Looking for ideas for an abandoned allotment?

effluent

Hi,
I was lokking for ideas to do with an allotment which isn't/won't be used in the future. What I'm looking for is something to plant which require little to no maintanence, something which my parents could use without doing any work. I'll be leaving next year and I'd like to keep this allotment usefull and I'd hate to return it back to part of the main garden after all the work I put into it. I'd also like to leave it in a way which I could possibly return growing veg in it sometime down the line.

On the allotment it's self; its 5m X 10m, soil is of clay/loam variety, slight slope faceing north, has wind breakers blocking northern winds, gets full sun, no water logging problems, and I've sucessfully grown many variety of veg in the allotment.

Some ideas I've had is to (1) plant rows of berry plants, possible black/red current or logan berries and plant a green manure variety vegitation between the rows to keep down wild weeds and add fertilizer to the soil. (2) Just plant a couple of apple trees in the allotment or (3) plant Jerusalem Artichokes all over the area which would reseed it's self every year (this could be an interesting one, an allotment full of 8foot sunchokes would look daft:pac:).

Anyone have any other interesting ideas?

Thanks.

liamhana

dont plant artichokes unless you want them to take over completely! I planted about 6 of them a couple of years ago and even after digging the whole area three times they still appear every year....look lovely but invasive...

I planted a nice row of asparagus a few yrs ago and they come up every year, nice to eat and when let grow they're a lovely fern bush too.

Rhubarb - again nice to eat and look nice....very easily dug up too.

Corsendonk

One can only eat so much rhubarb. Well its your parents minding the site so think what they would want, no point growing something they won't use or you might aswell sublet the site. Perhaps flowers? Roses? Tulips, lillys etc. Your mother might send your dad to the allotment more if she gets some fresh flowers:D

effluent

My parents wouldn't be well enough to do any gardening work on the site. I've tought about rubarb (they don't eat it since it's not very good for Arthritis), Asparagus (they don't like it). I think the best option would be to plant rows of fruiting plants such as Currents or logan berries, and plant a variety of green manure (something like clover, field peas or those small bright yellow white flowers) to help the soil and out compete weeds. Planting apple tree and maintaining them would probably too much work.

If something like this was deemed to be unrealistic I'd probably just sow the site with medow and wild flowers and just leave the site for the birds and the bees.


I'm hopping to leave something that requires little to no maintanance, but I'm not really sure how realistic this is?

Corsendonk

effluent wrote: »

I'm hopping to leave something that requires little to no maintanance, but I'm not really sure how realistic this is?

Not very, even with a wild meadow after it flowers your parents will have to tidy it up in late autumn. Fruit plants need pruning too and would your parents harvest the fruit or would it be just birdfeed? Even with a groundcover of green manure you will Still need to weedout any persistant weeds that pop above the covering.

Also does your allotment have a commitee? They might not be happy if your plot is in a bit of a state. I would try to sublet it or just give it to a mate interested in gardening for the year your away.

looksee

There are limits to the number of current bushes you need, like maybe one, even if you make jam! And they are no good for keeping down weeds. The same applies to raspberries, gooseberries etc. Strawberries are quite good for keeping down weeds and will increase and multiply, but with no care at all I think it could become rank fairly quickly.

I agree with the others, either sublet it, give it up, or get someone to garden it and maybe give your parents a bit of veg in season.

mrsbear

Where are you based? There might be a local gardening group who could come in and help your parents once a week? And put in an irrigation system so all they would have to do is turn a tap in warm weather. (by irrigation system I mean those hoses with pin pricks slightly underneath the soil).

What about just using it for wild flowers?

Micheal GIY

Some good suggestions here but if it was me I would probably stick to your orinal idea of fruit bushes. A nice selection of blackcurrant, raspberry and some of the hybrids could give a good crop if somebody was on for picking them. On the raspberries I would go with Autumn fruiting, as there is no tricky pruning, just cut them down each year and they regrow and fruit on the current years growth.

Subletting or even just passing it on to somebody else to work and give some veg to your parents might be a nice way to go.

Another poster advised finding a local growers group. It migth be worth checking to see if there is a GIY group in your area as there are currently 6 groups around the county.

All the best.

Qwerty?

What about some green manure, possible Red clover, should work for up to two years. Have a look here