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Allotments- creating paths through an allotment
DeckchairGardener
Posts: 1
I’ve just taken on an overgrown 5 pole allotment which is Essex clay. I am clueless on how I can create paths through the space as I find endless rows of plants daunting and don’t know where to step. I can’t afford raised beds so wanted to create the beds & paths out of the soil but how do I do this. Can anyone advise? Maureen
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You're quite right to avoid raised beds, Maureen, as they aren't necessary. If you can, dig the lot over, or rotavate it, and start to plant such crops as you are able in the time available to you. Any area that you're not going to be able to use this year can be covered in black plastic 'builders membrane' to stifle the weeds while it's idle.
As each rows of crops are planted, leave enough space for your feet to pass up and down, before planting the next. So, three rows of, say, carrots can be straddled together for weeding etc. before leaving a gap and planting the next rows of e.g. spinach. Unlike raised beds, this has the advantage that, where this year's gap after your carrots falls, it could be in the middle of next year's row of spuds. This way all your ground (and its nutrients) get used as you rotate your crops in the plot. The paths between raised beds NEVER get used, a) because they're always in the same position and b) because people often leave space for a wheelbarrow to pass between them, which will probably be two or three times as wide as would be needed for your feet to do the odd weeding or cropping movement.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Can you get ahold of some bales of straw or other mulch? Wood chips? Make your unframed raised beds no more than four feet wide.. whatever distance you can comfortable reach to the halfway point. I have one bed four foot, and on three foot wide.. and I find the three foot one so much easier to reach the middle to weed, sow, etc. Then create a path by laying down cardboard or newspaper in thick layers, and covering in straw or woodchips. The straw can be a bit slippery, so only use that if you are steady on your feet. They won't be raised at first, but will become so as you improve the soil and mulch with compost, etc.
If it is super weedy, start with just one bed this summer. Cover the rest with black plastic like Nick suggested, to help kill off weeds. I find cardboard layers covered in black plastic help greatly, and lead to less punctures and weeds pushing up through. Time enough for that in the fall or next spring.
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
1) Membrane/bark chip - This is the method we use. There is less weeding to do than with a grass path, or one where people just walk on bare soil.
2) Grass path - Some people buy turf, others sprinkle grass seed. These require mowing a few times a year, and probably also some weeding, so more effort to maintain, but certainly kinder to nature and nicer to look at.
3) Bare soil - Clear the worst weeds (Brambles, Couch grass, bindweed), and just walk on the ground as it is. This is OK in Summer, although the paths get weedy and there are lots of pebbles, etc, but in Winter they become a mudbath. The least expensive or labour intensive option, but not always very nice paths to walk on
Paths should be wide enough for you to comfortably kneel down and weed the bed on either side of the path, otherwise weeding is uncomfortable. The advice about keeping beds narrow is worth noting, because trying to reach the middle of wide beds is a killer to the back and shoulders.
Avoid using a rotavator at all costs, it will chop up weeds like Brambles and Bindweed, and you will end up with many more than you currently have. As the others says, using plastic/membrane/cardboard to kill off some of the weeds, and work on a small piece at a time, weeding by hand (and also removing glass/plastic, etc).
Planting some fruit trees and fruit bushes will use up some of your space, and apart from the initial clearing, will require minimal maintenance compared to your raised beds.