Topic: Allotment plan

[wellies2012]

Can members please suggest an online allotment plan, as a newbi it's a bit of a brain ache TIA.. 5rod plot

[Tee Gee]

If you use all the related links on this page, particularly the link on planning you will find out how I plan my plot.

You could modify the information to suit your own situation.

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Allotments/Allotments.htm

I hope you find this useful....Tg

[Crystalmoon]

Hello & welcome to this fab site. When I first started I did follow an elaborate allotment plan with all the rotation worked out. I had a great harvest but it was only then that I realised I had grown way too much of certain veg that I wasnt very keen on  :D

So maybe before drawing up your plan write a list of your fave veggies/fruit then check the prices to buy the organic shop bought versions. The reason I say this is because I now choose to grow items that are very expensive in the shops rather than things that are good quality & cheap in the shops. For example I give nearly half of my plot over to growing different varieties of Winter Squash. Each squash I grow saves me at least £2.50 & sometimes I get 20 from just one plant so a fab return for the price of one seed. You can save the seeds from the ones you grow to start off next years plants too. I also grow a lot of  blueberries & raspberries as these are always pricey in shops.   
I only grow varieties of potatoes that are expensive to buy too.

Once you have a list of what you want to grow check if any of them need to be kept quite far apart etc. Then you have the basic info to create your plan xJane

[chriscross1966]

Sort of with Crystalmoon on this, grow the stuff that you like (make a lsit of what you like) and especially the stuff that's expensive.... I've goto a bit over 10 rods (2x5 plus the garden) and I put 3 rods down to spuds cos I love heritage and baking potatoes... also there's a load of fruit, blackcurrants and a couple of cherry trees... and an asparagus bed.... and I grow a lot of sweetcorn,,,, but it'as a good idea to ahve some winter veg, and salads almost grow themselves in the summer anyway.... grow offbeat stuff too,  good for conversation starters on the plot and some of them are really usefuo crops too... saffron, walking onions, etc...

[pigeonseed]

I did try online ones but they just don't work well for anything you sow in one year to overwinter and eat in spring... so I've gone back to graph paper and pencil. I do make a mess of it, and draw loads of plans, and lose them and so on. But it helps in some way get it straight in my mind.

I think the best thing would be some system you can take to the plot, so as you plant or sow or move, you immediately write down what and where. Sometimes you make decisions on the spot, which you then forget about when you're back at home.

[gavinjconway]

Grow what you want and like to eat.. Plan on a piece or two of A4 paper, do a basic scale drawing of the plot and use it as a guide.. plan your crops and general rotations.. these will change the next time you look at it!!

Then when you actually plant out add the info to your master copy and file it for future use and rotation planning.

[chriscross1966]

I sort of admire my plot neighbours... they're fairly new to allotmenteering, their plot is immaculate adn it's already undergone three fairly major plan rejigs in  three years... they started opff with lots of little beds, realsied they were wasting a lot of space on path, so a lot of them got knocked into bigger beds, now they'vedone it again and barring the herbs and the fruit it's all one big bed.... in the meantime mine are bioth just one massive patch with a row of dunmpy-bag comopost heaps at one end....

[gavinjconway]

Thats what I've done chrisx.. 2 sides as long beds 10mt x 4.2mt with a flagged pathway in between. Now when I plant I have a few scaffold planks to separate some beds purely to give a path to stand on whilst hoeing.. I keep the various plant tribes together for rotation purposes.. should work well.



This was on day 3 after cutting and strimming.. looks a bit different now!!