Having taken a break to enjoy the Christmas festivities I thought it was time to start making some preparations for the coming year (it’s only 5 days away now). This has involved sitting around on my bed in my pants browsing through a shoe box of seed packets and the RHS’ Allotment Handbook (Christmas present from my Dear Momma) while the sounds of 1815 try to distract me on the TV. The epic Waterloo on BBC4.
So trying not to let possibly our greatest military victory distract me from the task in hand I have developed a plan for the allotment. What I think will be the most effective way to set out each growing area or bed if you like and what will be planted in each. One of the things that i have been vary cautious about is the size of each bed. My allotment plot has a main growing area that measures 7.5 metres wide by 6 metres long between 2 existing fruit cages. My first thought was to just divide it equally into 4 equal beds that could be easily rotated but this would then require each bed to be planted with a variety of different crops. I then also figured that trying to manage a bed of this size was impracticable as I would not physically be able to reach it. I have therefore arranged a series of beds 1.5 deep around the perimeter of the plot with an internal ring path approx 0.5 metres in width – enough to give me room to manoeuvre and also to kneel where necessary. Within the path will be a single large bed measuring approx 2.0 metres wide by 5.5 metres long. This is going to be the area given to growing that stable food crop potatoes. I will probably sub-divide this bed up into 3; 1 for earlies, 2nd earlies and main crop varieties.
What this gives me is 7 good sized beds for growing a variety of different veg and the larger bed for the pots. I need this to act as my master plan to help me plan my crop rotations and also how best to try and utilize the space available. I have sketched the plot out on paper so that I can make sense of the size of each bed and calculate approximately how many plants of each vegetable variety I will be able to cultivate. Having now established this will also enable be to get another page on the Plottingup website/blog sorted. My Veggin Out page.
Something else that doing this plan has enable me to see is that I will get rid of the two fruit cages that border the main growing area. This cage at the bottom end of the plot is currently sitting empty and as it is just taking up room and I am not in a position at present to utilize it as it stands. The 3 fruit bushes in the top cage have been pruned right back and therefore do not require such a large structure. There is also a 3rd fruit cage that will be dismantled at some point although I do not know when.
I now need to go and liberate some pallets from the industrial estate across the road to build my compost area. Something I plan to have done by new year.