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First allotment

How to divide an allotment into beds

The short answer

Make beds about 1.2m wide, so you can reach the middle from either side, with paths at least 45cm wide, enough for a wheelbarrow. Several shorter beds are easier to manage than long runs. Put the shed, compost and water butts in the least useful corner, keep fruit and asparagus in their own area outside the rotation, and plan for four beds if you rotate crops.

Most plot holders now divide their plots into beds rather than long rows, for easier weeding and watering. The layout is set once and lived with for years, so it is worth drawing before you dig.

Bed and path widths

  • Beds about 1.2m wide let you reach into the centre from either side.(RHS, Wirral Council)
  • Paths at least 45cm, for a wheelbarrow; Wirral and Sheffield recommend 50cm.(RHS, Wirral Council)
  • Paths use cropping space but are essential for working the beds. Membrane or chipped wood suits permanent paths.(RHS)
  • Several smaller beds are easier than long runs.(RHS)
  • Run long beds north to south for even sunlight.(RHS)

Where everything else goes

  • Compost bins in the least-valued part of the plot.(RHS)
  • Plan for water butts, a compost area and somewhere to sit.(RHS)
  • Fruit and asparagus are long-lived: give them an area outside the rotation, cleared of all perennial weeds first.(National Allotment Society, RHS)
  • Check your tenancy before building: many sites need permission for sheds and greenhouses and limit their size.(Mole Valley District Council, Preston City Council)

A worked half plot

Take a 125m² half plot, 5m wide and 25m long, keep a 4m strip at one end for a shed, compost and water butts, and bed the rest. This is arithmetic, not a source figure: your plot's shape will differ.

Why that matters: many councils require about 75% of a plot to be cultivated, and some count paths and sheds in the other 25%. With 45cm paths between 1.2m beds, beds are only about 73% of the ground they cover, so a bed-and-path layout plus a shed can come in under 75%. Ask how your site counts paths before you lay them out.

Beds across the plot give shorter beds, more of them, and more path ends to walk round; beds along the plot give three long runs. Thirteen short beds make three beds for each group of a four-course rotation, with one to spare for herbs or perennials.

Beds in a 5 by 25m half plot
LayoutBedsGrowing areaShare of the plot
1.2m beds across the plot, 45cm paths13 beds of 1.2 × 5m78m²62%
1.2m beds across the plot, 50cm paths12 beds of 1.2 × 5m72m²58%
1.2m beds along the plot, 45cm paths3 beds of 1.2 × 21m76m²60%
Share of the plot in beds, with the 4m service strip and every path counted as uncropped.

Beds and rotation

Why the order matters, and when it doesn't: three and four bed rotation plans.

  • RHS: for the crops a typical plot holder grows, a four-course rotation is best.(RHS)
  • The National Allotment Society’s rotation moves potatoes, brassicas, legumes, and onions with roots round four beds, one step a year.(National Allotment Society)

Put your plot on the plan, free

Add your beds with their sizes, roughly is fine, and Vercro draws them to scale, keeps a record of what grew where, and shows what each empty bed could take next.

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Where this comes from

The growing advice on this page comes from the published sources below, each linked beside the point it supports. Where two good sources disagree, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.