Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi all

Has anybody got any tips on how to plan out an allotment properly? This is my second year and I am having problems with layout etc.

I would be grateful for any tips.

Jonathan

I think it is pretty much down to the allotment holder; what's your current layout and what's the problem?

Personally, i laid mine out in 9 beds by putting two strips of weed fabric down the length and 2 more across the width - then I could walk on that and not on the beds I'd be growing in.

then, I separated out into 3 beds for spuds, 2 for broccoli, 2 for onions and root and 2 for anything else. I'll move these around the middle bed as I've now decided the middle bed will be my seedling/ overflow/rotating carrots /new crop bed.

Photo of layout attached; this is before planting anything out. 8 weeks ago today.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

http://linearlegume.blogspot.com/

I used reclaimed slabs taken from skips and friends building new patios to lay-out my allotment. This allowed me to divide the plot in to four main sections to rotate crops (roots, brassica's, legumes, potatoes), then two permanent areas - one soft fruit and the other for a runner bean trench.

This gives structure, defined areas to walk and most importantly a sense of perspective when working as you're not trying to finish the whole plot at once.

Now its a case of recording where I plant and rotating each year

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'People don't learn and grow from doing everything right the first time... we only grow by making mistakes and learning from them. It's those who don't acknowledge their mistakes who are bound to repeat them and do no learn and grow. None of us are done making mistakes or overflowing with righteous wisdom. Humility is the key.'
- Thomas Howard

Rotating carrots, huh - is that a new variety?

We used carpet and cardboard to make paths dividing our plot into 6 areas - 4 main rotation bed (spuds, legumes, brassicas, onions/roots) and 2 which will be planted next year with permanent crops (asparagus and soft fruit) but this year have got sweetcorn and cucurbits and spillover peas. Clearly we need twice the space we have!

This is a picture from last month - I'm actually amazed looking at it because the plot looks completely different now - it is stuffed to bursting with greenery right now and there are only 3 or 4 square feet here and there that are yet to be planted! Unbelievable that it has come on so much in only a few weeks - mind you, on 31 March it was just a blank patch of weeds - oh I feel all proud now of our little plot!

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Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about.