Allotment basics

What is an allotment?

An allotment is a piece of ground that you pay rent for, usually a fairly small annual charge, in order to grow your own produce. They are run by local councils and parish councils, as well as community groups, and sometimes even offered on private land. Perfect for keen growers who want a dedicated space for growing crops, but also for people who don’t have a garden where they live.

Allotmenteers share a sense of community, of growing produce together and sharing tips and food, as well as stories and fun. They are places where people feel able to express themselves creatively, where they might not at home, and often feature quirky sheds, budget-saving ideas and a huge diversity of crops. Suitable for all ages, young to old, where children get their first tastes and the elderly share their wealth of experience.

Children can get their first tastes of fresh fruit and vegetables on an allotment

How to get an allotment

The best way to find an allotment in your local area is by word-of-mouth, asking neighbours and friends who have an allotment. Use the internet to search for local allotments and they may have their own website or Facebook page with details. If you have no luck, the official route is to apply via your local council. Latest figures suggest there are around 330,000 plots in the UK today, with reported waits of around 3 years, but don’t be put off, get yourself on the waiting list and think of it as a long-term investment.

It may take time to find an allotment but it will be worth the wait

Plan your allotment plot

Allotments can take up a lot of time, so require some strategic planning. Go for a plot size suited to your needs - half a plot is adequate for most people and ideal for beginners. This might need eight hours’ work a week for inexperienced gardeners, but half that for experienced ones.

Plan your plot to work for your needs but remember to give yourself somewhere to sit and enjoy it

Keeping down the weeds

Hoes are multi-purpose tools for weeding (especially between rows of veg), loosening the soil surface, making seed drills, earthing up plants, and more. There are various types with different shaped blades. Hoeing to remove weeds is best done on a warm, dry day, so you slice easily through weed stems just below the surface.

hoeing

• Pumpkins, squash, courgettes and potatoes smother weeds, so plant them in the weediest areas.

• Carrots, peas and onions cast little shade and weeds can quickly smother them.

• Onions are easily grown through weed-suppressing black membrane.

• Carrots can be grown in beds with paths to allow access for the repeated weedings required.

• Perennial crops such as asparagus and fruit need no cultivation or sowing, but must be planted in areas that are clear of all

  Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

  perennial weeds.

• It’s worth investing in a push hoe, a draw hoe, and a short-handled onion hoe to be fully equipped to deal with any weed problems.

Start small, choose an area to clear and take time to remove all deep-rooted weeds

Young plants for your allotment plot

Grow from seed on a window sill and take the plants to your plot when they are ready

Coping with wet conditions

Soils, especially clay ones, are often impossible to work in wet periods and can be damaged if you try. The heavier the soil, the fewer days of the year it can be worked, and in wet seasons waterlogged soils can limit what can be grown.

Solutions

• Raised beds enhance drainage and greatly extend the time when sticky soils are workable
• If raised beds are not suitable, try digging the soil while it is dry in autumn
• When planning your allotment year consider how much you will be limited if the season turns wet
• Choose
  Potato varieties that are planted in mid- to late April, for harvesting from late August to October. These plants are grown to maturity, unlike early varieties, so tend to produce larger harvests of bigger potatoes, which usually store well.

  maincrop cultivars of peas, potatoes and carrots that give heavy yields even if sown late
• Where slugs are a problem, they will be at their most damaging in wet seasons, and second-early potatoes gathered before the soil gets too soggy and slugs too numerous are a sound choice

Coping with dry conditions

Sandy soils are workable most of the year, but dryness in summer, most often a problem in southern and eastern areas, can limit their productivity. In droughts there may be restrictions on water use; hosepipes and sprinklers are usually prohibited early in a drought but few allotment sites allow these.

Solutions

• Plan for the possibility of periods without rain, especially if your plot has sandy soil
•  Avoid growing too many crops such as celery, leafy salads and runner beans, which suffer on dry soils
• Choose root crops that are far less susceptible to drought. Squash, pumpkin and sweet corn are very resilient, and there are drought-resistant potato cultivars
• Overwintered and early-sown crops do their growing while the soil is still moist from winter rains
• Adding ample organic matter to the soil in winter also helps: one application of two bucketfuls of manure every square metre or yard will hold the equivalent of 5cm (2in) of rain

Being an allotmenteer is a year-round task, which will fill your meals with fresh produce

The allotment year

The best time to start preparing your plot is in winter, when you can get on with all the clearing and repairing jobs before the main

The period of time when an individual plant is in active growth. This will depend on the local climate and light levels, and can vary between different plants, although it is broadly from spring to autumn.

Winter

In late winter, rains should have restored the soil to full moisture levels, if they have not left it soggy, battered and emptied of nutrients. Skill with water, seedbeds, seeds, and

Transparent fleece and other floating films, known collectively as crop covers, are laid over or around plants hastening their growth, and protecting against weather and pests. They are usually used without supporting hoops.

Spring

Getting plants growing well before late spring is essential. Crops grow best during the long, warm days and high light levels of late spring to late summer, and for this they need plenty of leaves.

Summer

Wet, but not too wet summers are far better for allotments than hot, dry ones. Crops need water to grow.

Autumn

By autumn, growth is tailing off in lower light levels, so little rain is needed. Warm, dry weather is better for ripening produce now. Wet weather leads to rots, unripe produce that won’t store well, and wet soil that cannot be dug before winter rains arrive.