Fruits of labour: Jane tends to her pumpkin.'Unless you are lucky enough to consider tending an allotment your full-time job, your personal battle against the twin gods of time and nature is likely to be the one constant in your bid to grow your own food.'
So reads a line from the opening chapter of my book, The Allotment Keeper's Handbook. It encapsulates perhaps the most salient piece of advice I can offer the Observer team, and indeed anyone else taking on an allotment for the first time: don't try to do too much, too soon, and don't fret if your plot doesn't resemble the chap's two rows along who has probably spent seven days a week tending his vegetables for the past 10 years.
Start out getting small sections of the land ready for the growing season - this is particularly crucial if the plot is overgrown and hasn't been tended for some time. The rest can be kept under control by covering it with heavy-duty black plastic sheeting weighed down with bricks, or with a mulch of cardboard topped with straw, mushroom compost or grass cuttings.
While it's terribly tempting to jump in and start sowing seeds and digging holes straight away, it's worth spending some time thinking about what you actually want out of your allotment.
For some people, this will be a conventional scene with rows of vegetables, a compost heap and perhaps an apple tree in the corner. But there's no reason why you can't devote half your space to something a little more unusual - beehives, a picnic area with a camomile lawn for lounging around on ... the possibilities are limitless.
But do check your allotment agreement - the piece of paper with the small print you probably didn't read when signing up for your plot - as it may stipulate no livestock or restrict the erection of greenhouses or sheds.
As the Observer allotment is a team effort, it's important to figure out from the start how the labour - and the spoils - are going to be divided. How much time is everyone prepared to put in each week, and who has first dibs come the harvest?
It's also worth checking that everyone's singing from the same hymn sheet when it comes to methods, too: are you organic or "conventional" in your approach? Will you use green manure crops such as field beans and white clover to enrich the soil, or are you happier with a big pile of steaming manure? I'm pleased to see the Observer's effort is an organic model, but it's worth considering what's right for your circumstances.
While the group allotment is a great way of spreading the hard labour that can be involved in coaxing a jungle-like abandoned plot back into production, and a fun way of spending time with friends and colleagues, disagreements can cause ructions - so set out the ground rules (pun intended) before you start.
Oh, and don't forget to introduce yourself to your new neighbours on the plot. They can be a useful fount of local knowledge on what grows best on your soil, a source of free seedlings and cuttings to help you get started, and a handy bartering partner later in the year when your excess courgettes can be swapped for their rampant radishes.
- Jane Perrone is the author of The Allotment Keeper's Handbook
and she writes about about allotments and organic gardening at her blog, Horticultural.
