Hi Everyone,
I have had my name down for an allotment for sometime. At the end of March I was told I have one.
I have some early photographs here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39355512@N00/sets/72157623653068831/I was told by the secretary it is in a right state, so I do not have to pay rent for the first two years. Because of the condition I only have to go up the plot as far as I can manage and they will spray the rest for me.
So the children and I have started digging.
We have also watched some episodes of Gardener's World on iplayer.
In our little garden at home, I have some Jerusalem artichokes in troughs, about six strawberry plants and some rhubarb. We also keep 4 chickens, so I have 3 plastic compost bins full of stuff. Normally what happens is someone comes and takes the majority of our chicken droppings/sawdust/straw away.
There is some work happening in the town centre and I have requested a couple of pallet boxes that they had the stone slabs in for compost boxes.
My difficulty is, I am new to this and I am having trouble planning the plot.
The things we like to eat:
Salad, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, red onion. (Two of us would love to have tomatoes, but one child has an intolerance to them, so we don't eat them raw, and we caught her picking them off the plant).
Potatoes,
Beans (kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas)
Sweet corn, carrots, broccoli, occasionally cauliflower, spinach, peas.
Pumpkin, squashes
All sorts of fruit when it gets cheap enough in season. I have a particular fondness for blueberries.
The council has lots of fruit trees planted around, so we collect cherries and blackberries for free.
What I would like to do is be organic as much as possible, companion plant. Use a fixed bed system and work on a 5 year rotation.
If you see the plan I have started I thought, I could start on the five beds and they would be as long as we can prepare soil. Then this autumn we can prepare more ground and make the beds longer or add further beds on the ends of the ones already there.
I have left 50 cms between the beds and I have only made the beds one metre wide, I think people do 1.2 mtrs, but we are not very tall, so I think it would be better for reaching over.
So my questions are:
Does the plan look okay so far?
Where do I put the plants that stay in, Jerusalem artichoke, rhubarb, strawberries? I thought the north side so they don't cause shade or is that wrong?
Where do I put the compost boxes when they come?
My daughter really wants raspberries, is it too late to plant them? And where should I put them?
Watching Gardeners' World, it appears we are late for a lot of things. So are onions and garlic out?
We would also like to plant a small herb area and are not sure where to put it?
I would be really grateful if you could answer my questions or point me to the correct links on this site to help me. We would like to get something in the ground before the weeds start growing back where we have prepared.
Regards