Oh yes there are loads just about everyone has written a book on growing veg & some of them are actually useful but GW & RHS websites are as good as anything.
And I have pretty much all of them lol. Allotment month my month by Alan Buckingham is the only one you need, it does have the usual how to start an allotment stuff at the start but also has a monthly guide in the middle and a crop planner in the back which is what you actually want to know about.
Yes Pauline 7 I shall take plenty of photos. I’ve ordered RHS Allotment and planner book to browse through. Apart from potatoes,what other veg a good for a newbie to grow? And a rotovators a big no no?
Absolutly do not allow anyone on the allotments to pressure you into using a rotivator on a patch that has not been dug out or covered and cleared, they are either malicious or idiots. Scary horror movie music builds...Any weeds that come up from runners can multiply from a tiny tiny cutting and a rotivator will make thousands of them....
The lessons I learned last year (my first): Sweetcorn - brilliant, never occurred to me you could grow it in a UK allotment but it was really good. Unfortunately, I only found out after the season ended that you could make popcorn in the microwave, so can't wait for this year's crop. Beetroot - we've only just finished the chutney made from last year's crop. Courgettes - don't plant too many as they seemed to double in size overnight and we were trawling the internet for things to do with marrow. Ended up using them for sculpture practice. Cabbage and cauliflower - got butchered by just about everything. Attenbrough could have made another Life in the Undergrowth series on them. Beans and peas - fantastic and early in the year so you have something to show for your efforts. Broad beans were really nice and I'm hoping to plant a lot more this year. Runner beans just kept coming, which was unfortunate as I don't really like them but someone on the allotments gave me the seeds. Dwarf beans really good too. Kale - planted after other things finished and was really good through to Christmas - makes a nice soup with leeks. Carrots - destroyed by carrot fly, which was really disappointing because they took so long and looked really good until I pulled them up. Herbs - lemon balm and mint were good for making teas. I just bunged them in a caffetiere and poured boiling water on them and it was really nice. Good to have parsley, chives and things around, but I always forgot to bring them home from the allotment and only remembered in the middle of cooking. I think it's nice to have some herbs that you can ruffle their heads and get a nice smell while you're working. I've planted my fruit bushes and strawberries now, so hoping to get some fruit this year.
I got all my seeds from Wilko, so for 50p a pack it didn't matter so much if things failed. As a beginner I wasn't that concerned by particular varieties or exotic things. I'll make my mistakes on the basics over these few years and then get more adventurous. I'd just go to the shops and choose the packets you like the look of. The final thing I've learned is to be a bit more brutal about thinning out. I was so excited that any seedlings were actually growing that I was reluctant to pull any up. but in the end that meant all my lettuces grew up rather than out so I need to get more ruthless.
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
And I have pretty much all of them lol. Allotment month my month by Alan Buckingham is the only one you need, it does have the usual how to start an allotment stuff at the start but also has a monthly guide in the middle and a crop planner in the back which is what you actually want to know about.
Oh so do I hence my comment but I agree fully with your recommendation if you want to go a bit more detailed there is Joy Larkcom who has several books on the subject.
I think you have to go above 24" / 60cm to miss carrot fly, but I might well be wrong.
No you are quite right, the recommended way is to attach stiff fleece round a deep bed there are systems that are sold for this, or you can make your own. In terms of raised beds as always there are advantages & disadvantages both ways. Beds enable a no dig approach, they warm up faster, they allow close spacing & high productivity. They can be made with boards or just soil piled up higher than surrounding level. Depending on your soil disadvantages can be, they dry out fast in summer, the rain can compact the soil down hard if you do not dig or use large amounts of compost or manure (especially on clay soil). The paths in between beds can harbour perennial weeds which can invade the beds. In my experience many people start with beds at first but then revert to the open ground system, but then my plots are on London clay where couch grass & bindweed are rife.
My plan for this year is that I've bought a packet of the Resistafly Carrots and I've saved a load of coca cola bottles over the winter. So I'll sow the seed and then droop fleece over the bottles placed on top of short sticks pushed into the ground. I'm thinking to put parsnips under the fleece too, so I can cover that whole bed. That's my plan - but I bet the flies have got their own. Our allotments seem to be split roughly half and half between those using raised beds and those not. The end results don't seem to be much different. I imagine the raised beds provided quicker results when first built, but probably cost a bit. Forgot to mention before that I also started a pollinators' bed, in which I grew things like cerinthe, borage and lavender. Even though it's not a crop as such it was perhaps the thing that gave me most pleasure last year. When we did have a nice long summer evening I really enjoyed watching all the different type of bees and hoverflies.
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
Posts
Sweetcorn - brilliant, never occurred to me you could grow it in a UK allotment but it was really good. Unfortunately, I only found out after the season ended that you could make popcorn in the microwave, so can't wait for this year's crop.
Beetroot - we've only just finished the chutney made from last year's crop.
Courgettes - don't plant too many as they seemed to double in size overnight and we were trawling the internet for things to do with marrow. Ended up using them for sculpture practice.
Cabbage and cauliflower - got butchered by just about everything. Attenbrough could have made another Life in the Undergrowth series on them.
Beans and peas - fantastic and early in the year so you have something to show for your efforts. Broad beans were really nice and I'm hoping to plant a lot more this year. Runner beans just kept coming, which was unfortunate as I don't really like them but someone on the allotments gave me the seeds. Dwarf beans really good too.
Kale - planted after other things finished and was really good through to Christmas - makes a nice soup with leeks.
Carrots - destroyed by carrot fly, which was really disappointing because they took so long and looked really good until I pulled them up.
Herbs - lemon balm and mint were good for making teas. I just bunged them in a caffetiere and poured boiling water on them and it was really nice. Good to have parsley, chives and things around, but I always forgot to bring them home from the allotment and only remembered in the middle of cooking. I think it's nice to have some herbs that you can ruffle their heads and get a nice smell while you're working.
I've planted my fruit bushes and strawberries now, so hoping to get some fruit this year.
I got all my seeds from Wilko, so for 50p a pack it didn't matter so much if things failed. As a beginner I wasn't that concerned by particular varieties or exotic things. I'll make my mistakes on the basics over these few years and then get more adventurous. I'd just go to the shops and choose the packets you like the look of. The final thing I've learned is to be a bit more brutal about thinning out. I was so excited that any seedlings were actually growing that I was reluctant to pull any up. but in the end that meant all my lettuces grew up rather than out so I need to get more ruthless.
In terms of raised beds as always there are advantages & disadvantages both ways. Beds enable a no dig approach, they warm up faster, they allow close spacing & high productivity. They can be made with boards or just soil piled up higher than surrounding level. Depending on your soil disadvantages can be, they dry out fast in summer, the rain can compact the soil down hard if you do not dig or use large amounts of compost or manure (especially on clay soil). The paths in between beds can harbour perennial weeds which can invade the beds. In my experience many people start with beds at first but then revert to the open ground system, but then my plots are on London clay where couch grass & bindweed are rife.
Our allotments seem to be split roughly half and half between those using raised beds and those not. The end results don't seem to be much different. I imagine the raised beds provided quicker results when first built, but probably cost a bit.
Forgot to mention before that I also started a pollinators' bed, in which I grew things like cerinthe, borage and lavender. Even though it's not a crop as such it was perhaps the thing that gave me most pleasure last year. When we did have a nice long summer evening I really enjoyed watching all the different type of bees and hoverflies.