New to allotment HELP

[Paul_TT]

I am semi retiring this month so have taken an allotment in our village from the parish council. I am new to all of this and many of the questions I have will sound stupid so please bear with me
The plot is 16 m x 14 m on a very slight slope. Looks like the plot was well maintained up to the end of last year and the soil looks in good condition. There is water and compost facilities on the site.

I can not see me getting the time or having the skills to develop the full plot this year. As such i was intending to
1 peg a barrier membrane on 1/2 the plot for the full year leaving it covered until this time next year. There are soil beds and a grassed area on this part of the plot . Is it OK to just cover the grass and beds and leave for a whole year
2 Put four slightly raised beds on the other half being 12 ft x 5 ft and 8" high made from scaffold boards.
3 Fully turn this ground and dig in some well rotted down horse manure and leave it to rest for a couple of weeks before doing any planting
4 plant seed potatoes and green beans carrots onions and leeks seeds to start with and see how it goes

Appreciate this sounds like I know nothing - which in truth I dont . However will I be OK doing this and not make a complete fool of myself in the process ? I am anxious to learn and know making mistakes is part of the process

Many thanks

Paul

[Starch]

My only suggestion would to make the scaffold board beds about 1m wide to you can easily access the from both sides without having walk on the soil and make sure you line them with polythene or other material as the rot very quickly without and need less watering. Made that mistake and had to replace them after 2 years. I also built mine 2 boards high, saves a lot of bending, and put ground cover across the whole plot and built them on top with a 600 gap between so you can get a wheelbarrow between them.

[Baldy]

Welcome along Paul - your plan sounds ok to me
As said if you can build the beds so that you can access it all without walking on them then that's an advantage - you can work round that though by using boards to walk on if you needed to.
Covering the half plot should be fine - the only problem might be if you have to keep 75% in cultivation or whatever - double check the regulations... I actually grow onions and the like through membrane as I find it helps keep the amount of weeding I need to do down a bit. You might see an increase in slugs and snails though...
Anyhow, good luck and remember to enjoy it. We like questions here - don't think there are 'stupid' questions really, everyone has to start somewhere.
Once you've posted enough you'll be able to post up photos - that's worth doing as it gives you a record of progress...

[Jungle Jane]

Happy semi retirement,more time for gardening You don’t need skills I think your plans sound good like you know what you’re doing,cardboards good for covering ground. It must all seem like a mammoth task at the moment good idea breaking it up into sections.

[Geordie]

Hi Paul, good luck with the new plot.

You could consider for the part with the lawn, use a spade to ‘skim’ off the turf and simply invert so the grass is facing downwards. Cover with cardboard, cover the cardboard with the compost and depending on its depth plant some shallow rooted veg into that. Depends on how many weeds are on the soil beds to do the same or if not many, a quick weed and do as above. This is the starting point of no-dig, research will tell you all you need to know but in the beginning often seems counter intuitive to what you expect to have to do.

Do not add manure to the part you will sow carrots, the carrots tend to fork. All the rest sounds good to go, find a plot holder on here who is not still learning!

[Logunner]

Your plan is sound, with the exception of Carrots and width of bed, both of those points have already been answered...

Enjoy

[lottie dolly]

Welcome to the vine Paul,just second advise already given,no question is ever daft,if you look in regular,you usually get to know what to plant next,as we tend to say what we doing,so just ask away,and good luck.

[nickdub]

No such thing as a stupid question - there are however plenty of stupid answers around, here and there and I'm responsible for quite a few of them :-)

Happy gardening - be prepared for a trial and error experience - lots of trying and lots of errors.

[Paul_TT]

Help

Many thanks appreciate everyone's advice taking the trouble to reply

[keat63]

Don't buy membrane, re-utilise some old carpets,
Thats what we do.

Although we've not yet decided what we are going to do when it starts rotting.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Baldy]

nope - don't use carpets you will regret it - when it disintegrates and you have to get it out of the ground
others in the past have also mentioned the chemicals that may have been used to manufacture them...

I spent too much of my life digging carpet out of a plot I took over to ever advise anyone to use them