Complete Newbie - New Allotment, and a problem (potentially)!

[Lee78]

With the rent you're paying, you would expect better. The advice they gave you to double dig was not the best, given the nature of the soil.
Forget digging, weed and plant into the soil as it is. Add mulch on top of the soil and build the soil up to lighten it, not dig down. That's what I'd do anyway! You can expect lots of different advice by the time we'll all said our bit!

Any and all advice is very welcome!

I am however feeling somewhat sheepish at the fact I thought everyone planting direct was just being lazy!

[Martin H]

Hi Lee, welcome to the forum.

Nobody else has been positive, so let me chip in.

When you started digging the soil looked fine. Clay yes, but workable; clay soils are very fertile once under control. So, all previous heavy rain has drained away fine without anyone doing anything. Also, water didn't appear in the ditch until it rained, so the natural water table must be reasonably low.

I anticipate that once the rain stops the water will disappear of its own accord within say 24 hours. It may well look worse than it is because you've got a nice deep trench for the water to accumulate in.

When I cleared my back garden I had to dig 2 spits down to get all the concrete out. Every time my work was interrupted by rain the holes would fill up with water that sat on the clay subsoil. But once I saw it was draining slowly I carried on digging. Since I've finished (3 years ago now) it's been fine; I never get standing surface water and most things grow fine, including the odd vegetable among the flowers.

So don't panic yet, especially since most things will tolerate being flooded for a day or two in the growing season and longer for things that stand in the winter.

Good luck!

[veggiechicken]

No need to feel sheepish, Lee, we all garden in different ways
There's a school of thought that advocates "No-dig gardening". Why No Dig - Charles Dowding
Have a read and see if it appeals to you - it does me

[Lee78]

Hi Lee, welcome to the forum.

Nobody else has been positive, so let me chip in.

When you started digging the soil looked fine. Clay yes, but workable; clay soils are very fertile once under control. So, all previous heavy rain has drained away fine without anyone doing anything. Also, water didn't appear in the ditch until it rained, so the natural water table must be reasonably low.

I anticipate that once the rain stops the water will disappear of its own accord within say 24 hours. It may well look worse than it is because you've got a nice deep trench for the water to accumulate in.

When I cleared my back garden I had to dig 2 spits down to get all the concrete out. Every time my work was interrupted by rain the holes would fill up with water that sat on the clay subsoil. But once I saw it was draining slowly I carried on digging. Since I've finished (3 years ago now) it's been fine; I never get standing surface water and most things grow fine, including the odd vegetable among the flowers.

So don't panic yet, especially since most things will tolerate being flooded for a day or two in the growing season and longer for things that stand in the winter.

Good luck!

Thanks Martin, that gives me some hope!

[Lee78]

No need to feel sheepish, Lee, we all garden in different ways
There's a school of thought that advocates "No-dig gardening". Why No Dig - Charles Dowding
Have a read and see if it appeals to you - it does me

As crazy as it may sound, that was my eventual approach - my plan was to have mini 'sections' (contained by shallow 'raised' beds) that I could simply 'refresh' and weed by hand, rather than digging. However, I wanted to start with the best I could and simply 'maintain' it thereafter (that all made sense in my head at the time!)

[Sarico]

Don't worry. One advice that I give you is to know the plot for a season before you waste money on it. From the first pic you can see that is only at the end and not the entire plot. Start to get it ready part of the plot maybe don't leave 1metre between bed so you can use more space for veg. It don't want you spend money for beds,compost,soil, etc and when summer comes is not working well. Do it a bit every season.

[veggiechicken]

Given that your plot had already been rotavated (or something) before you took it - and its relatively weed free, follow your initial plans. At least you know what lies below the surface now

[Bigmallly]

I notice in pic 4 that your neighbour has started building raised beds. Maybe that is the route to go, have they given any reason for the raised beds or is it just their preference.

[muddled]

Hello Lee,

I get standing water on my plot. The rest of the year? everything grows just fine.

It's not ideal, I agree, but neither is it the end of the world.
Call the trench your 'drainage ditch'. Every farmer has one of those round his field. Hopefully if the water collects there your ground will dry quicker.

Raised beds would probably help a bit....but no need to rush. When a nice lot of free wood presents itself (you'll find yourself eyeballing skips now you have an allotment) that's the time to make them.

For now though, avoid walking on that soil too much while it's very wet. Maybe lay a plank or two of wood down as paths to disperse your weight when you need to. And start off some seeds on your window sills so that you'll have something ready to go in as soon as it dries off a bit.

Summer is coming...there'll be hosepipe bans before you know it and you'll be wishing you'd lined that 'drainage ditch' with plastic to keep the water there!

[Lee78]

I notice in pic 4 that your neighbour has started building raised beds. Maybe that is the route to go, have they given any reason for the raised beds or is it just their preference.

I haven't actually seen them there yet - to my knowledge he/she has only been once. The plot was empty one day, and when I returned the next, they were there and haven't moved since (been like that for about a week).

There's a vast array of different approaches - some using raised beds, some just lightly digging over and planting, and others double-digging. Everyone I've spoken to so far is new to it though, much like me - so I suspect their choices are more down to personal preference than anything else. I do know one plot holder was initially double-digging, but now seems to have fairly substantial raised beds (having only dug a small corner) - I haven't seen him since the beds appeared though, so I'm unsure why he's changed plans (quite possibly having discovered what I have!).

[Lee78]

Hello Lee,

I get standing water on my plot. The rest of the year? everything grows just fine.

It's not ideal, I agree, but neither is it the end of the world.
Call the trench your 'drainage ditch'. Every farmer has one of those round his field. Hopefully if the water collects there your ground will dry quicker.

Raised beds would probably help a bit....but no need to rush. When a nice lot of free wood presents itself (you'll find yourself eyeballing skips now you have an allotment) that's the time to make them.

For now though, avoid walking on that soil too much while it's very wet. Maybe lay a plank or two of wood down as paths to disperse your weight when you need to. And start off some seeds on your window sills so that you'll have something ready to go in as soon as it dries off a bit.

Summer is coming...there'll be hosepipe bans before you know it and you'll be wishing you'd lined that 'drainage ditch' with plastic to keep the water there!

Thanks for the optimistic words - I haven't given up hope yet!

[sparrow100]

Hi Lee,

Lots of good advice on the posts above. Like muddled, I'm on clay and get standing water on my plot. Usually for about 5 months of the year. It's slow to warm up but it's very fertile. I have put raised beds in, but I did that the second year, when I knew where all the boggy bits are, and I had exactly the same experience as you. The water doesn't stick around forever and on the plus side I get fantastic crops.

I would ask the site about putting in a bit of drainage. We did it last year for my field. Digging the trench, backfilling and digging a drainage 'pond' took a day with volunteers to help and some machinery. It's made a fair bit of difference to many of the plots, though sadly not mine which slopes the wrong way.

If they can't/won't, a ditch around your plot will take the worst off.

[Lee78]

Thanks to everyone for the advice so far!

I have just been doing some research on adding a trench around the plot, and it reminded me of something I came across when I dug my first trench. Under the main path (which is solid, though I'm not entirely sure what they've used for it), appears to be stone - I know because when I was digging at the edge of my plot, I accidentally exposed some of it - hence thereafter I left around an inch spare to the edge.

As far as I can tell, the recommendation when adding a trench around the plot is to fill it with stone - so could it be that they have done that with drainage in mind? (I exposed it around 6" under the path, but it could go lower)

[Bigmallly]

I would imagine it will be deeper but that will just be the foundation for the boundries. They may not even be aware of the standing water problem if it did not rain while they were preparing the area.

[libbyloulou]

Is it not possible to swap your plot for something higher up that's not been taken ?