Allotment layout...

MrsTinks

Well FINALLY we're looking at starting work on the allotments! :j:j
We're very lucky in that no/little digging will be needed - a miracle for a site that has never had allotments on before! The farmer the field is rented from has not only ploughed it in strips but has burnt the weeds off for us too and then done some clever thing with a farming gadget that has broken down the clumps and flattened the ploughed trenches etc so basically all the plots are better than rotivated! :j:j
Having only ever taken over old plots before I've never had to think about the layout of my allotment before :eek: so now I am faced with 2 8mx8m plots that are totally blank canvasses... I am opting for 2 next to each other so in effect I am looking at an area of 8m x 16m... being 8 months pregnant I am VERY happy about not having to sort out digging of that area I can assure you! :rotfl:

Now... any ideas of how best to lay the beds out??? The plot is in the middle of the field with no shade, N to S allignmment on the broadside (so the 16m would be facing South or North and E/W would be the 8m sides).
I was hoping to get some late/main crops of spuds, onion sets, peas, maybe beans in in the next few weeks so these beds could be the full 8m long (I'm thinking 16m is a bit long!)... I'm hoping to during the summer gradually to be making the beds raised as I go along as it will make putting rabbit fencing round the beds easier and getting round the beds a lot easier when the baby arrives

Any ideas???

Lotus-eater

Well...... it's a bit hard to work it out, but from what you say, I would have the beds running north to south. a path all the way through the middle of the plot running east to west, so effectively you will have two lots of beds, each one around 3.5 metres long. Set up an area for the bins and shed, I would put these on the east side.

Hope that is what you are looking for.

RAS

Personally, I would divide the plot into the two 8m square sections with a path, that way if you ever want to give one up, it is easy. You do not mention if there is a slope? If so fix the beds across the slope, otherwise take you pick.

North east corner for any sheds, compost bins etc. Allocate a baby space now, and think about shade. One couple on our plots ended up tucking their infant under the rhubarb leaves to protect him from sun burn. Another infant was hot-housed throught her first spring.

What is the water situation?

Wilkos still had onion sets here yesterday although the bulbs will be smaller as there is less time until midsummer.

MrsTinks

Flat as a pancake RAS Good point about keeping them as 2 8x8 plots...
And even better point about a baby space! Hadn't even thought about that really... Instead of leaving her in her buggy I could bring her moses basket down if I have some shade there for her... hmmmm
Water will be piped in - we have water one end but are having pipes laid to the middle of the allotment (joy of being on the committee - you get first pick! I've gone for one of the plots only one plot away from where we plan on having a water tap so not too far to carry water - no hoses though)
I have onion sets already - tonnes of them infact lol about 350 white and 350 red (they were buy 2 get 3rd free...) so think not only I will be ok but my neighbours will be too!

Thanks for the ideas guys!

melanie22_2

Wow youre newly aquired allotment sounds a dream. Flat, no shade, tilled fine, water supply. Youre very lucky!

MrsTinks

melanie22 wrote: »

Wow youre newly aquired allotment sounds a dream. Flat, no shade, tilled fine, water supply. Youre very lucky!

I know!!! The last 2 I've had in the past were bramble patches :eek:
Is tilled the word? I'm no farmer so I'll take your word for that! Will try to take some pictures of it when it's all staked out and post them on here
It HAS taken 3 years to get allotments in the village again after the church kicked everyone off the orignal allotments in the hope of getting planning permission on them and making lots of money... they were turned down, then appealed, were turned down again, then appealed to higher courts and were.... turned down! :rotfl: They have wasted THOUSANDS on appeals and they get turned down each time hehehehe
Serves them right greedy so and so's! The land the parish council has secured has never been farmed on crop wise - it's had sheep on it for short periods (holding field) so it's been grazed and then had natural manure added for about the last 20 years hehehe the soil is superb! Ok it's right next to a main road but the farmer is changing a whole £1 a year rent - only because he has to charge something for the books

And he's been very helpful in preparing the field and everything for free for us
There are a few clauses in the agreement like no livestock on there at all (no rabbits or chickens!) on the grounds that he has livestock in the fields around the allotments and basically doesn't want any increased risk of infections from peoples chickens etc which is understandable... Other than that they're just so darned perfect

I think they have been worth the 3 year wait (oh did I mention pH level of 6? hehehehe) even if it would have been nice to have them a couple of months earlier but hohum At least we have them!

SEE

MrsTine wrote: »

Well FINALLY we're looking at starting work on the allotments! :j:j
We're very lucky in that no/little digging will be needed - a miracle for a site that has never had allotments on before! The farmer the field is rented from has not only ploughed it in strips but has burnt the weeds off for us too and then done some clever thing with a farming gadget that has broken down the clumps and flattened the ploughed trenches etc so basically all the plots are better than rotivated! :j:j
Having only ever taken over old plots before I've never had to think about the layout of my allotment before :eek: so now I am faced with 2 8mx8m plots that are totally blank canvasses... I am opting for 2 next to each other so in effect I am looking at an area of 8m x 16m... being 8 months pregnant I am VERY happy about not having to sort out digging of that area I can assure you! :rotfl:

Now... any ideas of how best to lay the beds out??? The plot is in the middle of the field with no shade, N to S allignmment on the broadside (so the 16m would be facing South or North and E/W would be the 8m sides).
I was hoping to get some late/main crops of spuds, onion sets, peas, maybe beans in in the next few weeks so these beds could be the full 8m long (I'm thinking 16m is a bit long!)... I'm hoping to during the summer gradually to be making the beds raised as I go along as it will make putting rabbit fencing round the beds easier and getting round the beds a lot easier when the baby arrives

Any ideas???

Ooooh lucky you:THow about espalier fruit trees, and a hazel hedge for the nuts and free plant sticks, as a windbreak around your plot?

oliveoyl

A small pond (fenced off to prevent accidents)... lots of frogs and newts to keep the slugs down?

MrsTinks

No trees allowed either... bushes are though so been thinking of some rasberry canes, redcurrants and white currants and maybe gooseberry bushes on the western side of the plot to give a little protection...
Not keen on a pond... I don't think it'll work too well with a railway on one side and roads sorrounding it on the other sides... might rethink it though as I go along

melanie22_2

MrsTine wrote: »

I know!!! The last 2 I've had in the past were bramble patches :eek:
Is tilled the word? I'm no farmer so I'll take your word for that! Will try to take some pictures of it when it's all staked out and post them on here
It HAS taken 3 years to get allotments in the village again after the church kicked everyone off the orignal allotments in the hope of getting planning permission on them and making lots of money... they were turned down, then appealed, were turned down again, then appealed to higher courts and were.... turned down! :rotfl: They have wasted THOUSANDS on appeals and they get turned down each time hehehehe
Serves them right greedy so and so's! The land the parish council has secured has never been farmed on crop wise - it's had sheep on it for short periods (holding field) so it's been grazed and then had natural manure added for about the last 20 years hehehe the soil is superb! Ok it's right next to a main road but the farmer is changing a whole £1 a year rent - only because he has to charge something for the books

And he's been very helpful in preparing the field and everything for free for us
There are a few clauses in the agreement like no livestock on there at all (no rabbits or chickens!) on the grounds that he has livestock in the fields around the allotments and basically doesn't want any increased risk of infections from peoples chickens etc which is understandable... Other than that they're just so darned perfect

I think they have been worth the 3 year wait (oh did I mention pH level of 6? hehehehe) even if it would have been nice to have them a couple of months earlier but hohum At least we have them!

I think tilled is the word, sounds right hahaha. Im jealous, although mine is in a better state than most on my site its still hard grafting. Lots of long grasses and weeds.

£1 eh? Isn't the whole affair of allotment holding the BARGAIN of the century???

Someone at work was asking me how much they cost a year to rent and i said 13...She said 13,000, thats not so bad for land is it. I said no £13 lol. There was an audible sound as her jaw hit the floor hehehe.

So im interested to know after already having had 2 allotments are you realistic about what to grow or do you want to grow everything? I ask this because people ask what im going to grow and i go off in a dreamland thinking EVERYTHING and yet i know in the back of my head somewhere my brain is laughing scornfully. Everyone i talk to says 'grow only potatoes the first year' and i just cant do it...Too impatient.

With such perfect conditions does it free you up to grow the 'perfect allotment' (minus living beasts & trees) or are you sticking to just a few things?

MrsTinks

LOL the allotment holders have to pay £10 a year per 8x8 plot - that pays for the insurances and the water - but the farmer charges the allotment association £1 a year
Any funds left over will go towards site maintenance and improvement (paths and laying of water pipes etc).

I'm amazed at the fact that for once I can plan the WHOLE allotment at once really... I've never had this luxury before - either there were too many brambles to do more than couple of square metres at a time.

This year I'm aiming for couple of varieties of spuds, 2 types of onion, carrots, peas, sweetcorn, beetroot and salad mainly. If I manage to get more that that done I'll not only be amazed but thrilled
At home I have loads of tomato's in the garden and also a selection of salads and some cucumbers...
If anything else goes in it will be because I get given the seedlings and I can't bear to throw them away