A guide to creating Allotments and Vegetable Beds
Growing your own crops in an allotment can be extremely rewarding and may help you save some money on vegetables too! These reasons combined with the fact that gardening is good for our mental wellbeing are why owning an allotment plot is so popular in the UK.
There is currently a waiting list of more than 150,000 people for allotment spaces, so if you’re the proud owner of an allotment, you must be making the most of it. One of the easiest ways to do this is to create allotments and vegetable beds.
If you want to find out why that is and how you can do it, our guide below can help. Continue reading below to make the most of your outdoor space and grow wonderful crops by yourself.
Plan your space
Planning is everything when it comes to allotment work or gardening. You’ll need to decide how big you want your vegetable beds to be and ensure you pick a spot that is sheltered and receives sunlight for optimal growing conditions.
When deciding how big you want your vegetable beds to be, we recommend starting small if you’re a novice and working your way up as you get more confident. A smaller space will be easier to manage, so you’ll increase your chances of successful harvests.
Create your vegetable beds
Once you know what you want to do with your allotment space, it’s time to build your vegetable beds. These raised growing areas are excellent for improving drainage and soil quality, so they’re well worth the investment.
You can build the beds yourself easily too. All you need to do is bring your tools and buy some high-quality treated timber.
Prepare your soil
Good soil is very important if you want to grow healthy plants and here’s how you can get the best soil possible:
- Use a fork to lift and turn the soil
- Remove old plants and weeds – make sure you go all the way to the roots, so the weed doesn’t grow back.
- Add fresh well-rotted manure or garden compost to your vegetable bed using a hand trowel and mix with the existing soil
- Rake the surface to ensure it’s flat and ready for you to add plants to
- Top tip: adding a high-potassium general fertiliser can help your plants grow better than ever
Maintenance and care
Once you’ve planted your vegetables, be sure to give them the care and attention they need for a healthy growing period. Some of the tasks you’ll need to do include:
- Watering the plant and soil
- Getting rid of any weeds that may steal vital nutrients from the vegetable
- Looking out for pests that may cause your plants to die