Well amongst other gardening projects this year. I also took over an allotment this week. leaving me a few months to get it ready for planting season next year. Just wanted some advice and see what you guys thought of my plans. the plot is 80x 20 ft so a good size and will do us nicely. I got very lucky with the plot as it has an established asparagus patch, which i look forward to next spring. The rest is pretty clear with quite a few annual weeds. So plan at the moment is.... To add to the asparagus and make an perennial plot, so will be adding rhubarb and artichoke. Set up an area for composting and storage. a Soft fruit section, raspberries, blackberries etc. This should take up a third of the plot , and i plan to make it as low maintenance as possible. as for the other two thirds, i intend to split into 6 seperate no digs beds. Now this is where i need the help. a. i'm thinking grass/clover for the paths around the beds. Mainly to stop it getting super muddy, but also to provide a source of compostable material. b. any tips on green mulch as a weed supressant, as the soil is very sandy and i want to get lots of organic material into it. c. finally, i'm still deciding whether to make the 5ft x 12ft beds running N/S or E/W. I reckon e/w will be best as i can do n/s rows in the bed allowing for shorter runs and better management of succession planting. thanks for the help guys will get some piccies taken this weekend
Hello Dan. Well, I have tried grass, clover and stone paths in the lottie...oh yes, and wood chips as well. The grass paths look nice and do offer some mulch/compost material. Negs: You must keep them neat with mowing and edged. When you mow or strim the grass or clover seeds are slung into your beds and thus you will have to keep the new grass plants hoed. Stone paths--Nothing grows up through the paving tiles, that is for sure; however the neg here is that weeds and grass will grow in the cracks and close to the edges of the tiles. This is a real #*&@$%# to keep clean. The wood chip option-- I have used wood chips as well as tough flowering plant debris, such as helinium stalks, phlox stems etc. They work well, but the chips work especially well for me. I first place a thick layer of newspaper down and make some sort of edging to hold the chips tidy. Then I dump the chips onto this. In the flower garden I use this technique but first put down "root cloth" before chucking the chips on top. As you know fresh wood chips, wood shavings and sawdust leech nitrogen out of the soil; so that, in itself cuts down on weed growth. Every year or two (on a dry day) I rake-up the expended, half-composted chips and mulch flower beds, trees and shrubs with them, and then put new chips down. I have visited a couple of lotties over there and most folks' plots that I have seen have grass paths. They are sometimes a bit elevated above the plot surface. With all the work that I have, I find the maintenance of grass paths and their spreading simply too much extra work. I have also seen gravel paths (also in-between plots). As for green mulch or green manure-- well mate, that is something that I do regularly every year. I am very pleased with the results. I find that my soil has and continues to have improved nutricion and structure. If you have sandy soil, adding structure and compost to alter the make up is pretty important in my opinion. I mean, soil needs to drain, but it also needs to be rich and be able to hold moisture for the droughty spells. Any amending that you can do will serve to improve the structure and technical quality of your plot. Deciding the lay of your plots and planting orientation is a very personal thing. Having said that, sun exposure and prevailing wind direction are the two most important factors that one ought to look at when deciding. For exmple: I prefer to have beds and plants oriented north-south so that they get the upcoming sun in the east, sun overhead at midday and sun from the west in the afternoon. It is my preference...however, here in Holland wind is an issue-- especially on a flat and unprotected allotment complex. Thus, I have had to compromise for some plants such as corn, climbing French beans, peas, capucijners, sunflowers and so forth. I have had to orient these east-west because during the summer we have steady and strongish winds coming out of the west...with those frustrating little gusty wind-storms that blow-up a few times each growing season. The gusts are strong enough to totally collapse a bean rack or square of sweetcorn. It really isn't amusing, after all your hard work. Thus, with the E-W orientation and strengthened row ends. I can achieve good stability. Sometimes in my rotation the beans must be planted on a smaller plot, and in this case I make wigwams and connect them together with bamboo canes for added strength and stability. Right then, those are some of my thoughts. I will be watching for your posts showing the progress of your new lottie. Get stuck in! BTW Dan, I can't wait to see the piccies of your new lottie.
Thanks for info sjoerd, will give the woodchips a try. Any idea if I can get a winter mulch sown now or am I too late.
I think that you are too late now. However, you are not too late to cover your plots with some sort of covering, like cardboard, plastic or council compost for instance.
Ok great I have saved all my moving boxes just in case I needed to. Looking at a big pile of wood chippings from the back garden that I can use for the paths
Say Dan, do you have access to free compost...like from the council? Sounds like you have the chips sorted.
Dan, We invested in a roll of ground cover this year (which was very inexpensive, really) and we laid it down around the garden and in between the rows of greenbeans (which was a smashing success!) and pinned it down to walk on. We can leave it in place or pull it up for the winter (depending on how busy we are and if we have the time to roll it up and put it away for the winter). Whatever you choose, there are going to be pros and cons. This isn't biodegradable like cardboard and chips, but it is much better at keeping the diseases at bay around the plants in the garden. Chicken manure is an excellent organic amendment for moisture. I put ours on in the one garden and it was too wet in that spot when we tilled. I didn't do a very good job of spreading it, I just dumped it because it was too wet to spread. N/S rows seem to do better for us. We do have a few E/W rows and only the south side does well. The North side doesn't get much sunshine so it doesn't produce much, but if you are doing short plants (potatoes, strawberries, etc) it doesn't matter. Pole beans, tomatoes, etc. They do better with the wind blowing across the plant and produce better on both sides of the row.
Thanks guys, No luck on the free compost. But might get my hands on some free horse muck. Planning to use carboard for beds but have some black plastic, to use on the beds I, m not ready for yet.
Hey Dan. Aside from what Carolyn said...fresh horse muck is pretty strong. I never use fresh muck for my beds...always composted ("well-rotted", I believe they call it there) muck; however, I DO use fresh much (as fresh as possible) to mix through my compost...as it seems to really get things going. When and if you do the cardboard thing, let me know as I can pass along some info for you to consider--technique as well as pros 'n cons with cardboard vs plastic. We've got sun today...I'm off to the lottie now.
Well finally took ownership of the lottie this past week. Sorry sjoerd in my excitement forgot to photograph it. So been working on the layout. Heres the main beds for veg rotation. They are 5ftx10ft so I can practice no dig in the future. The bed on the rightside is three rows of asparagus so will be a perrenial area. The plot runs east west. So will be planting north south. With tall crops like beans at the edges of the top beds. Where I do need some help is my soft fruit area. I plan a row of raspberries. But cant remember if I can plant them as a double row. For now planning a row of 12 canes. I am giving the row 3-4ft width a 2ft path for picking. Just wondered if anyone can the best layout for a soft fruit patch 13x20ft
Well, the diagram gives a good idea. That's quite a layout. We have had raspberry bushes and we planted them in a straight row. It looks like things are beginning to take shape there. Very exciting.
I suggest...and it is only from experience not any advice from anyone or a book, but don't let the plants be shaded from the morning sun. So, plant the tallest plants to the very west of your plot working towards the east by height to the shortest. I had two rows of peppers a few years ago planted to the west of the apple trees and they received morning sun from about 10:00 onwards, but didn't produce much in the way of peppers....evidently too little sun in the early morning. I think we put 6' spacing between the raspberries when we planted them this Summer, but I am sure you can plant them closer than that as long as you keep them pruned. Don't let them grow tall enough and arch over....lop them off at about 5' and thin them to about 4 canes(the nicest ones) every 12" or so. We also tie them to a wire "fence" to keep them upright and under control. We are growing Caroline (which are not my favorite, but produce very well) and they need severe pruning and thinning. I will probably think of more, so I will try to add it later.
Thanks guys Carolyn soft fruit will be to the west so raspberry location should work. Only planning one row for now so hoping with a path and natural spacing it should come close to 6ft between Sjoerd, going for a potager garden design incorporating yield of veg but also good looking , plus trying a few new tricks with this garden. Circle in the middle will hold marigolds, other beneficial flowers and trap crops, to keep the pests off the veg patch. Not sure how well it will work, but aiming to balance out all the vegetables. So off tomorrow to cut beds/paths and layout the design. Will get you guys some pictures.
Hei Dan. That circle design is popular on our allotment complex. It will look so nice on your lottie and planting marigolds is also a great idea for colour AND pest discouragement. I do not have a circle, but I plant marigolds in my greenhouse and in the veg plot every year. I imagine that it helps. Looking very much forward to your pics.
