The Allotment Book

BED B

YEAR 1: BRASSICAS

CROPS TO GROW Cabbage family interplanted with salads.

CULTIVATION Dig in leafmould or compost, and lime the soil if it is acid. In autumn mulch with more compost, to raise fertility for Root crops in Year 2.

YEAR 2: ROOT CROPS

CROPS TO GROW Root crops, leaf crops and extras like sweetcorn.

CULTIVATION Add more compost. After harvest sow green manure to dig in before Legumes in Year 3.

YEAR 3: LEGUMES

CROPS TO GROW Podded vegetables and the onion family.

CULTIVATION Dig in plenty of manure or compost. After harvest plant onions to overwinter and overlap with Brassicas in Year 4.

YEAR 4: BRASSICAS

BED C

YEAR 1: ROOT CROPS

CROPS TO GROW Grow root crops, leaf crops and extras like sweetcorn.

CULTIVATION Dig in plenty of compost. After harvest sow green manure to dig in before Legumes in Year 2.

YEAR 2: LEGUMES

CROPS TO GROW Podded vegetables and the onion family.

CULTIVATION Add plenty of manure or compost. After harvest plant onions to overwinter and overlap with Brassicas in Year 3.

YEAR 3: BRASSICAS

CROPS TO GROW Cabbage family interplanted with salads.

CULTIVATION Add leafmould or more compost, forked in or as a mulch, and lime the soil if it is acid. In autumn mulch with more compost, to raise fertility for Root crops in Year 4.

YEAR 4: ROOT CROPS

COMPANION PLANTING

Few plants grow in isolation, and an allotment is as much a community of interactive plants as any natural ecosystem. Plants can influence the welfare of their neighbours for good (symbiosis) or bad (allelopathy): beans do not grow well next to onions, rue suppresses growth and very little thrives under a walnut tree; on the other hand, legumes help root crops to grow well, chives can ward off carrot root flies, and elderberries will encourage soil organisms to decompose organic material.

Crop rotation is one obvious form of companion planting, grouping plants with similar needs together. Another example is growing flowers attractive to pollinators or pest predators close to a vulnerable crop: poached egg plant (Limnanthes) flowers early and attracts hoverflies that can control aphids on broad beans, or you could grow a sacrificial alternative host like nasturtiums to lure aphids away from the beans.

It is worth experimenting with various different combinations, and observing the results, which can vary from one season or variety to the next. Marigolds (Tagetes), for example, help prevent carrot root fly, and in the greenhouse they are used to discourage whitefly, but you need to choose a strong-smelling variety. Other combinations to explore might include planting tomatoes near asparagus, whose roots exude a substance toxic to tomato eelworms, while French beans interplanted among the brassicas can deter some cabbage root and leaf pests.

choosing the bed system

The benefits Dividing your growing area into separate beds is the simplest way to organize crop rotation on the ground (see pages 32–5). It makes the routine of tending the whole plot more manageable than when crops are arranged in long rows right across the allotment. The beds are attractive, which is also psychologically satisfying because they are easy to maintain and keep tidy. They also maximize yields because plants can be grown at closer spacings than when access is needed between rows. They are particularly appropriate for organic and biodynamic gardeners, since cultivation concentrates on maintaining very high levels of organic material and fertility in the soil.

INCREASING YOUR SPACE

Although your plot might seem adequate, even enormous at first, it can quickly fill up with conventionally spaced crops unless you adopt measures to stretch the available space. Gardening in beds might appear to increase the area devoted to paths, but the more intensive plant spacings used can actually raise total yields; forest gardening (see page 31) exploits the vertical dimension by adding extra tiers of productive plant growth above normal ground-level vegetables.

Many plants can be grown for height rather than spread to save space. Fruits like apples, plums, gooseberries and redcurrants adapt readily to restricted forms such as cordons, espaliers and fans on posts and wires, or as short (often decorative) standards with branches spreading above ground level plants. Tall varieties of peas or beans and trailing forms of cucumbers or squashes can all be trained on upright structures to limit spread, releasing soil at their base for other shade-tolerant plants.

If your plot lies on a slope, consider contouring this in a series of level terraces supported by low walls or banks that can be used for trailing and scrambling plants. Raised beds provide the same growing space as at ground level, but are more comfortable to manage and offer vertical support for extra crops grown round their sides. Fencing or dividing parts of the plot with screens provides sites for extra climbing plants, as do the sides of a fruit cage. And don’t forget shed walls, which can be clothed with seasonal or permanent climbers, together with shorter plants in window boxes and ground-level containers or on shelves (see page 42).

The beds can be permanent, defined with fixed edging and separated by maintained paths, or marked out with string and pegs, with intervening paths trodden in. Most paths are straight, but elegant curves are equally practical and can introduce a welcome aesthetic element into a functional landscape. You will find that managing the beds from the paths rather than by walking between rows of vegetables eliminates compaction of the soil and so reduces the need to dig the beds regularly.

The critical size for a bed is its width – it must allow you to reach the middle without walking on the soil. Most people find 90–120cm (3–4ft) is a comfortable width. Narrow beds may be as long as you like, although much more than 3m (10ft) means a long walk round to the other side. Plants are usually arranged in short rows from side to side for easy cultivation. Square beds, 90–120cm (3–4ft) each way and accessible from all sides, are good for gradually colonizing new ground, with each square devoted to a single crop.

Both styles can be transformed into raised beds by building timber edges or walls to a convenient height, usually 10–20cm (4–8in) or as much as 60cm (2ft) if you have difficulty with bending or mobility. A raised bed of this kind is also an effective remedy for serious drainage problems. Paths should be at least 30cm (12in) wide.

No-dig beds Annual digging can destroy soil structure, dry out light soils and bring more weed seeds to the surface to germinate. If you adopt a minimal cultivation or ‘no-dig’ policy, remember that it is worth deeply digging over the plot or individual beds initially, to open up heavy or compacted ground, improve aeration and work in manure or compost. Thereafter it should be enough to cultivate the top 10–20cm (4–8in) of soil, where root growth tends to be concentrated, loosening the surface and turning in annual dressings or 8cm-(3in-) deep mulches of organic material. Decreasing yields or poor drainage will indicate if deep digging and manuring will need to be repeated in the future.

allotment story

ON THE WATERFRONT

Many allotment sites have a long history, sometimes stretching back centuries, and even millennia in the case of the floating gardens of Amiens, in the French region of Picardie.

Not far from the cathedral the River Somme flows through the city, across a low marshy floodplain that was first drained by the Romans when France was part of Gaul. They cultivated the reclaimed ground to produce vegetables to feed the troops, a practice that has continued to this day. The land is liable to flood, which replenished its fertility and often allowed three main crops a year to be raised by the market gardeners who developed the area and maintained its 55 kilometres (34 miles) of irrigation and drainage channels, or rieux. By the end of the 19th century there were more than a thousand growers, who sold their produce at the water market in Amiens every Saturday.

Today only a few commercial growers are left on 25 hectares (62 acres) of Les Hortillonages, as the floating gardens are known. The rest of the 300 hectares (741 acres) is divided into about 1,300 allotment plots and leisure gardens, often with a weekend cabin, and accessible mainly by shallow-bottomed boat through the intricate network of channels. It is possible to visit the gardens, as well as the surviving Saturday water market, throughout the year, and every June there is a medieval market and festival.

structures & equipment

The shed The allotment shed stands at the heart of the plot-holder’s domain, a private sanctuary that has often inspired creativity and latent building skills (see pages 42–3). Whether flatpack or makeshift in style, it is a key structure that dominates the plot and provides refuge from bad weather, a store for tools and materials, and very often a simple retreat in which to relax, brew tea and potter.

On some allotment sites, inspired DIY and frugal recycling of old doors, pallets, plastic sheeting, household paint and roofing felt is permissible. The result is an enchanted huddle of shacks and shanties that tap into childhood memories of dens and seem to be in a constant state of renovation or repair. Elsewhere, strict regulations insist that all plot-holders use the standard issue of a basic weatherboarded and unpainted tool store.

Whatever its design, your shed is an essential part of the allotment’s working environment, and so needs some thought if it is to be weatherproof, secure and well equipped for your various activities on site.

IDEAL SPECIFICATION If you are considering buying or building your own shed, you should take into account the following important features.

Size Many allotment associations set a maximum base size of 2.1 x 1.5m (7 x 5ft). A smaller area might seem sufficient, but you should decide first if you need room for working or for sitting and resting as well as for storing your tools and tackle. Make sure that there is enough headroom to stand comfortably, allowing for any structural cross-braces in the roof.

Floor The floor should be sound, firm and durable. Pressure-treated boards are standard, laid on treated bearers that sit on a bed of gravel for good drainage. A permanent concrete foundation may not be allowed, but concrete blocks will keep the floor bearers off the ground.

Roof The roof must be strong, ideally made of tongue-and-groove boards rather than plywood, and waterproofed with felt that covers overhanging eaves. A flat roof must have sufficient fall to shed rainwater. A covering of turf or plants would provide a ‘green’ solution. Add guttering to collect rainwater (into water butts) and protect the shed walls.

Door The door should be wide enough for comfortable access by you and your largest equipment, such as a wheelbarrow, and soundly constructed with strong ledges and braces. Furniture such as hinges and latches should be rust-resistant – galvanized or stainless steel, for example – and you must have a strong lock (see also page 43).