Welcome to my Lottie...

[tiachica]

We did manage it after all to the lottie this afternoon and had a successful aftenroon, picking up half a tesco bag full of glass shards from the soil and measuring the plot. It's 10x12m (not sure what that is in feet). So all this evening I have tried planning the set up of the allotment.

I want to try and maintain it as easily as possible, so raised beds it is.

I was thinking 5 beds each 1.5mx4m, plus a soft fruit bed 1.5x6m, a perm.veg bed 1.5x5m and a flower/herb bed 1.5x5ms.

That still leaves space for a couple of compost heaps, space for a shed, some grass to sit on and have a picnic and all the paths around the beds.

How does that sound? I have attached the plan too.

Any advice?

tiachica

[Jeanied]

Tiachia your gorgeous little'un looks entranced by all he surveys! What a cutie.

What aspect is the lottie - I'm wondering if the shed shouldn't go on the north edge where it won't cast shade on useful growing plots. Is that where you have sited your compost bins?

[Tori]

Ahhh Cute! I'm absolutely no good at offering advice on allotment plans - I currently have three on the go! Good luck x

[tiachica]

Hi Jeanied,

you are absolutely right. I have now shifted the shed (which doesn't exist yet by the way) into the North. :-)

[organic]

My suggestions... It might be better to keep the beds down to 1.2m wide. It's easy enough to reach 0.6m from the side of a bed without stepping on the soil (which is good as walking on the soil just packs it down) but any further is a bit of a stretch.

Also (and this is really a preference thing so don't pay it too much heed if you disagree) having the beds arranged as you have drawn seems like it might mean a lot of turning corners to get from one point to another. It might be easier to get around (and so less tempting to jump or walk over beds) if the paths were more like a grid with clear paths right through your plot in each direction. My paths are more like the shape of a letter E with extra horizontal bits. There's a big path up the plot and small ones coming off it, which will mean some extra walking but only 2 corners turned to get from any given point to another.

If you prefer the way you've drawn though - go for it!

Congrats on getting it all cleared. I moved about 4 or 5 wheelbarrow loads of rotten carpets, plastic, glass and assorted rubble off our plot today and there's still a fair bit to do. Getting there though!

[elsie-scot]

wahey you finally got your lottie Just gone back to the bottom of wating list for the only allotment vaguely near me and it's still in the planning stages.

Just double check if there is any rules about the boundry of your plot i.e. if you have to have a certain amount of space at the edge, heard some places need you to plant some flowers along edge

Where your water supply is and make sure you can get easy route from compost bin with wheelbarrow

[Storming Norman]

A big path down the middle would be my suggestion.

Honestly its going to be pretty but rather hard work otherwise - how will you get to the little one if he toddles off and you are in the middle of the maze?

And another suggestion - don't be so sure that you have all the glass out just yet. Make sure you have gloves on for the first year all the time just in case. You should see the cut on my neigbours hand last year from a stray bit deep in a bed - it took a month to heal.

[tiachica]

Thank you again for all your input. I have changed the beds around once more to accommodate all your suggestions. see first post.

Thank you also for the advice with the gloves. I was thinking exactly the same. It's gonna take a long time till the soil is glass free.
I hope your neighbour's hand is fine again with no permanent damage. Ouch!

[organic]

If the top of the drawing is North (I dunno if it is or not) might the shed and lawn be better moved 2 beds north with Bed5 and Permanent Veg moved down a bit? That way from about 10am onwards the only thing the shed will be shading is the compost bin.

Oh and another thought... what about having a narrow bed running along the sides of the shed? You could use it as support to grow pumpkins, squash, beans, peas and other climbers up and maybe even over the top. Shade lovers on the North and East sides, Sun lovers on the South and West. Efficient use of space.