Having decided on what I'm growing this season and purchased most of the seed, it's time to work out what will go where come spring. Some people are happy to pop in plants wherever there's a space, others like to plan things out in the last detail - I'm afraid I'm more the planning type. Even if you are a 'happy-go-lucky' plot holder, you should still consider some form of crop rotation, not growing the same crop in the same position for at least three years. That means some kind of record keeping is required or a very good memory!
My allotment currently has four main beds, 32' long by 6' wide (approx 9.75m by 1.8m) and a 2' by 32' strip running the length of one side containing a plum tree and a small cold frame at one end. One of the four main beds is permanently given over to fruit including raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants and rhubarb. The other three beds are used in rotation for the rest of my vegetable growing (except a few greenhouse crops grown off site).
This year I'm trying to make more of the plot by attempting to grow two successive crops in some places. I'm going to try and get my hardy broad beans germinated early with heat in February so I can get them planted out in March. As I freeze my broad beans I'm aiming to get them all ready, picked and cleared by mid-June to be replaced by leeks which I keep in trays before dibbing out in the summer. The other crop I want finished by mid-June are the 'early' potatoes so I can use the ground for a second crop of winter squash which I will have already raised in pots. I have an area dedicated to winter squash in my rotation but my family adore them so I'm going to attempt to double production by getting another batch in the ground vacated by the early spuds. All this is my plan but, as all plot holders know, the weather will have its say!
Here is a copy of the 2014 plan, note that I'm currently on the 2nd year of the 3 year cycle. Click to see a larger version.
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