Topic: where do i begin?

[sea chelles]

hi all, as i dont have a decent camera to take a photo i thought i would draw you a picture! i know its not to scale but i was hoping you guys could give me a few tips on how to divide and layout my plot  :D

[Barnowl]

Which way is North?

[sea chelles]

i guess it would be if you were facing the green house with the pond on your left. there is a large oak tree which provides some shade along hedged side of the plot and at the very end of the plot behind the green house and right to the edge of the plot is a high garden fence, will these all make a big difference?

[Tee Gee]

So the greenhouse is at the north end of the garden, is that correct?

[sea chelles]

yes it is  :)

[cambourne7]

Hi

Personaly i would break it down the following way

3mx2.5m ( 9.8ft by 8ft )  section into 2 beds for fruit and plant trained fruit trees up the fence - This will make covering the area with netting easier. Suggest a 2ft border around the 2 bits of fence and rather than sq beds use old car tyres for indivdual plan types.

You may want to use some of the border area as a perminant asparagus bed at one end and a rhubarb bed at the other.

The area by the Pond i would plant with wildlife plants and i would out a seating area covered by a climbing frame which you can train a rose and peas and beans on.

The shed the other side of the greenhouse which will help with a little shade from sun and wind.

within the 5m by 5m area which i think is about 16ft by 16ft

                                     16ft

10ft by 4ft | 2ft gap | 10ft by 4ft | 2ft gap | 10ft by 4ft |
2ft gap      |             | 2ft gap      |              | 2ft gap      |   16ft
4 ft by 4ft  |             | 4 ft  by 4ft |              | 4 ft by 4ft  |


The area in front of the Greenhouse 4m by 3m (13ft by 9.8ft)

I would add 2 4ft by 9.8ft beds and one 3ft by 9.8ft bed with a 1ft gap between the beds.

But good luck

Cambourne7

[Barnowl]

If you like runner beans I've noticed that most allotments around us give them a permanent bed as well, but I guess you wont know what size to go for at this stage.

Is that actually a brick/stone wall along two sides of the 3m x 2.5m area at the left hand end?

[sea chelles]

no thats the path :)

[Barnowl]

Then the only thing I'd add is , just in case you were thinking of it, that I wouldn't construct raised beds just yet. Wait until you're sure the layout is just what you want. Some would advise just having heaped beds in any case (but I won't mention any names) :)

[cambourne7]

no thats the path :)

DOH!  :-\

In which case you just add some posts and wire for the fruit to grow up

[kt.]

The 4x3m area I would put the shed. Place water butts to catch rainwater off the shed and greenhouse.

The 3x 2.5m area I would put compost bins, manure pile & rubbish pile. Or you could place these next to your shed - away from the door due to the smell.

My manure pile is next to the main fenceline where the weakest point of entry to the plot is. It is a good deterrant from people thinking about breaking in through the hedge / tree / fence line.  ;D

[Tee Gee]

This is my attempt.

I was not sure if you intended the whole of the 'BROWN' area to be used for fruit or veg or just part of it.

Assuming you only want the part North of the path for veg then my suggestion is as the ammended drawing.

If you want the whole area over to fruit and veg then I would do away the seating/container area and make that the fruit bed. The one I have marked as fruit bed I would make into another vegetable bed.

I hope you can understand that?

[sea chelles]

thank you everyone who has responded you have given me loads of ideas :-* when i realised how rubbish my pic was i decided to give it another go, this one is actually a lot more accurate ;D


i thought i would follow some of your advice and use beds A,B,C,D for veg and the area next to the greenhouse for fruit. the little green circle behind the greenhouse is a water butt and the square is a compost bin(which i haven't built yet!) the other bright green thing is where i thought i might put a small shed, i thought it might make a nice seating area too. so what do you all think? be brutal! ;D

[Barnowl]

Looks good to me - you can crop rotate round your four beds (or rotate round three and use the fourth bed as well as the fifth for anything that doesn't fit the rotation plan).

I personally would prefer more smaller beds but you haven't got a lot of room to play with and by starting with the larger beds you can always subdivide later; It's a lot more difficult the other way round!  Planks are quite a handy way to temporarily mark out plots.

[moonbells]

My only comment is to beware of the tree roots. I've got an apple which overhangs a couple of beds, and despite both being raised and the tree being deeply rooted, they still grow somewhat smaller crops. (Doesn't help that apples land on them too!). I think it's the water levels in the soil that are the problem. The tree drinks such a lot!

moonbells