New allotment user

[LesleybcMember]

I took on a new allotment in October. I want to grow organically. So far I have cleared the old composting site and set up three new ones. The previous four had 3/4 compost with a 1/4 layer of dry stuff. I just spread the compost over the soil. No digging involved. I have made a very rustic seating area out of wood chip and logs. I need somewhere to eat my bacon sarnies and I am about to put in a very small pond. Made from a large Trug. I want a mix of plants and veg, more along the lines of permaculture, than the regimented rows my fellow gardeners seem to prefer. Is this likely to work in an allotment environment. As I live in a flat I want my allotment to serve as a garden, allotment and wildlife area.

[RosMember]

I’ve tried a mixture of fruit, flowers and herbs in an allotment environment and it does work but is quite difficult to manage. In terms of no dig, after a first thick mulch all over I mulched each time I took plants out. My problem was remembering where I had planted things and therefore being able to harvest at the optimum time. Also I found it difficult to find room to plant things like brassicas for the winter as my system rather lacked any planning.

I now work with a series of patches approx 1 .2m x1.2m which I find I can plan better for follow on crops – each patch has a different veg or flower in and some patches have perrenial herbs and I can also rotate the patches each year. It works quite well but I do have to think about the shade that some crops cast over others. I wish you good luck and lots of enjoyment finding a system which siuts you.

[LesleybcMember]

Thanks for the reply Ros. You make some good points. I have used a similar system when I had a garden and ended up forgetting where I had put things. I suppose I have enough room on the allotment to have a wilder area alongside more regimented rows. I could have a garden in the centre with flowers and a pond and the allotment around the outside. That would stop any shading issues and leave a good area for things like runner beans where I would need stakes. The nice thing is that at the moment there is nothing in situ apart from fruit bushes and composters.

[bluebellParticipant]

I have a plot that is divided up to make it easier for me to ‘control’ and remember where things have been.

Approx. 1/3 has fruit & permanent/ semi permanent crops such as welsh onion, Daubentons kale, strawberries and sorrel, with some wild and semi wild flowers, which I leave to self seed and pull out any in the wrong place or if they get too much. In addition I use some of the gaps to grow things that wont fit in else where normally salads and squash. I also have a plastic ‘cone’ compost bin that wonders around where ever there is a gap for it.

I then have about 1/6th for shed, greenhouse, another compost bin etc. The rest is divided in to beds that are about 1.2m x 3 meters, where I grow the majority of my crops. I find this bed size is about right to have a whole bed of Purple sprouting, or kale, which makes it easy to manage. It also equates to approximately one half size seed tray, so 9, 12 or 20 seedlings depending on the final plant size.

Above all enjoy and remember there is no such thing as a failure – only learning

[NightgardenerParticipant]

Some allotment sites have rules trying to prevent allotments becoming too much like “gardens”. There was a bit of an argument about this on my site earlier this year; there are a couple of plots which are a joy to behold, but which are really not productive for growing edibles, or even cut flowers.

I would have a look at the site rules, or your tenancy agreement just to make sure you stay within the rules.

But having said that; allotments are great fun and great social place; so don’t be put off; but I just wanted to warn you.

[jeniParticipant]

Its still early days yet as it was covered in perennial weeds when I took it over, but I have a strip for permanent stuff at the southern end; currently rhubarb, various soft fruit bushes and a strawberry bed, plus an old tin bath which will be lined with bubble wrap and filled with soil and compost to become my seed bed, then on the western side is my shed, which will be surrounded by flowers and a grass -free flowering lawn. On the eastern side is a bed which ‘zig-zags’ across the plot and is divided into sections with small paths between, where my main vegatable crops are sited, and one small section will also become a pond. At the back is compost and 3 elderberry trees and a shady area. There is a tall metal fence at the northern boundary, so i plan to train a quince against it and grow a few climbing plants up it. So far, it seems to be working well.

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