Offered an Allotment but....

Hi
As the title suggests I've been provisionally offered an allotment and fingers crossed will confirm this by the weekend. The keepers are meeting me at the site on Friday and I'd like to be in a position to say a little more than I'll dig it over ready for next season.I think with a bit of luck I could try for a latecrop of potatoes, ruuner beans I have a good crop of in my back garden as do I have courgettes so they are ruled out but I do have some sweetcorn in my greenhouse in pots waiting to go out so they could divert to the allotment.
So my question is, what would you plant there to kick things off, if it helps its a south facing slope. One final point to consider is that anything I do plant will have to be a little low maintenance because I can get there two to three evenings a week

Thanks in advance

Andrew

 

If it is weed infested, or the ground is rock hard, I would concentrate on getting it "clean" and ready for next year.

If its ready-to-plant then whatever crops you can, and which you like. You could buy plants, which would gain you 6 weeks, so to speak, so perhaps Squash as they will spread fairly (you could cover the area with a mulch membrane of some sort).

I'd plant some Bocking-14 Comfrey too, so that it is ready to crop [as a high Potassium fertiliser] next year.

 

Thanks Kristen, fingers crossed it will be in reasonable condition, l like the comfrey suggestion

 

B&Q are selling salad & veg still so if you can find a decent nursery like i did they could still have leek and cabbage left,Im still to plant more leeks yet(yum) and cabbage i sown myself i only planted a week ago.
Artichokes,they are perrienal i hear,ive not planted mine yet...
Beetroot didnt take long to germinate

 

Make sure when planting your comfrey that you put it where you always want it to be, if you move it later it will always come back in its original growing position, it's roots go deep and its hard to remove from an area. Russian comfrey bocking 14 is sterile so will not self seed so make sure the variety you get is this one.

My comfrey patch, its 5ft tall, in flower and full of Bees at the moment.



You could also sow green manure on any ground you manage to clear, its low maintenance (sow and grow), prevents weeds coming back and enriches the soil too!

Steve...

 

Thanks Steve that's great advice