Hatherop Road Allotments · Guide for new members

Planning, plant families & crop rotation

Planning your plot

Note how your plot sits relative to the sun. Most plots run north–south along their long dimension, so rows planted across the short dimension will shade each other. A six-foot row of runner beans casts a big shadow and is best aligned north/south, so it doesn’t shade neighbouring crops for most of the day but still catches the early and late sun.

Also note areas shaded by trees, a neighbour’s shed, or even low fences and paths — this may shape your layout. If there’s a shed on your plot, one decision is made for you. Adding a shed or greenhouse? A greenhouse needs good sun (a shed doesn’t); you can shade a greenhouse but you can’t remove the shade from a neighbouring tree or shed. Deal with any pernicious weeds on the site first.

You don’t need a full plan in your first year. Sow and plant areas as you clear them — the main season runs March to November, so there’s plenty of time to get crops going section by section. By year two you’ll have cleared most of the perennial weed and gained some experience, and can start planning around any inherited perennials (rhubarb, fruit trees) and a crop rotation.

Plant families

A little botany helps. Vegetables fall into botanical families that tend to share characteristics — the part you eat, cropping season, growing needs or appearance:

• Alliums (onion family) — onions, shallots, garlic, leeks. The first three are harvested and dried in summer; leeks run from autumn through winter.
• Beta (beet family) — beetroot, chard and spinach.
• Brassicas (cabbage family) — the most versatile; you eat root, stem, leaves, flower or seed. Cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, radish, kohl rabi, turnip and mustard.
• Capsicums (pepper family) — peppers and chillies.
• Cucurbits (gourd family) — courgettes, pumpkins and cucumbers; they need summer warmth.
• Legumes (pea and bean family) — important, easy and reliable.
• Solanaceae (potato and tomato family) — potatoes, tomatoes and aubergine; the flowers give away the family likeness.
• Umbellifers (carrot family) — roots (carrot, parsnip), stems (fennel), foliage (parsley, coriander) and seeds (cumin, coriander).

A few families offer just one crop of interest — sweetcorn (a grass) or lettuce (a daisy). The main fruits group under Rubus (raspberry, blackberry), Ribes (currants, gooseberry), Vitis (grape — there are a few vines at Hatherop) and Malus (apple & pear).

Crop rotation

Many plotholders advise not planting the same annual crop in the same place each year — for plant health and productivity, give it a new spot annually, with a minimum three-year cycle before a crop returns. This is where knowing your plant families pays off. The classic rotation is:

A typical first-year layout: Area 1 — root crops (carrots, parsnips, beetroot, salsify); Area 2 — brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, sprouts, turnips); Area 3 — the rest (potatoes, celery, leeks, peas, beans), plus space for permanent crops (herbs, fruit, rhubarb).

You don’t have to follow this rigidly — but keep a sketch of your crops each year so you don’t plant the same family in one spot two years running. There’s also a view that rotation is inherited from large-scale farming and matters less on a small plot: a good autumn/winter mulch may replenish the soil enough to repeat a crop. Different plants like different conditions, so experiment — and if you find the perfect spot, stick with it.

Feeding your plants

You’ll need to feed your plants for good crops. It can seem confusing — NPK ratios, trace elements, organic versus chemical — but for allotment growing, a few simple rules see you through. Your soil is probably in reasonable condition, and if it wasn’t cropped last year it may give decent crops with little extra feeding.

• Compost or well-rotted manure always helps soil structure — dig it in over winter, or just before planting hungry crops like potatoes or beans.
• Fertiliser is concentrated food, as a solid (Growmore, blood, fish & bone) or liquid (tomato food). Packets and bottles carry the instructions.
• The traditional home-made liquid feed (‘jollop’) is a bag of well-rotted compost in a dustbin, topped up with water.
• Feed needs to reach the roots — put fertiliser in the planting hole or water it into the root zone.
• Don’t overdo it — the plant needs a boost, not a flood. Through photosynthesis it makes much of its own food.
• Brassicas need lime to grow well (added to the area or into the planting hole) and are heavy feeders.