New Plot

[esrikandan]

It seems demand where I live is not too high and there are some alloments available at the nearest site.

I took a look around the site this morning and each plot is approx 5 poles, and will be about £25 per year, which seems reasonable. The council rotovate unoccupied plots quarterly, and this is about to happen sometime in the next week or so (so worth waiting until this happens I think).

As a newbie to this kind of thing, what would be recommended first crops? It is safe to say the unoccupied plots have been vacant for a while. Some of the taken plots have been unnattended for 6 years!

I'm thinking safe things like beans, peas, spuds, onions etc. But [erhaps keep a small area for unusual and / or perpetual items such as asparagus and artichokes. Unless that is a bad idea. Plus some fruit as well would be nice.

I tend to work long and late, so visiting during the week would be rare until the evenings are suitably light after 8pm.

[crichmond]

Sounds good to me, I have a raised asparagus bed and also have 3 artichoke plants, I have two rows of fruit trees and one row of blackcurrants, I alredy have some spuds in pots in the greenhouse and have others chitting in one of my greenhouses and have got 120 broad beens in pots plus some cut and come again lettuce.
I dont get to the greenhouse every day so I use capillary matting and fil a resevoir at the end of the bench

Cheers Chris

[Minty]

Yep , i am in a similar situation and am planning to do exactly as you. Plant the SAFE stuff(doing loads of potatoes) and a little test bed area of the more weird and wonderful , either way good luck. Minty

[TPeers]

Might sound daft - but how secure is the site? It is not unknown for veg thefts to happen - it would be sad to loose the hard work!

Check with a few plotholders and the site committee, and if there is any history of breaking and entering think twice before putting in expensive and time consuming exotics.

As to what now - early peas, broad beans, you can still put in bare rooted fruit trees/bushes at this time - maybe raspberries....

Take a few photos, check if you can have a shed/greenhouse (even if you can't afford one yet) and do some planning. As time rolls on you may want the greenhouse and certaintly the shed as a storage area so plan ahead, is there one spot which is notably shady (shed) only one place that gets the sun all day (greenhouse). Does the site slope, put the compost bins at the top. how far for water - plan the paths to make things easy. Narrow beds (raised or not) or full width plantings.

If you are planning to grow runner beans or other tall crops what is the orientation of the plot? North facing warms up slowly so be cautious. South facing will warm up faster - gives a longer season.

Get a couple of books out of the library and read.

Ask lots of questions! We'll all help.

Terry

[esrikandan]

Here is a diagram of the site. The coloured areas are the available plots.

Most of them are south facing. There are currently no sheds or greenhouses on any of the plots. However, I will have a greenhouse in my back garden anyhow. 85 or 86 seem ok to me.

The guy who showed me around said it was only really locker vandalism that has occured so far.

[TPeers]

Looks good - is that a parking bay or a water butt opposite 85/6

[esrikandan]

It's where the skip is if I recall. Nothing too glamorous!

[esrikandan]

Assuming the plot is rotovated, what level of prep is required to get going? I presume some compost and fertiliser?

[TPeers]

A good hand weed to get rid of the perenial weed roots that will have been chopped to pieces!

Rotovators are useful, but the 'cost' is quite high. You will need to weed, rake and lightly tread all the areas where you want your beds. The rotovator will have 'fluffed' the soil letting a lot of air in - good for weeding if the area has been gone over deeply enough, its time consuming but easy, not so good for planting as the air gaps are too large for water retention and the roots that end up in air pockets frizzle up and die!

Also if the plot has been rotovated to the same depth several times then you may have a hard pan to deal with - the only cure I know is a fork and deep digging to break the pan - hard work!

[TPeers]

You might also want to get your hands on as much weed supressing membrane, cardboard and/or black plastic as you can. If you cover the majority of the plot in something which excludes the light then you will slowdown the weed regrowth. Just uncover the area you are currently working on - the rest is neat and tidy until you can get to it.

This is the point at which you need to decide your gardening approach - traditional long rows, widely spaced or narrow (4') beds, raised (in as much as you only walk between them, never on, and the paths will 'sink') and top dressed every year with a mulch of compost or manure. Edging the beds is an optional extra!

[esrikandan]

Hmm... I hadn't given that much thought to beds etc. I'll take some snaps once I have done the deal and have the key so to speak. I'm guessing there's not that much rush yet. I can also have the plot not rotovated, if that helps although it won't be much more than 3 or 4 months since the last rotovation.

[TPeers]

Get it rotovated - all the overwinter annual weeds will be turned in for you and the perenial weed issue is not really that bad, just time consuming.

The case for raised beds over traditional rows has been thrashed out in various threads here - I'm a raised bed person - but please don't count it against me!

It's just taking on a plot does require some planning if you are to make the best use of the space and your time.

Do you want me to give you a few of the pros and cons?

Terry

[esrikandan]

Please do. I have no clue, so all advice appreciated!

Time will be an issue, so low(ish) maintenance will be ideal. Raised beds do seem sensible, and will add a bit of "structure" to the plot.

I think it's about 5 poles worth in total.

[TPeers]

Sorry for the delay - scoffing supper!

Pros and cons..... my view, others will think differently!

The traditional allotment is usually split down the middle with a long path about 4' wide, a path down each outer edge, usually the boundary path allows access from the edges. Between these paths the crops are grown in long rows. Runner beans for example would be grown on a construction that runs the width of the bed from the boundary path to the middle path. These paths are about the only permanant or semi-permanant things to be found with the exception of a series of compost bins and a water butt.

This system was used to ensure enough of each type of crop to feed the entire family, back in the days when this might be the only source of fresh veg the family had. There was no such thing as excess - crops would be preserved for winter use by salting, pickling, bottleing, canning etc...

The method of use for this type of plot (I had one for years!) is to dig the entire of each of the two huge beds each autumn, as the crops are cleared, adding manure to one half of one bed on a rotation basis such that the entire plot is manured over the course of four years.

Crop rotation is practiced by a mental division of each long bed into two, and a four year rotation system of Beans and legumes in 1, Brassicas in 2, roots and oddments excluding spuds in 3 and spuds in 4, Or some variation therof.

Each individual crop is grown as a long row or number of rows within its set area with trodden earth 'walkways' between crops - hence the wide spacings shown on seed packets - space to walk!

The system is excellent if you want to be semi self sufficient in veg for a family of approx 4 people. It is also a good system if you want to grow to show. Maintenance of a day to day type is hoeing - wide spacings allow for free use of a hoe. It should be done as often as possible, at least once a week or the weeds will win. Watering can be messy as you will end up walking through puddles as water spills from the planted area onto the trodden paths. The regular hoeing helps reduce evaporation but the long rows are hard to cover with fleece or insect netting. If your orientation is wrong (in terms of planting direction!) then a tall crop will shade out a short crop and a lot of space is wasted in the mini paths.

Back soon with Raised Beds! Bed time for the offspring intrudes!

[esrikandan]

Thanks so far. I had to do bedtime business as well! The plots here are bordered with slabs, and a bit of timber splits the end-to-end plots. There isn't anything running up the middle (but then the plots are fairly narrow).

I didn't notice any raised beds - most plots were configured in rows, with different crops in each row. I only noticed one plot with trees as well (apple).

Hmmm...I was think of plot 85 as it gets a bit of shade. Have a look at "keel drive" in maps.google.co.uk - you'll see the allotment quite easily. But my wife thinks that the middle ones are better *because* they get no shade, and appear to be the most popular plots as well. So maybe 59, 33 or 34 would be better?