Allotments: time for a bumper crop

The growing season’s in full swing. Now’s the time to get started on a new allotment and enjoy fresh, self-grown fruits and veggies

As anyone who loves good food will tell you, allotment or garden-grown food offers maximum health benefits, freshness and, most importantly, unrivalled taste. Taste matters and you can’t beat the depth of flavour that comes from tending your own produce. Grow it yourself and you can keep close tabs on what goes into your food too – no more chemicals, minimal food miles and definitely no more limp salads! It’s safe to say that nothing beats the satisfaction derived from following your meal from digging fork to kitchen fork. Nurturing and tending crops is in our DNA. One thing’s for sure – the excitement of seeing those first green shoots emerge from the ground can’t be beaten.

Plan ahead
Before pulling on the Wellies and reaching for the spade it’s a good idea to do a little planning. Where you grow your vegetables matters and can make all the difference between bumper yields and disappointment. Time spent carefully considering your new plot will save a lot of headaches later on in the season, and with a productive plot set up and in full flow you’ll be able to repeat your success year after year. If you’ve always fancied growing your own but don’t have a suitable garden space, then it may be worth considering an allotment plot. Peterborough is fortunate to have a number of allotment fields with vacant plots. Most offer a rotovating service, so you can have your new plot tilled in advance meaning you can start sowing and planting immediately with your first harvests following on within just a few weeks. The ideal plot will receive plenty of sunshine. Even if yours doesn’t enjoy full sun it’s likely to receive at least a few hours of good, bright sunshine at some point during the day. It’s worth making a note of where the sun falls throughout the day, so you can judge what crops to grow where. Level sites are best and make cultivation a lot easier, while reducing runoff in strong rains. On the other hand a gently south-facing slope will warm up quicker in spring. The soil of your new plot should ideally be free-draining.

Ground plans
The first task on taking on a new plot is deciding its layout. Most of your crops will be relatively shortlived but vegetables such as rhubarb, asparagus and globe artichoke will occupy the same piece of ground for several years running. Placing these perennial crops into their own bed or towards the edge of the plot will keep them from being disturbed by the regular cultivation around them. Annual vegetables – that’s just about everything else – will need grouping according to their growing habits so that the space where they are grown can easily be changed each year to prevent build-ups of pests and diseases and avoid exhaustion of soil nutrients. This process, known as crop rotation, is key to a healthy allotment or vegetable plot. Allotments are very easy to divide up into separate beds, which make crop rotation much easier.

Access all areas
Tending your plot requires easy access to all areas so firm, level paths are a must. Paths can divide up specific areas or lay between raised beds so that all the cultivation may be carried out without actually stepping on the soil. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to paths, but a common mistake is to make them too narrow to save space. Paths should enable a wheelbarrow to easily pass by without snagging plants as it moves. And you should be able to comfortably work the surrounding beds without engaging in a delicate balancing act. Needless to say a greenhouse is a real boon and will considerably extend both the range and duration of crops you can grow. If a greenhouse is impractical then a cold frame – a smaller, ground-level version of a greenhouse – will prove invaluable for hardening off young plants and gaining you a head start in the spring.

Plotting and scheming
Once you’ve decided on the basic layout of your plot the fun really begins – what to grow and how much of it? Make a list of what you like to eat; you would be surprised how many people grow a particular crop just for growing’s sake, even if they are not that keen on it! Make a note of what will be in the ground when and at what time you will be enjoying the fruits of your labour. With a month-by-month cropping schedule laid out any gaps will become clear. Think about these ‘hungry gaps’ and what can you grow to fill them to ensure a consistent supply of fresh produce. Most vegetables won’t be too fussy about their orientation but avoid a situation where one crop is over-shadowing another. Grow taller crops to the north of your plot so that the sun reaches the shorter plants in front. Your allotment or garden’s specific microclimate and soil type may suit one crop over another, so take the time to talk to neighbouring kitchen gardeners to see what they are growing and what works for them. This is where an allotment plot comes into its own, with fellow plot holders only too willing to share their experience and advice – they’re a friendly bunch! It’s easy to get bogged down when planning the layout of your allotment or kitchen garden but most of this process is down to common sense. Consider the essentials when you carry out this most essential task. Question everything that you do, always take the time to think through the implications of your work and you won’t go too far wrong.

How to get an allotment
There is a range of allotment plots to rent in Peterborough, including smaller, part-sized plots perfect for beginners. Allotment rents start at £50 a year and you’ll gain access to discounted tools, fertilisers, seeds and free compost. ● To find out more visit www.enterprisepeterborough.com/StreetCare/Allotments or contact the allotments team: 01733 425343,