece of advice is to grow them exactly as it says in the gardening books or click "information" on this site. Do not take short cuts.

[Christine]

I've done most of them over my first two years on the plot - won't do cauliflowers again though as these did no good at all but I suspect that is my plot rather than the crop. You can't be taught experience you can only learn it. 

[home made pie]

sounds like a good plan to me, my list is more or less the same except I'm not doing cabbage this year as they all got eaten by those little pests last year.  I'm adding celery to my list this year, and four times as many spuds...they were so tasty

[Stripey_cat]

Cauliflowers are a bit fussy (firm soil, but not compacted; well fed and watered, but not too lushly etc.); squash are very greedy but quite easy if you have plenty of muck or compost, water and fertiliser; parsnips and carrots need well-dug, deep soil (unless you grow the stubby varieties!).  If you think you can manage that (or a good attempt), then go for it.