Create a nature-friendly allotment

Creating a nature-friendly allotment is about working with nature, not against it. By looking after your soil, choosing the right plants and supporting wildlife, you can grow healthy food while improving biodiversity. This guide takes you through the key steps, from preparing your plot to planting and caring for it sustainably.

How to prepare your plot

Preparing your plot is the foundation to a healthy, nature-friendly allotment. Follow these steps to get started:

Using cardboard in organic systems

Using cardboard is not generally advised in organic certified systems. This is because we can't be sure of the glue, adhesives and inks that have been used, or where the cardboard has come from. If you do use cardboard, remove tapes and staples and choose blank, brown sheets.

Understand your soil type

Knowing the soil type will help you choose what you should grow and what steps are needed to improve it.

There are 3 types of soil:

1. Clay soil is heavy, difficult to dig, difficult to plant into and often has poor drainage. But, it keeps in nutrients and gives roots a good anchor.
2. Sandy soil tends to dry out due to its coarse crumbly texture, so it struggles to keep in nutrients. But, seeds germinate well in sandy soil as it heats up more quickly.
3. Loamy soil is a mixture of sand, silt and clay – probably the best soil type.

Check your soil pH to see if the soil isn’t too acidic or alkaline. You can make your own homemade test or buy a soil tester kit.

Improve your soil health

Once you know what type of soil you have, you can work to improve your soil health. You can do this by:

• increasing organic matter by adding compost and mulch. This will improve fertility, water retention, soil structure and biological activity.
• growing green mulches, or fast growing ground cover plants, on beds that you're not using.
• rotating your crops - read about crop rotation below.

Decide what to plant

There are lots of different fruits, vegetables and plants you can grow to make your allotment nature-friendly and get the most from it.

Perennials

Perennials typically live for a long time and return each year in spring. Decide where these go first, as they will likely become a permanent feature in your allotment.

Fruit trees are perennial. These will need planting early and can take 2 to 3 years to produce fruit. Examples include apple, pear, plum, cherry trees, rhubarb, berries and currants.

Many herbs are also perennial, for example, rosemary, mint (keep it contained as it easily spreads), sage and thyme. As well as being useful in cooking, they produce bee-friendly flowers.

Rotation crops (annuals)

Rotational planting means planting in groups and rotating their position each year. This improves soil health and adds nutrients to the soil. Leave a 3 year gap before you plant the same group of plants in the same spot. Use 4 main beds for each of the crop groups:

1. potato family – including tomatoes, aubergines, peppers
2. legumes – peas, broad beans, French beans
3. brassicas – broccoli, cabbage, calabrese, radish
4. onions and roots – onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, carrots, parsnips

Intercropping

Intercropping is when you combine different plants in the same bed. One method is the 3 sisters method, where corn, beans and squash are grown together. The corn creates a trellis for the beans to grow up and the squash leaves shade the soil.

Other herbs and flowers

Plant a wide variety of herbs and flowers for:

• keeping pests away from your crop
• providing natural predator food
• encouraging bees and other pollinators

Support wildlife and manage pests naturally

Instead of trying to get rid of pests, think of how and when best to manage them.

Plant chives, garlic and calendula and their smell will keep pests away. The sticky stems of calendula can also trap aphids and blackfly.

Plant nasturtiums to attract pests away from cabbages, tomatoes and beans.

Bug hotels provide a home for all kinds of creatures, including the predators that will keep pests, like aphids, away. 

Companion planting is a way of choosing plants that benefit each other. This can help keep pests away and improve pollination. A good plant pairing is basil and tomato. The smell of basil can help keep insects away from tomatoes when planted at the base of a tomato plant.

Protect and cover your soil

Protect your soil by planting in empty spaces. Bare soil will dry out more easily and then be blown away by the winds. 

Woodchip mulch is great at locking in water, slowing down weeds, and it can act as a slow fertiliser. 

Grow more plants for free

It's easy to save seeds from plants like tomatoes, beans, peppers and onions. Take cuttings from plants like blackcurrant and honeysuckle, or herbs like rosemary and lavender.