what do you think??

[vegtable newbie!]

hello!

Ok, so I have done a plan of my allotment!

I really do have no idea so please please give me your honest opinions!

The rhubarb is the only plant which is already there!

Please be kind to me, i am new to this!! ;-)

Thank you

Sue

[zazen999]

Honest opinion?












I can't see the bu99er.

[piskieinboots]

I can't see the bu99er.

same here I'm afraid

[vegtable newbie!]

Arrrggggghhhhhhhh ok, Emmmmmm, need to work out if I can make it bigger! Any ideas?

Sue

[Bigmallly]

Have made it bigger but unfortunately not any clearer, sorry. Try planning it on a spreadsheet and just type the veg names in.

[Newton]

Do you have access to the beds from paths on the outside. If so I would think that the central path is unnecessary and could be turned into one long bed or just make the cross beds the full width of the plot.

[vegtable newbie!]

Thank you very much for trying to make it bigger for me! I will re do it one a spreadsheet later and hopefully that will work better to show you!

There is paths on the outside of the plot but they are just access paths and you can't even fit two feet next to each other on them, so I felt they would not be wide enough, specially as this year at least I will need access with pushchair!!

Sue
X

[di]

My honest opinion? This is your first year on a new plot, you have a youngster in a push chair...the plan looks great, just don't have too high expectations of what you'll be able to achieve in your first year.

Sorry, I don't know you, you may have what it takes to get it done, in my fairly short experience, 7 years on the allotment, it's the people that have wanted everything perfect in the first year that have struggled and given up.

Hope that didn't sound patronising or pessimistic. x

[Florence Fennel]

Without being unkind Sue, it looks very ambitious if you intend to achieve it all this year, but if you're doing it in realistic bite sized bits it's going to take you some time, so do be prepared. Good luck with it and enjoy yourself

[vegtable newbie!]

Hi

Thank you ladies, I did not take offence at all! That is my final plan! I am taking each bed one at a time, get as much done as I can. I am very excited and motivated about it all and I am looking at it as a long term project! We plan to do a bed at a time! We have all this weekend up there and five days straight next week with some helpers which I am hoping we will get some land cleared in that time and some beds constructed and hopefully sorted. Thank you for your kind words of concern, I hope I am being realistic. That is my final plan, I certainly don't expect it to look like that in a couple of weeks! It will get there when it will get there!

Sue
Xx

[zazen999]

My advice for the first year of any plot is never to get beds constructed. You will change your mind and decide that just where you put that bed is just where you want to put a chair/a set of fruit trees in pots/a compost bin/a path.

I say make a path down the middle, and grow for the first year in the soil with no beds. Then if you want to change anything - it is so easily done.

[Snadger]

Can't really make it out but it looks similar to my own layout which covers two plots.(20 rods/poles)

I have a central path about 2'6" wide, the beds are all 4'0" wide and the paths are all 2'0" wide.Beds aren't particularily 'raised' but because I always walk on the paths and never the beds they are higher than the paths in the centres of the beds but down to path level at the edge of the beds (if that makes sense?)

As lomg as you don't go to great expense and make permanent raised beds you can always tinker with the design the first half dozen years and even annually I change some of mine.

[BarleySugar]

If you are using Garden Planner and have a subscription you can publish the plan to the web and post the link. That way it is easier to see.
I started my plot up last April, and marked out beds 1.2m by 3m and 4m respectively, but did not put any edging around them. I've changed some of them this year to cater for the prevailing wind, I had to put guy ropes on the runner beans so I'm running the E/W this year, instead of the recommended N/S. I agree with other posters, a plan is good, but be prepared to change once you get to know the conditions you will be growing under.
Luckily I think my plan for the permanent features like asparagus, fruit and shed was right, and digging up a few paths is not a major hassle. (I'm also trying the Gertrud Franck method this year.) http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tml#post959135

[Potstubsdustbins]

I can't see the bu99er.

Thank goodness for that I thought my eyes had gone altogether.

Colin