Scaling down

[antipodes]

Well, I have finally made my decision to scale down. I am tired of investing lots of time in the allotment but not really enough so that the harvests are pretty mediocre and I do not enjoy the time down there.
So I have decided to downscale to a half plot starting next year. It was a hard decision, but I figure that if I reduce the amount of onions and potatoes, I will still have room for lots of things. And I an hoping that I will be able to devote more time to tending the plants and maybe get a good result despite the limited space.

the real pain is that I will have to move/reduce the fruit space, and transfer the raspberries, gooseberries up the plot and worse of all, the grapevine. I hope I can move it without killing it as it is only 2 years old. I have decided to keep the upper half of the plot where the artichokes and rhubarb are as they are impossible to move... I will get rid of some of the ornamentals and make better use of the space next to the shed, maybe grow a few things in pots.

I am looking forward to less weeding and more real plant tending, and hopefully I will have time to make it all more esthetically pleasing.

has anyone done this? Any advice to give?

[antipodes]

[GrannieAnnie]

You know your strength & what you enjoy better than anyone else. Good for you that you also know when to get out of a rut and try something different instead of doing this:

[Obelixx]

Good luck with this.  It should take some pressure off and let you enjoy your time at the allotment.

I gave up on potatoes years ago on the grounds that they take up far too much space and effort for the resulting crop so now I just buy them when I need them and let someone else worry about blight and storing them.   Same with onions.  I still grow some red onions as we really like them but not every year.  I prefer to give space and time to crops I can't find easily such as non bog standard pumpkins or things which are expensive in shops - blueberries, rocket etc - or things I can't find here like purple sprouting broccoli, Swiss chard and pak choi.

[antipodes]

Yes I know that a lot of people give up on spuds and onions, but I admit that they are still among my favourite crops because they are so reliable! Also there is something magical about potatoes - the idea of planting one spud, a big plant comes out of it and lo! lots of other spuds under it! I never cease to be fascinated by that! Actually you can plant them quite close together and still have a good crop, I will just halve the quantity I do, and with the onions too. I will maybe just do shallots, garlic and red onions.

I started on the weekend, I moved the thyme bush and a rhubarb that was out at the other end of the plot, took out a rose bush that was a bit superfluous, and I am thinking about where the flowers and herbs are now and how to group them together a bit more, and gain some space. I am a bit sad about my irises - I have a beautiful clump of them but smack in the middle of the plot. They will have to be moved if I want to still keep them, but I don't really know where to! I guess I will just cut back in general.
I am wondering if I will keep the gooseberries. We only eat them in jam and they take up an awful lot of room... Maybe I will move them over into the shared beds around the site fences and let everyone taste them :-)

[Digeroo]

I have found that potatoes do not need to take up much room because you can double crop.  I planted mine (early April) and then put squashes at each end of the bed Early June.   As I dug up the earlies the squashes covered the space.   In the end the squash grew faster then I could eat potatoes so it ended up as a mix of potatoes and squash and I have had a great crop of both. 

Also you can plant brassicas between the rows of potatoes, you need a little more space than normal between the rows.    Then as the potatoes die down you have the cabbages, calebrese or whatever,   You just need to take care not to disturb the brassicas roots when you dig up the potatoes.  You could also grow potatoes in bags.   Otherwise when you take out the earlies all sort of things can go it, beetroot, beans etc etc, particularly if you have the follow on crops growing in modules awaiting the space to become available.

If you are short of space think up.  Perhaps  persuade your gooseberries to be taller but take up less ground space.  I was amazed to see the fruit cordons at Wisley they were very tall and very productive supported on canes and wires.  This is the kind of thing I have in mind.    If they only have a single stem you can grow things round the bottom, like  courgettes which you need for your lovely cakes. 

http://www.gardenworldimages.com/Details.aspx?ID=18587&TypeID=1

My other suggestion is straw, if you can get it.  I cover as much as I can with straw so there are far fewer weeds and it keeps the moisture in the soil, so much less work weeding and watering.

Then there is three sisters.  Sweetcorn, beans/ peas and squashes or courgettes in the same bed.   Very economical use of space.
 
It is important that you enjoy your plot.  I suggest you need find ways to increase your productiivity as well as your enjoyment. 

[rugbypost]

I was looking at gavinjconway plot tonight look at what he has done to concentrate his work on what he grows, and not on weeding, and other tasks. Have a look it will surprise you

[GrannieAnnie]

I have found that potatoes do not need to take up much room because you can double crop.  I planted mine (early April) and then put squashes at each end of the bed Early June.   As I dug up the earlies the squashes covered the space.   In the end the squash grew faster then I could eat potatoes so it ended up as a mix of potatoes and squash and I have had a great crop of both. 

That seems a practical solution, Digeroo. Will have to try that myself. Also planting up towards the sky rather than over the ground.
I've been reading about Permaculture in which people plant any number of vegies and fruits together successfully (which tends to look like a hodgepodge), but if done with some thinking out of the box, they find unusual crops can thrive together.

[Obelixx]

I agree about fresh spuds but still think other crops give better value when compared with price and availability in shops.  Some of the best spuds I grew were done in Bob Flowerdew tyre stacks.  Dead easy and productive but then you have to do it every year or dispose of the tyres...........

[Digeroo]

Since you mention Bob Flowerdew he has a book called

The No-Work Garden: Getting the Most Out of Your Garden for the Least Amount of Work

second hand copies are available on Amazon. 

Though he is not renown for a having a nice neat tidy garden.

[antipodes]

Since you mention Bob Flowerdew he has a book called

The No-Work Garden: Getting the Most Out of Your Garden for the Least Amount of Work

second hand copies are available on Amazon. 

Though he is not renown for a having a nice neat tidy garden.

That's an idea - Lord my garden is NEVER tidy!!! Onions grow whether they are in a straight row or not!

But yes, I generally do spuds very early as weather is milder here, and by early June we are eating them and I then fill in that space with usually salad crops, leeks etc.

Good idea to grow up, I will do more of the tall peas, runner beans, climbing beans and I successfully grew cukes up stakes this year so that works quite well. As it is, I let the pumpkin vines run around the edges of the plot so they get extra room. I admit that I let quite a few self seeded things "fill up" the plot so I will just do away with some of those and use the room for veg more intensively. Hoping that if the half plot is much fuller, weeds will have more competition and grow less successfully... I also did not mulch much this year,with my broken arm and personal problems I was not very effective. Next year I will have to go get stable waste from the pony club and really mulch heavily as I have done in previous years.

[Digeroo]

Sounds as if you are more positive.  Set yourself some challenges.  More planning and less work.  I try and do weeding when I arrive at the lottie and then again before I leave, I try and set a target.

What are your worst weeds?  Perhaps we could help you to develop some cunning plans to deal with them.