The allotment lottery
By Carole Davies - 14/11/2007
For the past year or so I, or rather the society for which I work, have had our name on three waiting lists for an allotment. Local councils have a statutory obligation to provide a sufficient number of plots, but even so allotment gardening is so popular and there never seems to be enough land to go around.
Last week I got the phone call offering me one of these elusive and prized plots. I heard myself saying “yes I’ll take it” without the thought that maybe I should have gone to take a look at it first.
I’ve seen it now and it’s not perfect, but it’s not as bad as it could be. It’s a little overgrown and on a slight slope but I feel like I, sorry we, have won the lottery rather than an allotment. It really is that exciting. But before I get too carried away with visions of bumper crops and mouth watering day-they-are-picked vegetables served on silver salvers, there is just the small matter of planning crop rotation beds and - more painfully and to the point - preparing the soil.
Crop rotation, the system of growing a series of dissimilar crops in
the same space in sequential seasons, has various benefits such as
reducing the build up of pests and diseases that often occur when one
species is continuously cropped from the same bed. Crop rotation also
balances the fertility demands of various crops to avoid excessive
depletion of soil nutrients.
Whilst the benefits of crop rotation beds are obvious, putting it into
practice in a small plot can be fairly limiting in terms of the variety
of crops you can grow. To increase the variety, I plan to combine the
rotation system with another tried and tested gardener’s trick:
companion planting. The idea is to select plants that will help each
other. Planting nasturtiums, for instance, to attract egg-laying
insects to keep them away from cabbages and lettuce. Beans to provide
nitrogen for carrots and so on. Companion planting is a truly organic
way to garden reducing the need for insecticides and chemical
fertilizers.
I also intend to employ a raised bed system, but instead of long beds
to grow crops in rows I plan to use 1.25m square beds where the soil
has been dug over, fertilised and heaped between 15cm retaining boards.
This system intensifies productivity in a small space and the
relatively small beds allow you to work all round them without the need
to stand in the bed. And the deep layer of soil means the beds warm up
earlier. With this system you can choose to cram in the crops tightly
to produce many smaller sized specimens or spread them out more to give
larger crops (common sense, really). I know some people get very hung
up on planting the “right” or “book” distance apart, but it’s a
question of personal preference really.
Crop rotation does not suit every plant. Some allotment stalwarts such
as Asparagus, Rhubarb, herbs, and fruit bushes need a permanent home.
So this means many evenings planning, drawing and making lists. Forward
planning makes life a lot easier once the sowing starts, as does
marking out the beds with numbers or crop names. You will find this
especially useful before the crops break ground or if, like me, your
memory isn’t quite what it used to be!
Well, those are my ideas for my, sorry our, little plot of land. They
aren’t radical, more a combination of tried and trusted techniques. I
will let you know how we get on.
If YOU have an allotment, why not let us know your experiences (good
and bad!) and also your tips to other readers for making the very most
of your space. Or perhaps you'd like advice from Carole on anything
horticultural. We'd love to hear from you. Write to: Gardening, Mature
Times, Highwood House, Winters Lane, Redhill, Bristol. BS40 5SH or
email: editorial@maturetimes.co.uk