Topic: Plans etc

[Psi (Pronounced 'Si'!)]

All

Just taken on my first plot and feeling a little bit daunted.  Still, 2 days in and some clearing is already making me see the light.  I'm keen to get alot of clearing/organising done over the winter but have no idea where to start with planning the site!  Does anyone have any plans they would be willing to share?  All ideas welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Simon

[Barnowl]

Everyone has different ideas. For instance I think everyone is pretty much agreed that crop rotation is a good thing, but will disagree over whether you should do three, four or five year cycles. The length of the cycle will affect the number of beds that you need.

So it might be best to pick up a book like The Allotment book by A.M. Cleverly - there may be a copy at the Library.

I drew my plan using an Excel spreadsheet with each cell representing a square foot - you might be more comfortabe with metres - and highlighted the beds etc by using the Fill Colour button.  I narrowed the columns so that the cells looked square.  If you want more exciting shapes you'll need another method  :)

You're welcome to a copy of my plan but by my second season I wished I'd laid some of it out differently!

[zaz283]

Hi Psi... I decided on raised beds from the start & drew a plan out on Excel which you can see on my blog site (look at some of the earliest posts). Went for something a bit decorative by putting a couple of diamond beds in the middle.

Third season on I'm glad I did, although I still have the feeling I should be doing better with what I've got! But some of my allotment colleagues have said they wished they'd been a bit more creative as well, so I console myself with the age old allotmenteers maxim... next year will be better!

Best of luck!

[nilly71]

Just measure your plot,use a4 paper and draw to scale. My plot is 10mx15m so to scale i drew 100cm(plot)= 1cm(plan).

Work out how wide/long you want your beds (mine are 4.4m x 1.5m), how wide the paths (mine are 60cm between and 1m for the main) and draw to scale.

On paper mine looked a bit straight and boring so changed it, so i have a 60cm bed going around the front and sides(these have or will have the fruit bushes and trees), then a full size bed, a main path going through the middle, a diagonal path leading of the main and going one way to a shed and patio area, the other way goes to the compost area at the opposite end of the plot. The diagonal paths make a smaller rectangular bed and a triangular bed. The triangular beds might be planted with flowers.
just re-read that and it sound realy confusing ;D

On paper it makes the plot more interesting and at the moment i only have the right hand front and side and one full sized bed made and partialy planted( the rest is still overgrown with weeds).

I will copy the main drawing 3-4 times and work out/label  the crop rotation for the next 3 years.

let us know how you got on with your plans.

Neil