How to start your own allotment in 10 easy steps
Allotments are cheap, green and good for your health! There's still time to prepare your plot and sow some seeds for the summer- and the sooner the better. Tim Hall, Environment Engagement Officer for Earthwatch, decided to grow a few vegetables and be a little more self-sufficient (with a bit of help from his grandson, Thomas).
Read his simple step-by-step beginner's guide to 'plotting' your own allotment:
Step 1: Find a plot. Most towns and villages have an Allotment Association (see your local parish council). The chairperson or site manager will advise you on availability and allot you an agreed number of rods and advise you of the rental charge. Tim says:
"I found out I could have a plot immediately for a ‘peppercorn rent' of £2.50. Then I was told that, as the area I had chosen hadn't been worked for over 10 years, I wouldn't be charged for the first year and then £2.50 thereafter." Step 2: Mark out your plot using the rods. An imperial linear rod is 16.5ft, a square rod approx. 272 square ft.
Step 3: Clear the plot. If necessary, you may need to strim your allotment of undergrowth such as nettles, brambles and dock. Tim used a heavy-duty petrol strimmer with a brush-cutting attachment fitted. He says:
"It took all day to get it down to ground level and rake the cuttings off." Step 4: Start digging. Initially a spade may not be able to break through old roots, so a fork might be better. For really tough stuff, Tim hired a Rotavator for about £40, with full operating instructions from Jewson Tool Hire and discovered that after going backwards and forwards three times, the cutters had penetrated almost three inches and cut all the surface vegetation into "millions of tiny root hairs, all of which a neighbouring allotment holder told me would grow again in the spring."
Step 5: Plan the beds. Apparently, the ideal bed size is 10 x 5 ft.
"I thought that 10 evenly spaced beds would be great and utilise about two-thirds of the patch. The rest I could keep strimmed flat to keep the weeds at bay."
Step 6: Raise the beds. Tim had heard from another helpful allotment holder that raised beds would have a much higher yield if you dig in plenty of organic compost. A raised bed is surrounded by a timber framework 15-30 cms high. Within the area a high concentration of organic compost is added to the soil, raising the surface level and allowing intensive planting and high yields from a small area. The timber sides also help repel invasive weeds, pests, birds, dogs, and children.
"I decided to search the internet and eventually found a reclamation yard in Milton Keynes that had hundreds of roofing joists and floor boards of all lengths for sale. "I needed 30 lengths which cost £10 each after haggling down from £15, but I would have to cut and de-nail them myself."
Step 7: Prepare the timber, buy the fixings and a load of cow manure.
Step 8: Sow your first crops.
"It took a whole day of back-breaking work to dig over and remove every trace of root, then dig in four wheelbarrow loads of cow dung and erect the first boards around the perimeter. I had worked ceaselessly from 9am to 6.30pm and was close to collapse. Only nine more raised beds to go!"
Step 9: Get a shed.
"My wife decided that I needed a potting shed for making tea, eating sandwiches, reading gardening magazines and chatting with other allotment holders. A week later a lorry arrived and two men erected the shed in a couple hours flat, with a little help from me."
Step 10: Grand opening!
"My grandson, Thomas, cut the ribbon and I quickly realised that my refuge was easily the biggest, smartest and best shed in the village, so I installed a potting shelf, tool racks and a table with a Camping Gaz stove and a couple of folding canvas camping chairs to complete the picture."
Watch this space for more handy allotment tips!
Allotment links
www.allotment.org.uk
www.communitywoodrecycling.co.uk
www.seedysunday.org
www.biodynamic.org.uk