Allotment - the Where, When, Why and How - Setting up your Plot

When you're thinking about where to grow fruit and vegetables on your allotment, bear in mind the following:

• Try to find a sunny spot with good drainage. A south-facing aspect is ideal. Provide shelter from wind, by remember to check wind direction and ensure that taller plants are given some protection either by being staked or with windbreaks.
• Avoid overhanging tree branches and shade cast by buildings or hedges. Use these areas to store pots or materials, for your compost heap, and so on, and keep your sunny areas for your plants
• Make sure there is plenty of water. Avoid the area next to hedges as this tends to be dry. A sunny wall or fence is good for annual flowers that will attract pollinators to your fruit and vegetables, so fill those spots with scented flowers like sweet peas and dianthus.
• Make sure there is protection from marauding wildlife - including the two-legged kind that steal fruit over the fence!

Fruit and vegetable plots require quite a lot of work - planting, weeding, watering, tying, harvesting, manuring and so on. This means it's a good idea to ensure the paths between the beds are wide enough to take a wheelbarrow, and have a hard surface - paving slabs will stop your feet getting too muddy or you slipping and falling over. If possible, aim for vegetable beds about four feet wide with narrow paths work well, as you can use the narrow path to water and weed without compacting the soil around the plants.

Try to ensure there is a source of water nearby and plant perennials that need the most water nearest the source so that you don't have to do any extra walking with your watering can.

allotment path photograph by viewoftheworld, used under a creative commons attribution licence